Kupang day trip - part 2
Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Tue 19 Oct 2010 10:52
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Tuesday 19th October
On way way back we stopped for a
spot of lunch with Don at a restaurant of his choice. The waiters kept bringing
more and more bowls of food out to us containing beef, chicken, fish cooked in
various ways as well as brains and cow tendons - yum! We noticed Don encouraged
us to try them but didn't eat them himself. The meal was an interesting concept
as we only paid for what we ate and the rest was taken back into the kitchen at
the end of the meal to be thrown away or placed back into the huge bowls
containing more of the same, who knows! Nonetheless, it was all very tasty and a
perfect first meal in Indonesia.
 Paul and Amy amongst the
spread
As Don had let Mr Uno, our
driver, go while we ate we decided to catch the bemo back to the harbour. A ride
in one of these unique bass-thumping hip-hop bemo's is said to be one of the
city's essential experiences. Windscreens are festooned with girly silhouettes,
Jesus of Nazareth or his mom, and English premiership football stars. The
low-rider paint job is of the 'Fast & Furious' technicolour variety, while
banks of subwoofers will have your ass involuntarily shaking to the drivers'
C-list hip-hop soundtrack. And no matter the distance there is a standard fare
of 2,000 rupiah, around 15 pence!
  We flagged one down as they
stop anywhere and hopped in the back, well Paul was co-pilot. Young lads hang
out of the doors as they drive along and the drivers don't appear to be much
older!
  The drivers kept swapping over as
the van kept breaking down and they all thought they knew how to solve the
problem. The general consensus was to put their arm into a hole in the
dashboard, wiggle it around and the engine started, only to fail a few hundred
yards further down the road. This continued for half a mile before the van gave
up altogether and we had to get out to hail another.
  Navigating our way through the
horrendous traffic, bikes absolutely everywhere
  All along the sides of the road
were stalls selling salt (to the left) and petrol (to the right) - a
bizarre petrol station!
 And of course there were plenty
of these food stalls.
  Later in the evening we had this glorious
sunset!
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