Bali/Denpasar, Indonesia (2)

The shadow puppet plays, known as wayang kulit are popular not only in Bali but throughout Indonesia. Far more than mere entertainment, the wayang kulit is an extremely important vehicle of culture, serving as carrier of myth, morality play, and form of religious experience rolled into one. I was on a mission to look for shadow puppets as souvenirs.

The puppets are believed to have great spiritual power, and are "brought to life" by special ceremonies performed by the dalang, the puppet master and story teller. The dalang is a man of many talents: he must have a repertoire of hundreds of stories, play the music, have a flair for showmanship, perform the necessary sacred rituals, and also know how to make the intricate, flat, leather puppets.

Flanked the meandering streets of Bali are stores that sell cheap fake Ralph Lauren, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton merchandises. The salespersons never pretend these polo shirts and handbags are real although they are all dressed up professionally in uniforms. Kuta and Semiayak areas basically have everything you could ever need, from unique items mentioned above to cellphones (be sure to ask whether the phone is 'second hand' or not) to excellent fake Louis Vuitton bags, to originally made local shoes and such. If the fake Louis bags interest you then all I can say is that you will need to ask and look around as they are not on display and I prefer not to mention the shops that carry them.