The performance begins at nine in the evening. It ends at five in the morning. One man — the dalang, the puppeteer — will voice over two hundred characters, operate hundreds of leather puppets, conduct a full gamelan orchestra behind him using only foot signals, and narrate an eight-hour story drawn from the Hindu epics […]
What Is Wayang Kulit? The Shadow Puppet Show That Runs All Night Read More »
In a gallery in SoHo, New York, a textile hangs on a white wall under museum lighting. It is approximately two meters long, rust-red and indigo and cream, with a pattern of horses, skulls, and geometric spirals woven into it with a precision that makes your eyes work to follow the logic of the design.
There are approximately seven pink-sand beaches in the entire world. Most are remote, difficult to reach, and quietly extraordinary. One of them sits inside a national park patrolled by the largest living reptile on earth. That one is worth talking about. Pantai Merah — “Red Beach” in Indonesian, though the world knows it as Pink
The Pink Beach of Komodo: Why Is the Sand Actually Red — And Is It Safe to Visit? Read More »
In 2018, a study published in the journal Cell stopped biologists in their tracks. A specific group of people in Indonesia had evolved — over generations, through natural selection — spleens significantly larger than those of any other human population on earth. The Bajau people’s spleens were on average 50% larger than those of their
The Bajau Sea Nomads: Indonesia’s People Who Evolved for the Ocean Read More »
On the summit of an active volcano on the island of Flores, there are three lakes sitting in three separate craters — so close to each other that you can see all of them from a single viewpoint. They should look identical. Same altitude, same geology, same rainfall, same volcanic activity beneath them. They don’t
The Pirate Kings: How the Srivijaya Empire Ruled the Strait of Malacca There is a passage of water between Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula that is, by most measures, the most important stretch of ocean in the world. At its narrowest point, the Strait of Malacca is 65 kilometers wide. Through it passes roughly 40
How Srivijaya Ruled the Strait of Malacca Read More »
Every city has a dish that is more than food. In Palembang, that dish is pempek — a fish cake made from ground fish and tapioca, fried or boiled, then drowned in a dark, sour, barely-sweet vinegar sauce called cuko. It is sold on almost every street corner. It is eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner,
Pempek: The Ancient Fish Cake That Tells Palembang’s Entire History Read More »
The call to prayer echoes across the Musi River five times a day in Palembang. Women in hijabs fill the morning markets. The Grand Mosque dominates the skyline. Now look down. Somewhere beneath the asphalt and the centuries of a living city lie the remains of the most powerful Buddhist empire Southeast Asia has ever
How the Srivijaya Empire Became Islamic — Without a Single Battle Read More »
There is a dagger sitting in a wooden box in a house in Central Java right now. It has a name. It has a personality. It has dietary preferences — certain foods are placed near it during specific nights of the Javanese calendar. The family that owns it consults it before making major decisions. When
The Real Story Behind the Kris Dagger: Why Indonesians Believe Their Weapons Are Alive Read More »
Here is what we know about the greatest empire Southeast Asia has ever produced: At its peak, it controlled every major sea lane between China and India. Its navy was the most feared in the eastern ocean. Its capital was a city of such wealth that Arab traders wrote about it in stunned disbelief —
The Lost Kingdom of Srivijaya: Where Did Indonesia’s Greatest Empire Disappear? Read More »
