Kupang day trip - part 1
Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Tue 19 Oct 2010 10:44
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Tuesday 19th October
Paul arranged a day/afternoon
tour of Kupang with a gentleman named Don, a local guide. Bahasa Indonesia, the
national language is often not spoken nevermind English so a local guide had
been advised and they're so cheap it'd be silly not to hire one. Don, in turn,
arranged for Mr Uno to drive us around which we were quite pleased about as the
roads of Kupang are not something you'd want to navigate yourselves. In the
guide book, it says 'Cars drive on the left hand side' so we thought that was a
good start, however, it then goes on to say 'they also drive on the right, down
the middle and on pavements'!
Our first stop just outside the
main town was a boat building yard, a very interesting place. The boats are
funded by the government and given to local islands and villages.
   Above a man is knocking the
plank down to form the hull. There is a different type of wood placed in between
the two planks which expands and forms a sealant. Impressive!
  Everywhere we went the people
were obsessed with taking pictures on their phones. No matter how poor they are
they all have the latest phones!
 Using a chainsaw to make the
plank of wood the right thickness - a skill!
Next stop was the East Nusas
Tengarra Museum which houses a collection of skulls, seashells, stone tools,
swords and antique looms from across the province. All of the descriptions were
written in Indonesian so we couldn't understand much but it was interesting non
the less, as was the experience. The museum was unlocked and opened up for us by
the guard who walked around behind us. Then when we reached the end there was a
sign saying 'Ticket' which meant you could pay whatever you felt necessary for
your museum experience and write a note in the guest book. We were then taken to
a side building which housed the huge blue whale skeleton you can see below. The
pictures all around the wall showed tiny fishing boats capturing
and killing these huge creatures, it's such a shame but I guess it's a part
of their culture you have to accept.
  Even the bones were graffitied,
a sign of what Kupang is like
We then headed further out of
Kupang to Oebelo, a small salt mining town which is notable for a terrific
Rotenese musical instrument workshop, Sassandu, run by Pak Pah and his family.
Traditional 20 stringed harps, also known as Sassando, are made and played in
all sizes, along with coconut shell drums and electrified versions of the
Rotenese lontar-leaf hat, ti'i langga.
  Amy with Pak in his
home
  First of all Pak played a few
instrumental numbers whilst sat amongst his trophies
  Then his son,Jack, who won
Indonesia's got talent last year, played some more well known songs such as
'Only fools rush in - UB40's' (a bit of Birmingham), 'Ave Maria', 'Yellow
Submarine - Coldplay' and many more. It was lovely!
We then felt as if we'd stepped
back in time as we entered a little village by Laisana Beach. It took us back to
the simple living of the San Blas Islands. Here, they rely on the palm tree very
much. The wood is used for the floors of their homes, the leaves for the roofs
and the palm sugar is used as a cooking aid, as sweets, added to water it forms
a syrup to drink and when boiled it forms a paste which is brushed onto the
woven leaves to form a solid mat for example.
  The oven in the
ground.................part of their village
  The palm
sugar..................pigs in a cage
  Villagers sat around with the
very thin Kupang cows nearby
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