Such a wonderful fun day in West Timor- a country I’ve never heard of before. Everyone was so happy to see us and had such big smiles.
The day didn’t start off too well since we disembarked the ship just as it started to downpour. We got soaking wet even with umbrellas and I heard that someone slipped on the wet cement and broke her arm. There was some confusion as to where to get in the vans so it took a bit longer than expected to get everyone loaded up and on the road. I thought two couples were going to get into a fight in the van. Once we were on the way, everyone calmed down and were happy(mostly) to be in West Timor.
We had a police escort and 4-6 vans were in a group. The guide said they usually only get 100 or so visitors a day and today they had over 500 so they wanted to be sure everyone was safe and take care of.
Excursion description: “Drive to Baun Village (approx.1hr15min). Enjoy traditional dances and performances in Baun Palace (approx.2hrs15min). Drive to traditional smoked pork process (approx. 15min). Visit (approx.45min). Drive to Dekranasda Souvenir Center (approx.1hr). Shopping time (approx.1hr). Drive back to the port (approx. 30 min).”
The drive thru the country was amazing- it looked very much like Bali but there were no temples, shrines or offerings but rather Catholic/Protestant churches. The homes were made from concrete blocks and not wood/aluminum and had glass windows. And a number of houses had a satellite dish.
We went to the Baun Palace in the Amarasi Kingdom about 25km south of Kupang where we saw the King and his wife and one of his children. He is the 14th generation of kings. We were welcomed to the village with a welcome ceremony then we saw a traditional dance. After the dance we watched women demonstrate traditional weaving. I purchased fabric that was made with natural dyes- the king’s son said it was a very good choice.
It was pretty fun, they were taking pictures of us while we were taking pictures of them. They even had a drone for pictures and one of the young men had a stabilizer for his phone/camera. On the way out, two young women asked me if they could take a picture with me- I said yes and more happy smiles appeared.
On the way back to the ship we stopped at a pork smokehouse that is famous. Folks from the big city of Kupang come up to get the smoked pork and we had a delicious sample. It reminded me of the Texas BBQ restaurants. The owner was chewing betel nut (a widespread cultural practice with elders) which turned his teeth & gums bright red. The owner was videoing all of us in his shop and his workers were also taking pictures of us while we were taking pictures of them.
Our last stop was a cooperative weaving store. I found a piece that I really liked and purchased it. It turned out it was from the guide’s province. He took a picture of us with the fabric. The shop keepers took a picture of us too. Everyone was smiling. A wonderful end to the day.
