Let me take you on a journey, my KAPOK story

KapoK is making a comeback. In posts below you will find an ongoing story telling of how Goldilocks Natural Bedding came about. This is just the start.
Part 1: In 1990 I won an overseas trip in a raffle in a pub in Darwin [true]. I chose to go to West Timor Indonesia [our nearest northern neighbour] just a short jet flight away. I had some great adventures there during which I made some purchases of textiles and carvings and have been returning annually since to gathering Timor Treasures to trade.
Attending markets and tracking down weavers and carvers in their villages required some highly adventurous trail blazing. Transportation in the early nineties, whilst rudimentary, was sufficient to get me into a lot of the locations I wanted to scout. However, bonding with people and finishing in time to leave before the last vehicle [truck or bus] departed back to town proved problematic. Additionally, sleeping in a village overnight was the only way that I could be early enough for market the next day.
As a consequence I found myself over-nighting in the villages. I carried a mosquito net and a light hammock and dreamt of sleeping under the stars in or near the village. But, no matter how I tried to dissuade my hosts from giving up their only bed for me to sleep in the response was always the same; “What would the neighbors say, making our bule [white person] guest sleep outside! The shame of it” so I slept inside.
Tune in again for Part 2 to continue the KAPOK journey.