Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
Most non-Indonesians who have any familiarity with the term Wayang think of it as a form of theatre which features so-called “shadow puppets”.
Wayang kulit – the form which involves “shadow puppets” – is in fact just one of Indonesia’s several kinds of Wayang theatre.
One of them does not directly involve any puppets.
Another – the kind pictured above – features highly skilled puppetry and puppet-making, but its puppets are very unlike their Wayang kulit counterparts.
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Most visitors still refer to the pictured, particularly well-preserved/restored precinct as “Old Batavia”.
The independent nation whose flag now flutters there prefers to call it “Old Jakarta”.
My photo’s vantage point was Cafe Batavia, on Taman Fatahillah – Batavia’s main square.
The photo looks across to what used to be the administrative hub of what was then – 18th century CE – the greatest trading centre in all of Asia.
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….are still vital to inter-island trade in Indonesia.
Not coincidentally, Indonesia has more inhabited islands than does any other nation, and many of them do not have deep-water ports.
Jakarta, of course, has a modern, deep-water port.
Tanjung Priok – that “new” port – is not merely a replacement for the “old” port.
Sunda Kelapa is still a working port; if I had pointed my camera in another direction, I could have taken a photo that included very many more wooden-hulled boats, plus a huge number of lorries…
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