I had been sitting beside Oto on the ferry. His car was parked at Marina cottages where we are staying so we caught a bemo together.

He looks a little better heeled, has very good english and several tourism businesses. He was with his wife and they had been to the Togeans to check on a beach they own, to check the sand isn’t being stolen. (for cement.)

Ampana…it’s the cleanest town we’ve been in. Rubbish bins on the street. And around our hotel. There isn’t an enormous flotilla of garbage wobbling along the foreshore.

And the cottages we are in are a little flasher and it feel like we’ve landed somewhere nice. A very pleasant surprise.

In the bay out front young men are having fun racing their boats.

At dusk we walked looking for the elusive pisang goreng / fried bananas. We saw them the first night in Denpasar but we’d ordered dinner and I said, tomorrow and there haven’t been any since and so every day Steve reminds me, I wanted to and you wouldn’t let me!

We walk and chat to the mothers of cute babies.

Someone asks what we are doing I say “Looking for pisang goreng / fried bananas. Ada / there is, they say and direct us down a lane that then runs back along the foreshore.

It’s a charming night market with low tables and mats set out on the pebbled beach. Lights strung up. Really nice vibe. Mostly these little stalls are set up beside busy roads with their accompanying potholes.

We order Lempapa chicken with rice.

They change our mat that we are going to sit on for a bigger one.

We get back to our hotel and there are more young people and guitars. It’s been a delightful night surrounded by Indonesians enjoying themselves. Everything is beautiful.

People come to have photos taken with us. And now I’m starting to respond by asking if I can take a photo of them

The table behind has someone playing guitar and the table in front has a toddler toddling towards us in mums shoes. Dad comes to collect her. He asks, “Where are you going from ampana?.I have a car…”

And we’ve booked that driver for tomorrow.