(Thomas, our guide) Inside is one main room with a fireplace in the middle; a smaller room is off to one side. The walls are made of woven bamboo and there's a flattened dirt floor. There's no chimney; it gets a little smoky.


We put down our bags and were given a coffee (I remember Martin's t-he-he when someone wanted only half a spoon of sugar). We sat on a wooden bench seat inside and rested after our journey. More of Martin’s wantok came, but Thomas didn't hang around long; his brother had died two weeks ago and he had spent the week at the haus krai; I think he might have gone back there. Later they cooked for us - rice, cabbage, spring onion; everyone was (male and) very friendly. They made sure we were fed and didn’t eat themselves until much later; and Martin had given us the one other room to sleep in. (There was a big bed - you could fit probably four grown adults on it - made out of woven cane. And there was a fantastic leopard skin print blanket; it looked hideous but it was very toasty). We talked around the fire for a while; and then I went to bed; it was a men's house, and I didn't want to cramp their style too much. They stayed up until 2 telling stories. I went to sleep listening to the roar of the mountain stream outside.