Lombok’s indigenous Sasak people comprise about 90% of the island’s population. Virtually all are now orthodox Muslims, though before 1965, many Sasak in remote areas were Wektu Telu.

Sasak houses are made of bamboo, and sit on a base of compacted mud and cow dung; they have a steeply angled and rather low-slung thatched roof, which forces guests to bow humbly before their hosts. Husbands and wives share a home, but not a bed 9ie bamboo mat). They only spend the night together when they are trying to get pregnant. Once the job is done, the men sleep outside, and the women and children huddled indoors.

Each village will have lumbung, stilted rice-storage barns, to keep rodents at bay. They look like little thatched cottages, and have been mimicked by bungalow resorts throughout Lombok.

There are several examples of traditional villages in southern Lombok, including Sade and Rembitan near Kuta. Villages on the north end of Lombok still maintain a caste system, which heavily influences courtship, and marriage between the highest castes – Datu (men) and Denek Bini (women) – and lower castes are quite rare.

Source: Lonely Planet Bali and Lombok