From the Market to the Ballet

Last night I armed myself with a set of earplugs, disarmed the alarm, and properly caught up on sleep. I spent a lazy morning on the internet looking at pictures of cars, sidewalks, and houses buried in snow, and generally catching up with friends before venturing out to Malioboro market. This time I was determined to actually get there without diversions. 

Now THAT's an acorn!

I actually ran into the "batik teacher" I had encountered before, but this time I evaded him and his wily suggestions and pressed on. The market truly has everything...unless you're looking for mosquito spray or sunscreen, then you're out of luck. I spent a few hours winding in and out of the aisles that magically concealed entire malls, the presence of which could be sensed by a slight breeze and the promise of air conditioning. I did find a nice hat for $2 that actually fit my noggin and didn't make me snort when I looked in the mirror. 

Go ahead and argue, I'm not listening :)

There are a LOT of cats here.

Um, who wants a souvenir? 

So many bikes everywhere, I don't think anyone actually walks.

More rambutans. They grow everywhere, but if you're too lazy to go picking them, someone will happily do it for you...for a fee.

I walked back to the homestay to shower off the sweat and grime and get ready for this evening. I had booked a ticket to the local ballet, including a driver to and from as well as a lovely Indonesian dinner, all for the super high price of $25. I was greeted warmly with a sarong and a glass of warm ginger "wine" and escorted to my table. The dinner was lovely and was accompanied by a live performance of what was to come. After stuffing our faces we all made our way to the outdoor theater for the performance, which was your typical story of guy has pretty wife who gets stolen by another guy, war between many unrelated people ensues, but in the end the guy gets the girl back. Plot twist, guy doesn't trust that his girl was faithful so he throws her into a fire, she survives though so trust is restored and they live happily ever after. 

The costumes were gorgeous and the dancing was very deliberate and beautiful, but I did giggle halfway through as a happy little frog hopped onto the stage to add his own legwork to the show. There was also a group of kids dressed like monkeys who were acting as the followers of the White Monkey God, and they behaved exactly as you'd expect kids told to act like monkeys would. Adorably.

No means no!

We whistle while we work

I TOLD you not to feed the monkeys!

And then of course I had to join the crew for the curtain call before being driven home after my long day of lazy tourism.

I have a couple of short videos from the show which I'll share on Facebook as soon as I can get my laptop to hold a wifi signal. Also, this was again done on my phone so between the subpar iPhone photos and lack of formatting, I hope you still enjoyed following along :)