RUTENG , located in Flores Island of Indonesia, is surrounded by stark, forested volcanic hills and rolling rice-paddy plains, it’s an archetypal hill town and a cool, relaxing place. The market just to the south is the central meeting point for the local Manggarai people, as Ruteng is their district capital.

They speak their own language and have a distinctive culture that’s most in evidence in villages on the south coast. Their traditional houses are conical and arranged in concentric circles around a round sacrificial arena; even the rice paddies are round, divided up like spiders webs, with each clan receiving a slice.

The Spider Rice fields were actually pretty cool. The view from above is definitely needed to get the whole effect. Instead of plotting the rice field in squares or rectangles they divided it like a pie. From the hills above it appears like a spider web pattern. The valley directly behind you as you look at the rice fields were in dispute so the government stepped in and split it for them.

Spider-shape rice field, in Ruteng, Flores Island

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