Day Two of our excellent adventure has ended with a powerful performance of Kecak Ramayana (Monkey Dance) and a Fire Dance. A backdrop of temple gates, frangipani strewn steps, set the stage for an open air courtyard which was soon filled with the singing of 100+ men. They chant a complex and multilayered sound of ‘cak cak cak’ in an extraordinary rhythmic pattern. The performance includes a white monkey spirit, the mighty bird Garuda, beautiful princesses, a giant and the death of lots of monkeys. We all got a little confused with the storyline but the bad guy does die.

The night concludes with a trance dance. A man on a ‘hobby horse’ dances wildly and then kicks and walks through hot coals made from burning coconut husks.

Our morning began with a rice paddy walk at 6.30am led by Darta, a man of great story telling ability. Intriguing how rice paddy irrigation can be interesting. We were also in the company of Pung a young Balinese man who has a great understanding of plants particularly those used with dyeing. He performed in tonight’s Monkey Dance. Pung also works with our hosts Jean and William helping the weaving communities to further their knowledge of the plants used for either dyes or mordents.

Jean and William are gifted speakers and have bought to life the stories of the textiles, the history, politics and culture of the people they work with on the islands such as Flores, Sumba, Kalimantan and Timor where we go next week.

Our fellow travellers are a mixed and interesting bunch as you would imagine of 14 people who decide to do a textile tour. We have a couple of textile artists, 2 conservators, a physiotherapist, an obstetrician, a textile dealer from Charleston, a plant nursery owner and a rail road consultant.

We eat well. Breakfast this morning was glutinous rice porridge flavoured with coconut milk and coloured green with pandanus. I eat as much champagne watermelon, mango, pawpaw and jumba (water cherries) as I can.

Now it’s late, all we hear are frogs, crickets, and the very distant sound of a motorbike and a barking dog.