Rural folk are proud custodians of culture and the fine arts. In most homestay villages, visitors will be able to watch the pencak silat, a fascinating Malay martial art. Silat features elaborate movements, precision timing and highly-skilled manoeuvres.
The traditional shadow play theatre or wayang kulit is another interesting performance. This show is performed by casting animated puppet shadows on a white cloth screen.
The puppet characters and stories are usually adapted from ancient epics. The master storyteller, called tok dalang, conducts the whole show from behind the screen as he recites the tale with appropriate sounds and movements. Both silat and wayang kulit are accompanied by traditional music.