She's no Kate Moss-but no great loss!

The scene is replayed throughout the islands of Indonesia. Size is frankly acknowledged and appreciated--a refreshing change from Kate Moss and the Weight Police. When I learn how to thresh rice, the women circle my waist with their hands and say, "Stay! You can work harder than us!" "But I would eat too much rice, and then there would be more work," I reply. "Ah yes," the women nod sagely, ever the wise housekeepers.

The Indonesians always appreciate my pride when I come back from a day clambering around the fields. They can imagine how hard it is at my size to avoid falling, breaking a delicate bamboo bridge or slipping down a muddy slope. 

The only murmur of discontent--and more often riotous laughter--is on local transport, where a combination of size and innate clumsiness can prove disastrous. I take up three seats, and with legs up to my chin and a huge backpack, it can take a while to untangle me. My most fervent wish when squashing past startled locals in their tiny minivans, aiming for an unlikely looking space at the back, is: "Please don't let me get stuck."