Anyway we left the boat at 7.30 am to go to the busy Wairkoja market. There were a lot of fruit and vegetable vendors and some textiles, but the ones selling the pigs were a bit distressing, so I didn't like it that much.
Next stop was a drive up into the Iwang Gete highlands to visit the small village of Doka where I was selected as the group representative along with another group member, John. This task is shared amongst us for each village visit and can be quite simple as wearing a scarf presented to us and leading our procession through a group of dancers. So no big deal. However this village had John and I changing into traditional clothes - and for me that meant top and sarong, numerous wooden and beaded bangles, which they struggled to force onto my wrists and then the head Ibu brushed my hair for ages and put it up in a bun with a fake hairpiece. Not a look I am eager to replicate in the future....
Our official duties also required us to either smoke a homegrown cigarette or chew some betel leaf, lime and pinang, or areca nut. I went for the betel chewing and had a red mouth for the rest of the day. The arak that they gave us added to the whole experience!
Part of the cultural dance performances put on in our honour.
For the deep reddish brown they dye with Morinda citrifolia (mengkudu)
In the afternoon we went to the Museum Bikon Blewut in Ledalero and then went a bit further south to Nita Kloang village to again watch production of cotton yarn, ikat, and dyeing.
Tarum or indigo dyeing with Indigofera which is kept in a ceramic vat and then put in a leaf container for dyeing.
For green dye the women use leaves from the Dadap tree, which has spikes and grows to about 2m along with kunyit and kapur.
Returning to the boat in the evening we had a great lecture from Sue followed by our safety briefing from Nato in preparation for our cruise. Whilst dinner was served we heard the anchors being raised and we were off, sailing through the night.
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