Kupang

July 06th-12th

This hotel should learn guests stay in to sleep, not because it’s great. They should therefore learn to switch off the lights in the patio, and put light-blocking blinds on the windows. It was so bright and noisy, we hardly slept.
Last night we had only cold water, this morning, we have no water at all. Oh well, 200k rupiah is rather cheap anyway. Still, they could at least serve a real breakfast. We had the choice between kopi (with a tablespoon of sugar of course) and a piece of toast filled with something sweet, dark, with green and red spots; or rice and fish… How I miss Claire’s pancakes this morning.

After debating the price of the room with the manager, since we had no water, we went across the street to the “expat bar” for a couple of hours on the Internet. Time to check the bank accounts, and catch up with the family. Also a good opportunity to get information on the ferries across to Flores.

Around 6PM we met with Anna, our Couch-host for the next couple of days. She works at “CARE Indonesia”, an international NGO fighting poverty and restoring dignity to those who lost everything in disasters, such as the few tsunamis that hit the region for the past decade. We met with her team on the beach, for a couple of teambuilding games. After a quick introduction, we got invited to take part in the race: three people per team, sharing these giant ski-like shoes, so three feet per ski if you like. The leader gives the tempo, and the other two try to keep up. We lost the first round but saved our honour by winning the second round by a couple of inches. YAY!

We dropped our stuff at Anna’s then went out for dinner at the night market. It runs every night, and the fifty or so shops offer grilled fish, fried rice, fried veggies, fresh fruit juices, chicken. The barbecues are smoking everywhere, the boiling oil is bubbling in large woks, it’s colourful, smelly, noisy, but so tasty. Indonesian food is just great.

Saturday, shopping ! We have a list to go through, including SIM cards and a pair of jeans for me, my faithful Levi’s 501 are really on their way out. But most important, we need a bottle of gas, one that would not exceed 4kg, and would fit on our stove.

No luck finding a pair of Jean’s my size, I guess long and skinny isn’t quite the description I’d chose to talk about Indonesian people… At least Claire got her new phone. And boy does she love Android ! Watch out Luv, you’re turning into a geek. Stop downloading every app there is out there 🙂

Sadly, no gas bottle meets the requirement though. We’ll have to do with fire for now, Melanie (Luke’s sister, we haven’t seen each other since 1995, she lives in Bali. I’ll tell you more later) tells me there is an Australian camping and barbecue place in Ubud.
Oh well. Stuff the shopping, let’s go back home and enjoy a couple of drinks. Anna really does have a great view from her back porch. The house is massive, and overlooks a suburb of Kupang, with the ocean in the distance, just perfect picture.

This is supposedly my last night in Kupang, tomorrow I’ll catch the ferry to Larantuka, with the help of the officer we met on Friday at the port.
Six AM, get up, coffee, load the car, pack the bags, off to the port. The crowd is already massive and it’s only 8AM, with the boat leaving at 3PM. I tried to get a ticket, but it’s full already. The police officer who was meant to meet me is not there, I talked to his colleague who assured me he could speak English, but aside from repeating word for word what I was telling him, I got as much information as if I had spoken to a parrot. Or a shoe.

So, damn, boat is full and the next one is scheduled on Thursday. And I was meant to get to Maumere before Friday to renew my visa. Shit, this is crap. Not to panic, Ida (Anna’s good friend and colleague) has a solution. She’s been here for 15 years and knows everyone in town. So, first her brother will give us a copy of the ferry schedule (something very hard to obtain, would you believe), then he’ll take me to the immigration office on Monday (there is one in Kupang. I did not know that).

Cool, I get to stay for a few more hours and spend some time with Claire. Because at 3PM, it’s time for us to part. With a bit of a choked throat, I drop her off at the airport. It’s goodbye but not farewell, we’ll only be apart for six months. It’s hard after three months together 24×7, but it has to be done. It’s good for Claire’s career and her bank account too. Chin up. See you at Xsmas .

She’ll be staying with my friend Melanie, Luke’s sister. Who’s Luke? My best mate, from Launceston, he lives in Brasil now. We met in 1995, came to stay for a few months in Brussels with me, while he was doing his “man-o-leisure tour”, then in Melbourne a couple of years later. Anyways, he has a sister, Melanie, whom I may or may not have met neither of us can recall. She now lives in Bali with her husband and kids, and has kindly accepted to have Claire for the night, while she’s in transit for her next flight to Darwin tomorrow. I miss you. You, your co-pilot skills, your company, your love, and your pancakes!

So while Claire enjoyed Melanie’s company, I was meeting Ida’s brother and set up a rendez-vous point for tomorrow, at the immigration office. Jo’s been super helpful, he too knows a lot of people in Kupang, including an immigration officer. So, a process which can take up to a couple of days was resolved in a matter of hours. I paid 150.000rd, but I’m pretty sure it should have been 250.000rd. Go figure. At least it’s done, I just have to pick up my passport tomorrow.

Tuesday morning then, after Anna had left for Flores on a business trip, I kinda stayed in bed and caught up with some much needed sleep, then did Troopy’s service. It was only due in 2500km but since one of the oil container has leaked all over the roofrack, I’d rather get rid of it as soon as possible. So while I was changing the filters etc, a dozen of these slum kids buzzed around me, as they’ve done for the last few days.

They’re from broken families, most of them are abused on a regular basis, so a bit of entertainment by an adult who does not throw bricks at them is welcome I suppose. They’re very happy to speak the few word of English they know, unfortunately they only know twenty words max. So, “hey mister”, “how are you” and “my name is”, when repeated fifty times, it sorta gets on your nerve a bit. Still, one of them offered me his help, passing me the tools, and helping me with the oil change, for once most of the 10L container is actually IN the engine instead of ON it.

Tonight I’ve been invited at Ida’s place, for her sister 02th birthday, which gives me the opportunity to taste more traditional food. So there is sardines with vinegar and chilli, rice, pork, tofu, pasta, fried noodles, cake, jelly, fried soy beans, it’s everywhere and it’s delicious. Well I didn’t care so much for the jell-o but the sardines and vinegar were just great.

Today, as I write this article, I spend my last day in Kupang. I’m having a drink with Ida, I just had dinner at the night market, Indonesia sure has fine cuisine. For about five bucks I had a whole snapper, rice, veggies, and sursop juice. Damn it was good. And in a couple of hours I’ll go and spend the night at the port. Because the Kupang-Larantuka boat is a popular one, it’s always overcrowded. And by overcrowded, I mean packed ! So by staying overnight at the port with the truckies, I’m hoping to be within the first to buy my ticket, making sure I get on board, I don’t want to miss another ship.

Distance to-day: 242km, total: 21665km.