We arrive at the small traditional sasak village of Sade as the sun is setting and a local resident offers to show us around before the light fades. The town consists of 120 densely packed thatched cottages and is home to a community of over 600. Narrow, winding streets lead up the small hillside and the open doorways offer glimpses into an extraordinary way of life. Our guide allows us into his uncle's house. The remarakably smooth and hard concrete like floors are in fact formed by mixing earth with rice husk and are polished fortnightly with buffalo dung to protect it and deter mosquitos. We stop to look at the scarves and sarong's handmade in the village using cotton or banana fibres and natual dyes - the vibrant yellow above is from tumeric root. After agreeing a price for some sarong's we realise that we're out of cash and the nearest cashpoint is in a town an hour to the north, so we arrange a meeting later that evening and hit the road.
As we hesitate at a junction a motorcyclist recognises that we're lost and offers us to follow him as he is passing through our destination and will help us find an ATM. As he pulls over to say goodbye in Praya we realise that he works at our hotel and we'll be seeing him at breakfast.
We take the opportunity to walk around the Praya night food market to sample pancakes and fried chicken. The whole town is suddenly plunged into darkness, apparently a common occurrence. As each stall struggles to start their ineffective generators, we take our food to the car. In the gloom Dieny dips into the bag and hands a piece of chicken to Gunnar who, failing to get much meat off the bone shines his torch to discover he's eating a foot. Dieny passes another piece and Gunnar shines his torch: a head. We lose our appetites.
On arrival at Sade, we are welcomed into our guides home. We sit and converse with his wife, brother and the weaver for some time before bidding farewell and being escorted to our car. We are invited to stay with him and his family on our next visit.
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