Today's tour is Jakarta Highlights. We opted to let a local take us around. Our driver and guide did very well. This is a huge city of ove 10 million people. The disparity between rich and poor is great. The middle class is small according to our guide. Java is a Muslim island. There are many mosques, and we saw the largest from the bus. Then we stopped at the puppet museum. Custom tells stories with shadow puppets. The puppet master manipulates the puppets while the Gamilon is played and singers accompany the story being told by the puppeteer. This museum houses puppets from various periods as well as examples of the musical instruments.
Wayang Puppet Museum
As we made our way through the museum, and listened to our guide's explanation of the process we were enthralled. Then he floored us by explaining that he had been a dancer from age 9 to 27. He proceeded to show us some of the dance poses and explained how long they had to be held. He also showed us the positions that the puppet master had to assum over the course of what might be a 10 hour program. this was an excellent museum, and a very satisfying visit.
Now we visited the National Monument Monas. This is a 450 foot marble obelisk topped by a flame covered with 77 pounds of gold. Beneath the flame is a viewing platform. We did not have enough time to navigate the line.
So we moved on to the Natural History Museum. This houses a fine collection of artifacts documenting the history and development of the islands. It was an hour well spent.
Natural History Museum and artifacts
Our last stop was a downtown shopping mall. Our guide told us we would find handicrafts on the fifth floor and batik on the fourth. We still had local money to spend. We headed to the batik on four. I found a shirt similar to what I bought in Semarang. It was $60 on sale for $50. Not only was this more than we wanted to pay, it was more than we had. The credit card would have to come into play. We asked about batik table runners and were directed to kitchen ware on. The third floor. Here we found a very nice runner with the image of two shadow puppets for $10. It will grace the coffee table in our family room.
The bus ride back home took us on the port road again. This is full of pot holes thanks to overloaded shipping containers. We rocked more than the ship has rocked. Back in our stateroom we assessed our visit. The conclusion is that Jakarta is off our bucket list forever. If a future itinerary brings us back we will not even get off the ship. Jakarta is big, busy, dirty, run down and not fun.
On to Hong Kong!
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