Love, Sex, and Harmony: Bedtime Stories from the Heart of Java

Most of us have heard of India’s Kama Sutra and Tunisia’s Perfumed Garden. Every ancient agricultural society has its own celebration of fertility, sensual pleasure, and romance.

Java is no exception. But with the advent of sociopolitical conservatism in Indonesia, it is hard to imagine the existence of a Javanese sex bookthat “keeps it real” without losing its civilised finesse and religious compass.

Cross-Cultural Couples: Nonie and Egbert

By: Emma Kwee

Our family of mixed couples is growing bigger and bigger. The Latitudes Cross-Cultural Couples series is a testament to the intermingling of cultures that makes this world a more interesting and colorful place. Are you a mixed couple and would you like to be featured on Latitudes? Do you have an extraordinary tale of love that surpasses cultural boundaries and geographical borders? Then e-mail us at info@latitudes.nu!

Indonesian Nonie and Dutch Egbert Wits met on Egbert’s birthday party. It was only after the festivities that they realized there was something more…slowly but steadily the couple inched closer and closer, until now they share their lives in Yogyakarta.

Please introduce yourselves, what are your names, where are you from and where do you live?

Nonie: My name is Nonie, but actually my real name is Retno Wachyuni. The name Nonie came from my grandmother, who started calling me Nonie. It's a name once used for young girls who act or look like European girls, especially during the period Indonesia was still colonized by the Dutch. I am originally from Slawi, a little town in the north of Central Java.

Egbert: My name is Egbert, I was born in Amsterdam, but raised in Mijdrecht, a little sleepy village just outside Amsterdam. After studying and living in Amsterdam for about 10 years I moved to Indonesia. I started out in Malang (1 year) and from there moved to Yogyakarta (3 months), Tegal (1.5 year), Jakarta (1 year), Bandung (1.5 years) and now finally we're living in Yogyakarta. We both hope this will be our end station in Indonesia, although given our nomadic history, you never know.

Cross-Cultural Couples: Sonia and Hung

By: Diana van Oort

Our family of mixed couples is growing bigger and bigger. The Latitudes Cross-Cultural Couples series is a testament to the intermingling of cultures that makes this world a more interesting and colorful place. Are you a mixed couple and would you like to be featured on Latitudes? Do you have an extraordinary tale of love that surpasses cultural boundaries and geographical borders? Then e-mail us at info@latitudes.nu!

Sonia and Hung are an unlikely couple as not many Western women marry Vietnamese men. After they met, they had a wirl wind romance, married and had a cute son. They live in Saigon, Vietnam. When their son is grown up they want to travel the world. This is their story.

Cross-Cultural Couples: Gerard and Komang

By: Emma Kwee

This next portrait in our cross-cultural couples series came to us from an unexpected corner of the world. Yours truly was enjoying a nice mother-daughter weekend on a small, windy island in the Netherlands, Ameland! While on a cycling trip we decided to stop for lunch in the village of Nes. The girl working there looked decidedly Indonesian. That's how I met Komang, from Bali, who turned out to be married to Gerard. They met on Bali 9 years ago and one thing led to another. Now they divide their time between their two most loved islands: Bali and Ameland.

Do you have an equally inspiring story to share? If you want to be part of this series, all you have to do is e-mail info@latitudes.nu!

Chan

By: Thomas Weber Carlsen

Thomas Weber Carlsen is a Danish architect who has been living in Cambodia with his Cambodian wife and their two children for over 10 years. Apart from designing and building his own house, he has been working with humanitarian projects, worked as a tour leader and made video documentaries about the Khmer Rouge and indigenous people under the influence of globalization.

His first literary work Third World Man (Out of Denmark) is the personal account of his journey from Denmark to Cambodia and the various impacts it has had on his life. It is also a critical comment to the divided and unsustainable world we live in today. Thomas is now looking to have Third World Man (Out of Denmark) published in hard form and/or as an e-book. This article, “Chan”, is based on the second chapter of the book and is the first in a series of three articles, all taken from chapters in the book, to be presented on Latitudes.nu in the near future. “Chan” relates the story of how Thomas met his wife, how their fates intertwined, and what happened then.

My marriage with Chan is a typical third world affair. She wanted something and I wanted something and so we struck a deal. That is not to say that we don’t like each other and these days we are even attempting to love each other.

Cross-Cultural Couples: Tommy and Leaksmy

By: Gabrielle Yetter

Cross-cultural couples is back! After a hiatus we decided to pick it up again and continue this amazing series about the lives, love and tribulations of mixed Southeast Asian couples. Do you want to be featured and share your story with our readers? E-mail info@latitudes.nu for more info!

This story takes place in Cambodia where, On April 22, Tommy and Leaksmy tied the knot, Cambodian style, after a courtship which began two years ago during a chance meeting while Tommy was on holiday. Here is their story.

Director Nia Dinata’s Arisan: Sex and the City with Substance

By: Yvette Benningshof

Flashing Jakarta big city life, the pristine beaches of the Gili’s, socialites, parties, fashion, friendship and romance: you’ll find plenty in ‘Arisan!2’. But there is more to this film than meets the eye. In this Indonesian style ‘Sex and the City,’ controversial topics are tackled with humor and satire in a playful setting. The long awaited sequel of Arisan! (2003) that featured the first homosexual kiss ever in Indonesian Cinema, cheerfully carries on where the first installment left off.

Nia Dinata Wins Another One

Award winning Indonesian filmmaker, director and producer Nia Dinata received the CinemAsia 2012 Achievement Award at the CinemAsia Filmfestival in Amsterdam. She was praised ‘because through her films as a director and producer she has brought the topic of women, gays and marginalized people to the forefront in Indonesia’.

‘We have a special history with Dinata’, says festival director Doris Yeung, ‘At our first edition in 2004 we world premiered Arisan! and now eight years later we come full circle with the screening of Arisan!2 and carrying out the Achievement Award.’

Indonesian Film Maker Paul Agusta: Parts of the Heart

By: Ging Ginanjar & Emma Kwee

Paul Agusta is a film maker pur sang. Born in Jakarta in 1980, Agusta studied film in the USA, before returning to Indonesia in 2003. His new film ‘Parts of the Heart’ is, just as his previous work ‘At the Very Bottom of Everything’ (about bi-polar disorder), deeply personal and in parts autobiographical. It’s not the first time either that Agusta checked in at the Rotterdam Film Festival, as his previous films ‘Kado Hari Jadi’ (The Anniversary Gift) (2008) and ‘At the Very Bottom of Everything (2010), were featured at this acclaimed yearly film festival.

We talked with him about his last, daring story, that touches upon the in Indonesia still controversial subject of homosexuality.

Cross-Cultural Couples Valentine’s Special!

By: Emma Kwee

It's Valentine's Day, the day that couples all over the world celebrate their love, surprise each other with flowers and chocolates...or forget to and will be reminded by their partners. Let's see what some of our couples have been up to since we last met them in our cross-cultural couples series!

Happy Valentine's from our couples and Latitudes! You can still join our cross-cultural family and get featured on Latitudes, by simply e-mailing us at info@latitudes.nu. Share your saga with our readers! In the meantime: Spread the Love...

Cross-Cultural Couples: Romano and Rochelle

By: Joan Mae & Emma Kwee

Get to know another cross-cultural couple, this time from the Philippine Islands! This couple started out as friends but ended up as lovers! Now, they are happily settled in the southern part of the country, Davao City. Read the stories of the other couples featured in Latitudes Cross-Cultural Couples Series and don’t hesitate to drop us a line on info@latitudes.nu if you’re interested in joining.

Please introduce yourselves, what are your names, where are you from, how old are you and where do you live? We are Romano (Swiss-Italian) and Rochelle (Filipino) Venuti, our family lives in Davao City, Philippines.

How did you meet and where? We met in Bali, Indonesia. I was singing with a band playing in the Hyatt Hotel and he was the pastry chef of the same hotel.