July 26 – Aug 2
Hi All,
Saturday was the Kupang and Timor official welcoming day for the Rally. It started with a ceremony in the morning with a few speeches and traditional dancing. We are finding the dancing is quite lovely and they like participation. Soon many of the fleet woman were out on the floor (well, not a dance floor, juts part of a street they used). The dancing is accompanied with several people playing drums and gongs which has quite a beat to it!!
The dinner that night was held at a local hotel. Very plush!!! There was more speeches, traditional dancing from several islands and then a buffet dinner. The dinner was free but the drinks were “cash and carry”. Both Stedem and I tried to order some wine but gave up and had cocktails instead. Kathy ordered a glass of white wine…..my cocktail was USD6, not too bad (no tonic just Sprite), her wine was $20 and not tasty at all….that might be her last glass of white wine she orders for a while!!! The buffet was an assortment of meats, noodles, pasta, salads and soup….all very tasty and I’m especially liking the noodles!!!
Sunday was our big tour into the mountains and it started early…..like at 7am….a very short night for us:(((( Cheri and Jeff on sv Grasshopper joined us. What a delightful day and maybe the highlight of our stay in Kupang. It was a long 11 hour day……but the SUV was very comfortable and roomy. It was about a 3 hour drive both ways, about 120k.
Sidebar: driving in Indonesia…..not going to personally happen….reminds us of China and Guatemala…..rules, what rules…..yikes!!!! We saw no stop signs…..1 or 2 stop lights…..you need to turn onto a street….you slow down and turn….the expectation is the oncoming car will stop for you…..car in front is going slow, you pass…..if there is an oncoming car no worries, that car just moves over. There are a lot of motorbikes and they must yield to a bigger car…..there were many times we were 3 wide on a two lane highway with several bikes on the side……even our driver put on his seat belt saying “there are crazy drivers on a Sunday”:)))))……but we never saw an accident!!!!!
We first went to the Royal Palace to see the granddaughter of the Nope family, the King died a few years ago and there has not been a replacement named yet……instead a person who is in the Timor parliament handles the affairs. Issues are first handled at a local level by the family, then it goes to the Kupang officials and if it is not solved then to the Courts. The Lady, forget her name, was a very beautiful and elegant woman and told us stories of when the Japanese invaded and took over her home in WW II. They hid out and lived in caves until the Bomb was dropped and the Japanese disappeared. She showed us some bullet holes still showing on the side of the house. She next took us to the grave site where many of the past Kings and family are buried!!
Then it was off to a traditional village called None. These people live very similarlyto some of the villages in Tonga, Fiji and Vanuatu. Grass huts and subsistence farming. They also do various wood carvings and weavings. We bought a beautiful cloth that was both made on the loom as wells as hand stitched……we were told it took her about 4 months to make!!!! The chief and his entourage took us around the village and told us stories and the decision making process his ancestors used to fight their enemies and to bring the head after careful processing back to the Chief.
Betel Nut Chewing: I don’t have access to Internet as I’m writing this blog on passage to describe this practice more indepth but many of the natives chew what is called a betel nut. It is actually the fruit/nut of the areca palm and chewed with the leaf of the betel plant. Mixed with that bitter leaf and some lime powder it turns the mouth a bright red color. They chew all day and it is said to be a stimulant but taste terrible. We sat for a session and John boy gave it a try……well, I lasted about 10 minutes……it wasn’t as bad tasting as I thought, but it turned my mouth completely dry….like a really, really dry wine. You spit out the juice, like chewing tobacco, and I thought before it gets too bad I just spat the whole thing out. I had made it to a pink color:))) I didn’t chew long enough to feel any effects!!!
The last day saw us going to the museum and Hypermart. Ayub was our guide and we took a series of bemos to the museum……now that was an experience….at one time there were 14 people packed in the van. I sat next to an young engineering student and we had a nice conversation using Ayub to interpret!! The cost for a bemo for the 3 of us is about USD1….whoa…..taxis maybe $10-20….still a bargain!!! The museum is quite nice…takes about an hour and has a nice sampling of some of the artifacts ranging from 100-800 years old or more, a bit on Captain Bligh’s and Magellan’s voyages and then a skeleton of a blue whale….all in all another highlight of our visit.
The Hpyermart, a grocery store chain, was located in a very modern mall…..could have been in any first world country…more like a Sam’s club…..wow. They had very nice produce, ok meat section and then a wide assortment of other goods.
The final dinner was held at the Rally location and was sponsored by the governor’s office…..more speeches, local dancing, a buffet and then participation dancing!!
And there you go…..seven fun filled days for our introduction into Indonesia…..I think we are really going to like it!!!
Hope all is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
on passage to Kalabahi on Alor island, 25nm to go
GO MYSTIC GO!!!
PS: Pics on the website under Gallery called Kupang: http://mysticmoonvoyages.com/photo-gallery/nggallery/main-album/Kupang-1
