wine!” he adds, winking. “And the rattan plant here
is used for traditional stick-fighting.”
We descend hundreds of steps, carefully stepping-
stoning our way across a raging rocky creek. We head
across a scary concrete bridge (with safety railings
on one side only!) and up more steps, until a
thunderous roar drowns our voices.
The sinus-clearing smell of fresh water leads to
a mighty sight. The spray jet-washes our faces as
Tiu Kelep waterfall plunges its snow-white wrath
into a chilly lagoon filled with fearless swimmers.
Hiking gear off and swimwear on, we navigate
the slippery moss-covered boulders. I make the extra
brave venture into the cave behind the falls where
apparently, if you make it, you gain a year of youth!
Come afternoon, we’re on the long and winding,
forest-flanked road through Pusuk. It’s pleasantly
congested as hundreds of curious faces peer through
our windows – this is macaque monkey territory,
and it’s truly interactive! No sooner do we step from
the car, and it’s a food riot, when Hassan proffers a
bag of nuts that is immediately assaulted. As Hassan
offers another handful of nuts, one monkey feeds
with his right hand, while his left clamps vice-like
around Hassan’s thumb for fear of missing out.
It takes only seconds. Not a crumb remains.Culture time
The next day, I immerse myself in traditional
Indonesian culture. First stop is at Sukarara weaving
village, one of Lombok’s oldest Sasak settlements.
Fronting a shop, weavers sit inside looms, supported
by wooden back-straps.
“This tradition has been passed from mother
to daughter for generations,” says the assistant.
“Our women painstakingly sit for up to 14 hours a
day, creating Songket fabrics from tie-died threads.”
Some works take months to complete; the intricate
detail would impress Odysseus’ Penelope. Driving
southwest, we spot farmers in conical sedge hats,
tending their bucolic fields by laboriously pulling
wooden ploughs.
We reach Sade, a traditional Sasak village.
Our guide, Embar, leads us to his humble home.
“Living in our village’s 150 houses are 200 people
from 15 generations,” he tells us.
The walk through the labyrinthine lanes is lined
with eye-capturing, traditional lumbung houses
constructed with walls of bamboo and roofs of
thatch. Outside them, women spin threads as kids
chase chickens. Sade is home to a people whose
animist farmer descendants trace back to Java,
millennia ago. From a historical mix of Hindu,
Buddhist and Islamic beliefs, they developed their
own Islamic sub-religion, known as Wetu Telu.
Today, spiritual worship remains strong as the
villagers welcome the souls of their ancestors
into their homes every month.
Spirituality continues near Cakranegara. Here,
the 1744-built Mayura Water Palace sits amid an
artificial lake designed to resemble Mount Rinjani’sClockwise from top: a cidomo jingles
along Gili Meno’s sandy tracks; dizzying
bridges; Sukarara Weaving Village.89
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