09.54S 122.57E
JENNY
Alan Franklin/ Lynne Gane
Fri 10 Oct 2008 12:40
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Hi everyone.
Just a quick update
on progress so far. We are now on our way to Rinca - another Island in Indonesia
where we hope to see the famous Kimodo dragons - 10 foot long and poisonous, so
we're not hoping for too close an acquaintance!!, Kimodo is not the only place
they live, however Rinca supposed to be a lovely anchorage and we expect
to be there first light day after tomorrow. Its a relatively short voyage of 450
miles.
We arrived Kupang on 5th October, just scraping
into the anchorage at dusk, having had a cracking sail up through the
islands. A hell of a lot of paperwork to temporally import the boat into
Indonesia, but eventually we managed to dinghy ashore and take note of our
surroundings. We found as in many places before that people are
so friendly, helpful and happy, and made us feel very welcome. Kupang-
well apart from Panama I can't say I've seen a place so poor and almost
derelict. There is little employment and the main occupation seems to be trying
to eke a living from selling almost anything, wherever you look there are
stalls, or more like a blanket on the ground where produce is laid
out, in many cases this is where they sleep as well! Its very warm here now but
the start of the wet season so who knows what happens then. There are of
course the affluent people as well, but very much a minority.
We did have an opportunity to have a tour and it
was pleasing to also get out and see what the countryside was like. The Museum
was interesting - if only I spoke Indonesian! The open air market was
interesting too - a mass of more stalls and blankets and all the interesting
scents of downtown Kupang.
All that being so it was a little sad to leave
Kupang - so many lovely people helped all the rally boats to enjoy there stay -
and of course those few repairs always needed - Us too - fuel blockage cost us a
day just when all the boats were leaving - in fact we're "tail end
charlie" for a while. Just the four of us till Peter joins us again in
Bali on the 19th we hope.
regards to all
Alan, Jenny, Ellie and
Chris
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