Hot Spot

WEARABLE ART The old sultanate of Cirebon, a port west of central Java, promotes itself as Indonesia's seafood capital; another moniker for the city is Kota Udan, or Prawn City. Yet this coastal town with the distinctive art deco train station should think bigger—and brighter. This is the place to buy batik, the art form you can bring back home on your back. Batik is available all over Indonesia, but purists say the best comes from Cirebon.

The finest batiks are produced in a smattering of shops in the village of Trusmi, five kilometers from Cirebon. Showrooms such as Batik Masina and Traditional Cirebon abound with wearable art that sells for a tiny fraction of the prices tourists pay in Bali or Jakarta, including silk shawls so delicate they are virtually transparent. Both stores welcome visitors to adjoining workshops to watch batiks slowly take form. Patterns are drawn or stamped on cloth using melted wax. Dyes are applied, the waxed areas resist the new color and retain their original hue. The process is repeated dozens of times, creating complex, colorful designs.

After shopping try the town's delicious seafood. Maxim's, at Jalan Bahagia 45-47, offers a feast of prawns, fish and frog legs for $3-$5 per plate. Cirebon's other treasures can be found in a pair of palaces built centuries ago by its Sultans. These are heaped with kitsch: French chandeliers, Javanese spears and a bizarre chariot comprising the body of an elephant, the head of a dragon, flapping wings and radial tires. The dusty exhibits can be comical, but in little-visited Cirebon, the tourist must be alert to art all around. Even at the palaces, there are hidden treasures: antique blue delft plates from former ruling power the Netherlands. Once they were for dining, now they decorate the centuries-old dirt walls of the palaces.