Mass Ikat buying, Ternate

We land on our feet.

A woman who has been buying and selling Indonesian handicrafts for the past 25 years offers to take us on one of her forays. We charter a boat to the volcano-domed island on the other side of the bay, last visited by the bank manager in September last year, according to their visitors' book - which they can't read and can't understand but fill in religiously The ladies spread out their ikat for our delectation - tie-dye textile, the traditional cloth and status symbol here. We sip coffee and it starts to pour.

2 hours in the gloom going through their last 6 months of work. We're in the market for buying. Natural dies, tied with coconut fibres in each dying session and then woven on small looms on the floor in each home. We buy buy buy, with the women handing over piece after piece of their work. It's a fantastic day - and doubles our luggage.