Jakarta
I took advantage of a long lay-over in Jakarta to visit the Wayang Museum, possessing one of the world’s great collections of Indonesian puppetry. Unfortunately, it is dark and poorly maintained, and the puppets are not well-exhibited. I am fortunate that I had had access to the Sultan’s wayang kulit collection in the Kraton in Yogyakarta. I also visited the Lontar Foundation, a western-funded organization that promotes and preserves Indonesian performing arts and publishes English translations of Indonesian works, including some of Asep’s writings. I then boarded a plane back to the United States, where after a brief two-week interval, I flew to Europe for the second half of my sabbatical.
