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A tour guide’s diary
Explorers: Tour guide Ira Lathief (center, holding cardboard cut-out) strikes a pose before starting her newest tour called “The Most Instagrammable Food Spots in Kota Tua” on June 27
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xplorers: Tour guide Ira Lathief (center, holding cardboard cut-out) strikes a pose before starting her newest tour called “The Most Instagrammable Food Spots in Kota Tua” on June 27.(JP/Teddy Hans)
The number 17 is special to Ira for many reasons. In addition to her 17-year career as a tour guide, she has also authored 17 books. Her latest book, Bukan Ratu Sejagat: Catatan Seorang Tourist Guide (Not Miss Universe: A Diary of a Tourist Guide), is a gift to her hometown of Jakarta.
“The book is my present for Jakarta’s anniversary,” Ira said about the capital, which celebrated 492nd anniversary on June 22.
The book launch was held at the Jakarta History Museum, popularly known as Fatahillah Museum, in Kota Tua on June 27.
Not Miss Universe chronicles Ira’s nearly two decades as a tour guide.
“I’ve learned so much as a tour guide, and interacting with so many people from so many different countries has led me to love my own country and city even more,” Ira said about the book, which can be found on e-book platform BooksLife.
Before she was a tour guide, Ira worked as a broadcast journalist and then became a professional writer shortly thereafter.
Her first book was a biography of popular emcee and comedian Tukul Arwana. Several of her books, such as Normal is Boring and Do What You Love, Love What You Do, are bestsellers.
She is the founder of the Creative Tourism and Jakarta Food Tour, which gives tours of Jakarta’s Little India and Petamburan Cemetery, among many others. In 2017, Ira initiated the Ahok Legacy Tour, which visited Jakarta’s sites built or renovated under the leadership of then-Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama.
Her career as a tour guide has led to her selection in various exchange programs, including the 2016 Japan-ASEAN Tourist Guide Exchange Program, through which she got the chance to meet with tour guides from around Asia.
—The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post
