W anderlust
UBUD | BALI, INDONESIA
VISIT BALI WITH SURE TRAVEL
Enjoy 15% off when booking seven
nights at Club Med Bali in Nusa Dua with
Sure Travel, or speak to your nearest
consultant to customise your ultimate
Balinese adventure. Call 0861 47 48 49
or visit www.suretravel.co.za.
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Village elders and saucer-eyed children
sit cross-legged as night falls, their gazes
transfixed on a cloth screen illuminated
by firelight. Intricate silhouetted figures
suddenly appear, moving in time to the
clangs of a traditional Balinese gamelan
orchestra. This is wayang kulit – a shadow
puppet show – an Indonesian art form
steeped in tradition.
Puppet limbs are manipulated with
life-like precision, and a cacophony of
voices chant, ululate and narrate each
magical encounter.
Often performed for major Hindu
festivals, the tradition of wayang kulit
is centuries old. Performances recount
stories from ancient Sanskrit texts: the
romantic, epic and comical exploits of
divinities and demons, kings and giants, as
well as of humbler characters like farmers
and livestock. The performances both
entertain and provide moral instruction,
with good overcoming evil in nearly
every narrative.
Ubud lies in the heart of Bali and is
renowned as the epicentre of this ancient
art form, but there is much more to see
and do in the island’s cultural capital.
The region is alive with art of every
kind, from master craftsmen plying their
trade at daily markets to chic galleries,
with a bustling social scene to match. If
you are in need of respite, the region’s
reputation as a yoga mecca is well
deserved, or simply meander through
the lush forests that melt into terraced
rice paddies to feel the magic that has
kept pulling travellers to the heart of Bali
for centuries.