Wayang Museum

Last weekend we went back to Kota Tua with Tess a young intern at the Embassy and this time visited the Wayang Museum, This a puppet museum with a large collection of Indonesian puppets from shadow puppets (Wayang kulit) to wooden doll puppets (Wayang golek) and everything in between. The collection was good with some really old and intricate puppets but let down by fairly indifferent presentation.

An Indonesian guy; Ki Edan Aldy Sandjoyo ( actually this is just part of his 18 word name, naming all ancestors back 18 generations ) came up and started explaining bits about the shadow puppets. He convinced us to come back to his studio where his 74 year old father makes the shadow puppets from buffalo hide and he gives performances and runs a studio to attempt to train younger Indonesians in his art. 

In the two minute walk to the studio he managed to pump me for enough information about us that he worked into an extremely abbreviated, but fun ten minute performance of one of the Hindu epics that normally takes 9 hours.

After lunch at the Batavia we stopped at the Food and Hotel Exhibition where Tess had been working that week at the Australia exhibit. It was a huge crowded hall full of food samples that we plunged into nibbled a few bits and pieces. I managed a taste of Penfolds Bin 169 I think they left out by mistake and Alison talked some Victorian veggie producers who were closing up into giving her a big bag full of fresh produce they are trying to sell into the supermarkets and restaurants here.