His Highness Enjoys...

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My first night in Kota Bharu, which is supposed to be one of the cultural hubs of Malaysia, I consulted my Lonely Planet and discovered that it was one of the nights that has a free show at the cultural center. I dragged along a teacher from Kentucky of all places who was doing a stint in Japan with the JET program. We arrived to a traditional band of about 8 men playing behind the shadow puppet stage. Then I took a seat on the ground up front next to all of the local little kids with their dads and watched the show. Apparently it was another Hindu epic but pretty hard to understand since it was all in Malay. The puppets were really cool though-very elaborate with lots of color. It was hard to distinguish flying from fighting and ships from mountains. The puppetmaster behind the screen manipulated all of the puppets, even made their mouths move as they spoke, and did all of the dialogue. We were told that there is no script-they just know the story by heart and occasionally change things a little on a whim.

The state of Kelantan is also the most conservative Muslim states in Malaysia-though nothing compared to the Taliban or anything on that level. I hadn't realized this when I first arrived-really hot and tired so I put on a tank top and shorts-only to be cat-called at several times on the street. That stuff was normal in many places in Latin America but it surprised me because I hadn't had it happen yet on this trip. Next day I wore long pants and a t-shirt and that stuff pretty much stopped.

The next day I dedicated to museums. Something like 9 of the 13 states in Malaysia have a sultan and they take turns every 10 years acting as the Royal Family for the country-not politically so much but more ceremoniously. The Royal Museum was one of the funkiest museums I'd ever experienced. It was such a weird mixture of random items and personal tidbits. There were personal bios on the sultan, his wife, and each of the 4 kids. Most of the bios outlined where and what they had studied but the last line always went something like "His highness enjoys playing soccer and reading in his leisure time." Later on, talking to some Malaysian friends they said that the sultans basically had a free ride for their studies and and luxiourious lifestyle since the taxpayers financed it. The museum was filled with gawky adolescent pictures of the princess and princes, framed signed pics of Queen Elizabeth in the 1970s and others of Princess Anne and Prince Philip-all set out for my viewing pleasure to pick up and examine (and walk off with) at will. It's nice that trust still exists. Of the sultan and his wife there were pictures of Her Highness shooting a rifle and His Highness swatting a birdie with the caption that through their shared activities of shooting and badminton their love grows stronger every day. How sweet. Upstairs, there were beautiful exhibits about royal cultural practices such as the Royal Circumcision Ceremony. Another museum had a great weapons collection with headings such as "Weapons to Thrust" and "Weapons to Stab." Women's hairpins were listed as stabbing weapons since they could be disguised and used if the woman felt in danger. I never noticed how sharp the tips were. There was also a cool little dagger with a ring on the end that could be coiled secretly in the woman's hair or hidden in the hand since the ring fit over one finger and the blade was concealed inside the hand.

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Photos

Kota Bharu
Silversmith at work

Khota Baru
Shadow puppet show

Kota Baru
The band for puppet show

Kota Baru
Market