Shift Party Dress for Women White Shimmer Three Quarter
Every year in Jakarta for the past 25 years, Hotel Aryaduta Jakarta (previously the Hyatt) have hosted our local version of Oktoberfest. Despite a growing number of similar events happening in other locations in the city, the one in the Aryaduta is arguably the best one in town. The events here go for two consecutive days, on a Thursday and Friday in late September, while in the original Wies'n (as it is referred to in Munich by the locals) last for 17 to 18 days up to the German Unification Day on 3 October in modern times. (i)
What originally started as a celebration for the people in commemorating the wedding of the Bavarian crown prince, Ludwig, to his bride Therese of Sachsen-Hildburghausen on 12 October 1810, has now manifested itself as the most famous beer festival in the world. (ii) This year, Munich celebrates its 180th Oktoberfest, happening almost every year, and attracts "pilgrims" from the four corners of the earth. I lived in Munich for almost two years, and was fortunate to have experienced the genuine Oktoberfest twice during that time. On one day, I even brought along a few visiting customers who don't even drink, since they were so interested in this cultural experience.
The annual Oktoberfest in Aryaduta comes closest in comparison to the others in terms of authentic atmosphere, entertainment (a Bavarian musical band, complete with Alpine horns and men in traditional leather breeches (German: Lederhosen), and not to forget the food. The only downside is that the usual weissbier (a heavily flavoured brew) served during Wies'n is not readily available. On some years, they sell them separately from the entrance ticket, and instead free flow pilsner is abundant, in the last few years Heineken have been the providers of the beverage. You find all sorts of delicious and original German food: the half chicken (halb Hendl), roast pork and pork knuckles (Schweinebraten and Schweinshaxe), sauerkraut, potato dumplings (Knödel), not to mention various types of sausages (the one usually taken for breakfast is the Weisswurst for example, was also available), and a sort of German pasta/egg noodle (Spätzle).
This was a good evening, with security in the hotel unusually relaxed, compared to previous years. We were heavily checked before entering the hotel, and police presence was minimal and low key. Several persons showed up in traditional Bavarian dress, the men in lederhosen and the women donning their dirndl dresses. Having attended this event almost every year since returning to Jakarta in 2002, I took some time to catch up with old friends, many of whom had either lived or studied in Germany. Many people from German and German affiliated companies are also usually present. My circle of friends heavily favour going on the first night – a Thursday – with the consequence for those who cannot hold their alcohol, that they will usually come late for work the next day, or even skip altogether. The atmosphere is usually more corporate as well, with many people entertaining customers or taking their staff out, in addition to the families and couples that are going along.
In between the "must have" Oktoberfest medley from taken from hits by the Austrian DJ Ötzi and others (Anton aus Tirol, Hey Baby, The Chicken Dance etc.), the band will interrupt and toast the crowd, singing Ein Prosit, which means "may it do you good". Giant size pretzels (also referred to as Brezn) adorn the table, ready to be eaten as a snack, in between sips of beer in the jugs known as Kruege. The balllroom was successfully transformed into a makeshift Beer hall by additionally covering the surroundings with the blue and white colours of the Federal State of Bavaria. Waiters dressed in breeches and donning hats also helped to create an authentic atmosphere. The Heineken beer attendants were dressed much in the same way other sales promotion girls in Jakarta would be dressed, and this is a big difference from the buxom and athletic beer waitresses who would be seen normally carrying up to 10 jugs.
As you can see the atmosphere was quite colourful and busy. Waiters and beer attendants walked around to and fro passing out food and an refilling people with an endless supply of beer for those who can take it. This year's was not the most lively crowd; even later towards the evening there were only spurts of the same energy that could be felt inside the genuine beer tents along the Theresienwiese in Munich. What made for an interesting intermezzo however, were the series of competitions. I remained only for three of the first ones, which were a) the men's beer drinking contest, b) the women's beer drinking contest and c) the men's beer jug holding contest. To the crowd's great surprise was that in all three competitions, every single winner were local Jakartans, not famous for being strong drinkers, let alone pitted against the likes of beer drinking nationals like Germans, Americans and Brits. The winner in the men's drinking competition was a gentleman known only as Jerry, who finished well in advance of his closest competitor, a German. It was perhaps the cheers for IN-DO-NE-SIA repeatedly, which gave Jerry the motivation to push the extra mile and win. Or, as I suspect, he is fond of his drink and has a lot of practice in his free time. Needless to say, it was no small feat to beat the ones he was competing with.
For the women's drinking event, there had to be a lot of arm pulling before they got sufficient number of ladies in front of the stage. This was a more multinational assembly of competitors, with an Italian, German, a few Indonesians and a Taiwanese lady challenging each other to be the fastest beer-drinker in the Big Durian. The Italian woman pulled out rather early in the competition, even though I had my bet on her initially. What came as a second surprise for the evening was that the winner was an Indonesian by the name of Brenda (who it seems works for one of the German flag carriers that had so generously co-sponsored this event).
In the third event I witnessed, which pitted young and old, big and small, regardless of physique and experience, a former work colleague, Jaston Sinaga, came out the winner in the men's beer lifting competition. What made an amazing feat, was that only few short hours before, he had just played competitive futsal in a company-sponsored "Olympics" match. He certainly showed no fatigue and was cheered by his fellow teammates that had also joined and were cheering him on to victory.
The crowd thinned out quite fast not long after that, so the lead female singer in the Bavarian band attempted to stir up the crowd by starting a polonaise around the ballroom. That went on far too briefly, and as I stepped out I saw part of the reason: people had moved out of the main area of the ballroom, perhaps feeling a little too hot inside and were casually talking in small groups around the buffet area. One of my friends managed to take the snapshot below of all those wonderful chefs and sous-chefs, cooks and kitchen hands who were all very instrumental in preparing the delicious dishes for all the guests.
Needless to say, this regular event is surely one to watch out for every year if you are in Jakarta during September. I would say it is one of the many opportunities for networking, maintaining existing relations, tasting culinary delights and enjoying a relatively authentic cultural ambience from one of the many growing expatriate communities in the city. The location is very central, which makes it very convenient for business people coming over after work, though with Jakarta's notorious traffic jams, it's not a bad idea to adjust your work schedule, not only on the day, but also anticipating a hangover the day after.
The one thing I would propose to change for next year would to to vary the entertainment a little bit. I have almost memorised the routine, and even though I think the band is great, they really do need to mix it up a bit and throw in some variety of music, and perhaps personnel? I've seen one too many performances of the Bavarian Schuchplattler or slap dance (no, a slap dance, with an S , in case you're getting it mixed up with another form of exotic dance). Perhaps they could combine something of the two. Prost! 🙂 (mv)
References:
(i) Oktoberfest – Wikipedia
(ii) History of Oktoberfest – City of Munich official website
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Source: https://www.angloinfo.com/blogs/indonesia/jakarta/the-big-duriana/a-quarter-century-of-wiesn-in-jakarta/
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