Yesterday we went to see a shadow puppet performance in the Pendopo Museum here in Yogyakarta.
As per normal walked there and on route promptly got lost, we are getting to be experts at this!
So got rescued by a rickshaw driver named ‘wounded bull’ who got us there just in time for the show and charged us for the ride an amount that did his nickname proud.
But what can you do, can’t see the riot squad helping us out here with our problems.
The show was good, there are rows of seats in front and behind the shadow screen.
In the olden days the men used to sit on the same side as the performers where you get to see the puppets which are beautifully made and coloured. As below photo.
The women sat ( in the cheap seats ) on the side where you can see the shadows only.
One of the staff took time out during the show to explain all this to us.
The show took two hours ( made this short to please the tourists ) and was a love story with a happy ending, lots of fighting, the usual baddies versus goodies plot.
If this was a proper show it could go on for up to twelve hours.
After, we got taken by the man who explained it all to us, to his house as he happened to be a puppet maker ( surprise surprise ) for these performances. Interesting to see how they are made and the detail that is required for these puppets.
It takes weeks to make one puppet by hand, the material is buffalo hide and buffalo horn. They are truly works of art.
Later of course we had a dose of the hard sell regarding buying puppets but we ran away pleading everything under the sun to explain our lack of buying power.
We were out of there, got a ride with ‘Wounded Bulls’ cousin got slightly less ripped off this time and we were in BFC ( Borneo Fried Chicken ) by midnight for a snack.
Can’t wait for tomorrow 
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