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Getting There - Aneel's Travelogue

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Ramayana Ballet Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Sunday, 05 June 2011 10:00pm

This evening, I went to see a performance (heavily abridged, suited for tourists) performance of the Ramayana Ballet. It was entertaining, with elaborate costumes and choreography. The monkeys were particularly impressive, with their thick beards. There was even one little monkey who climbed on the larger performers and onto the roof of the outdoor theater.

I was pleased to see that Kumbakarna was given a large role, as he's one of my favorite characters. I didn't think it was obvious from the acting that he was asleep when he was first introduced, but we did get to see the feast that his brothers prepare to wake him up. He also got a good battle scene in with the monkeys (when arrows were fired in this performance, they were caught by the wounded and held where they hit. I think Kumbakarna was the only one who took two arrows and didn't fall), and an elaborate funeral.

Sleeping a year at a time sounds very appealing, right now. Between the early mornings and the jet lag, I'm pretty beat.