Arisarmu - A lovely fifty minutes drive from Ampenan to Central Lombok took me accidentally into a traditional Sasak Village of Ende, one of the Lombok's best cultural tourism where tourists will see traditional houses which floors made of cow dung, the process of making traditional hand-woven fabric and 'Peresean' fighting dance.
The sky in dry season (last year) looked bright with hot air but it didn't reduce my spirit to ride my motorbike from Ampenan, a sub-district in Mataram, to Central Lombok.
Since I hadn't been familar with the directions in Lombok, so I often depended on google map and Lombok International Airport as the centre point. I sped the motorcycle on Bypass Bandara International Lombok Rd. When suddenly I saw a road sign to Kuta beach, that was actually my main destination. Then I followed it and turned right. My journey was done on July last year before the earth quakes hit North and East Lombok which destroyed many buildings and killed people.
On the way to Kuta beach, on the right side I saw a group of tourists. My curiosity forced me to stop to investigate it and I read "Welcome to Sasak Village ENDE Sengkol, Lombok".
There is no entrance ticket to enter this village, but some local guides are waiting for visitors. I paid for IDR 60 K (USD 4.25). I don't have any idea how much should a group of tourists pay for a guide. Having a local person to accompany me and tell me about Ende village was a great idea, so I gained more knowledge and understood about a place I visited. It's really value for money.
After walking a few meters from a gateway, my guide stopped at a berugak (a traditional Lombok gazebo) where there was an old woman making traditional hand-woven fabric. I didn't stop here long, just took a couple photos of her and I continued strolling to inner part of the village.
My sister in law who lives in Pemenang, North Lombok said that I was so lucky after knowing I could watch a fighting 'Peresean' dance. Honestly, there was no this dance at Sade village at the time I visited it. The dance used to be done to select warriors who would serve for a kingdom in Lombok. Nowadays, it seems not only to entertain tourists but also to show visitors that Sasak people are fearless, because being hit by a rattan stick is very painful. So each player brings a shield to protect himself from opponent's attack. However after the dance is over, there is no revence, both fighters are still friends even though their bodies are hurt.
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| Peresean dance's being performed by children |
I was pretty amazed to watch Peresean dance and felt satisfied with their performances, then the guide took me walk around the village again. There were some cows. In Lombok, these animals are respected by local people as they can help their owners to cultivate paddy fields. Furthermore, cows are easy to be sold in case of emergency situations.
One suprising experience I've got when I was there that the floors are made of cow dung, composed of 70 % of clay and 30 % of cow dung. The function is to drive away mosquitos and the floors will not become dusty. To maintain the floors. The owners rub inner floors with cow dung once a month while the veranda just once every two weeks. At that time the floors were dry so I didn't sniff any unpleasant smells.
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| This floor is made of cow dung |