Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown

The warrior Bhima

is tricked into a fool's errand.

- He seeks his parents in heaven.

They are not there.

Instead, he finds them in hell.

He offers his parents the elixir of life,

yet they refuse.

They accept the fruits of their karma.

This being their final test,

they ascend to heaven.

- The story of Bhima Swarga teaches us that heaven

and hell are allegories.

Not truths.

Life is cyclical, and so is death.

The sign says "The Big Bang."

- Okay, so when the world was... - When the universe was created,

um, the universe is like an egg...

- Eggs. - That broke.

- Yes. - Okay?

- From the shell... - Yes.

- Is this fellow here. - He's called .

- Yes. - From the yellow...

- Yes. - The yolk... The... the teacher...

Yes.

- The teacher. - And then they put

- the white... - And the white of the egg

is Semar.

- Semar? - Yes.

Is to accompany the good.

So this is to accompany the bad, the demon.

This is to accompany the good.

- So the philosophy is, without this,

there is no this.

Without this, there is not this.

- There is no right without wrong.

There is no dark without light,

but each interconnects.

- Yes. - That is the main philosophy.

You know, the existence comes

from the same egg.

- For a thousand years, the Wayang...

Or shadow play... Has been entertainment

for both mortals and the gods.

In the shadow world,

everything has its opposites.

- At worth within every man are forces both divine

and animalistic.

- The philosophy of the shadow play

is to strive for balance.

You cannot kill the dominant animal urges within.

You must harness them,

yet not be controlled by them.

Shadows that manifest on-screen

are more than mere relief.

As they come alive, timeless tales

interspersed with subversive stories

bring the world of gods, monsters, and heroes

into sync with current social commentary.

- Indonesia is... - Correct me if I'm wrong...

It's the fourth largest country in the world.

The fourth largest, but we are

the third largest democracy.

17,00 islands.

The majority of the population... 60%...

Live on Java.

- And how many people in Jakarta?

- Greater Jakarta, there's around 25 million.

- 25 million? - 25...

That's the greater area.

- What should the rest of the world know

about the fourth-largest country in the world

that they don't know?

Because, let's face it,

I think if you asked most people who are...

Who are gonna watch this show, "Tell me something

about Indonesia," you'll get a total blank.

- Indonesia, we are very, very diverse

because even before Islam came,

the locals, they had their own traditions.

They have their own culture.

- Tolerance... - The tolerance...

The tolerance, uh, the... The attitude of tolerance...

Religion tolerance... Uh, that drop in our country.

- Uh, the... the level of tolerance is declining.

Yes, but in the food...

- Basically, food is a great unifier.

- Right. - You see?

- Especially in the... - You may speak poorly

of another region... "Oh, they're terrible people

over there, but their food is good."

- Yep. - They say that if

you really want to know and try every single dish

in Indonesia, you have to live here for 40 years.

- 40 years. - You need to stay here

for a long time, because every single area

has its own specialty.

Padang food... This is from West Sumatra.

If we talk about fast food, this is the fastest food.

I mean, this is way before

this genre of fast-foot exist in the world.

As you sit down, they come up with

all the dishes, and the concept is

you choose what you want to eat, and you only pay...

- Right. - For what you want to eat.

Here is... - It's lungs. - Fried lungs.

- Lung, lung. - Fried lungs.

This is an intestine goulash,

and this... basically the skin.

Deep fried fat and skin, yep.

Oh, I like that.

Of course this is rendang.

We're very fond of our rendang.

And what makes Padang food very special

- is the spice. - Yes.

The spice and the chili.

So good.

- Yeah, you like rendang? - I do.

I could eat that all day.

So, I... I wanted to ask,

the traditional Indonesian shadow play...

how does one learn?

How did you, uh, learn your art?

All shadow-puppet masters...

- Yes, it's all, you know, passed on from generation

- to generation. - So your father did this

as well.

And as I understand it, traditionally...

the puppet-master was allowed

a certain latitude to... tease, provoke,

or openly mock the powerful.

How far can you go?

- It's a bit like in the court jester...

- Right. - Where the court jesters

are expected...

you know, to make people laugh,

but at the same time it's an opportunity also

- to criticize... - Mm-hmm.

- Without getting... punished for it.

But at the same time, there is a philosophical level to it...

- Mm-hmm. - To make the people aware

- of certain dangers... - Aware that...

- Yeah, so to make the people aware that truth...

- Mm-hmm. - And wrong-doings is...

It's actually not black and white.

They interconnect.

- Watch the shadows, not the puppets.

The right in constant struggle

with the left.

Forces of light and darkness

in an endless fight for supremacy.

Neither prevailing.

What is good?

What is evil?

Who is the hero?

Who is the villain?

What is up or down?

Black or white?

What is right or wrong?

In shadow-play,

no such final conclusion exists.

- I think we have to wait for the music...

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

"Hey, a lot of foreigners.

Lot of... lot of money."

I think we're paying them

to not play music.

Yeah, right, right.

So you teach here.

Uh, you were educated in the States?

- Yes, yeah. - I got my second full ride

when I was teaching as a Scholar-In-Residence

at the University of California.

- And your subject was the Nixon years.

- The... during that period. - Yeah, yeah.

After World War II.

- You are also a... - A man of the cloth.

A man of faith.

- Uh, so the right man to talk to.

We've been largely advised that...

We will make people uncomfortable

if we even discuss the year 1965.

The... the year

- of living dangerously. - The year

- of living dangerously. - Yeah.

What happened was, basically the Communists were accused

of launching a coup against the government,

and because of that there was kind of

a justification for killing people

who were suspected of being Communists.

And who were they?

- They're just villagers or people who...

in a very bad way associated with

or connected with the Indonesian Communist Party.

Right.

- Indonesia boasts one of the world's

most bizarre leaders.

Then, three weeks ago, the Communists staged a coup.

But it misfired, and the army struck back.

Michael Charlton reports.

- Indonesia's revolution is still fiercely on the boil