Indonesia

Indonesia is the one country in the bundle Harry lives in. His material splits in two: a 2022 trip to Jakarta, where the running theme is that the country is not what he expected — a skyline he compares to New York, a metro better than any he had ridden, street food he rates above the restaurant food — and a 2025 behind-the-scenes day at home in Bali, where he has been based for over a year.

Observations

From My First Time In JAKARTA, Indonesia (New York or Asia??) 🇮🇩

• Scale: over 270 million people, among the largest populations in the world, with Jakarta itself over 10 million.
• The islands are not fully counted. The government’s figure is around 18,000 (from video – unverified) and more are still being identified — a point Harry and Luke both make about Indonesia and the Philippines together.
• English is a Bali thing, not an Indonesia thing. Harry finds English near universal in Bali and thin on the ground in Jakarta, which he treats as an argument for learning some Bahasa rather than a problem.
• Street food is often as good as or better than the restaurant food, which he says is unusual — in most countries the relationship runs the other way. It is also everywhere rather than concentrated in food streets, so the good stalls tend not to appear on Google Maps.
• Prayer breaks close shops during the day; a barber Luke wanted to visit was shut for one.
• Football is the common language: essentially everyone Harry meets supports Manchester United, and naming a player opens a conversation.
• Fake goods are sold in the open, alongside phone cases and electronics in ordinary markets, and sellers say plainly that the stock comes from China.
• Travel insurance: the video’s sponsor segment states that insurance is required to enter Indonesia (from video – unverified — this is an advertisement read, not something Harry verifies on camera).

From I Spent $600 in Jakarta’s Fake Market 🇮🇩

• The counterfeit trade runs in the open, in an ordinary multi-storey mall with salons and food courts between the units. A seller asked directly whether the police are a problem says they aren’t.
• Sellers don’t pretend. Asked, they confirm the goods are fake and made in China; the argument they make is about build quality, not authenticity, and Harry’s counter-argument in every haggle is that a fake shouldn’t be priced like the original.
• Everyone offers a “special price”, often enough that Harry starts asking whether he is in fact special.
• Card payments carry a surcharge — 3% added at one shop, stated up front.
• Essentials, made in Vietnam, is the brand Indonesian buyers ask for, per a streetwear seller.
• Branded shops are fixed-price. The DJI store won’t discount at all and there is no tourist discount, which makes the point that the haggling economy has a hard boundary.
• Imported electronics cost slightly more than at home: a DJI Mini 2 at 7 million rupiah, which Harry converts to roughly £400–450.

From The Side of Bali You Don’t See | BTS with the ProArt PX13

• Bali is where Harry lives, and has for over a year at the time of filming — the Canggu and Pererenan side of the island, among remote workers.
• Costs against the UK: activities run at roughly a quarter of British prices, and services come to you rather than the other way round.
• Balinese Hinduism has far more holidays than most countries. Galungan is the major one; Nyepi, the day of silence, halts all activity for 24 hours.
• Village temples welcome visitors. Harry turned off the road to Tanah Lot for a local temple, was invited in, given an offering to carry and shown what to do, and was asked for nothing.
• Subak, the communal irrigation system, shares water between rice fields under different ownership — old, unmechanised, and dependent on nobody taking more than their share.
• Farming is now the exception. Harry’s observation is that the farmers are the only people around him still doing hard physical work.
• The food scene runs both ways — cheap food is the island’s reputation, but any cuisine is available any day of the week at restaurant level.

Places

• Jakarta
• Bali