The Kupang Experience

Kupang from our deck

Checking into Indonesia was an experience almost hard to believe.  We were told that customs and immigration wanted multiple copies of everything and they weren't kidding.  After waiting 24 hours, five chaps boarded our boat (all very pleasant) and asked for four copies of everything, passports, boat papers, crew list, CAIT form (the temporary importation for the boat - very very valuable), clearance form from Australia etc etc etc.  Once completed, we were to go ashore to the office set up with all the departments, customs, immigration, health, agriculture and port control and check in with them too.  Why again???? Oh well, go with the flow.  They also asked for multiple copies of all our documents which leaves us wondering just where do all these copies go to?  The entire process was really quite painless but only because we were on the rally - to do this without would be a very long nightmare. 

And boy, do they love things to be stamped.  We were fortunate enough to have a really nice boat stamp, courtesy of our Vagabond friends, which brought big smiles to their faces.  They loved it so we had to stamp everything. Whoa betide he who does not have a boat stamp.

Now, heaven is in the form of great Indonesian food at unbelievably low prices.  I haven't had to cook on board once since our arrival.  We raced off the first night to savour some Nasi Goreng  at $2.50 a plate.  The next night, a group of us went to the street vendors to taste whatever was on offer there so shared numerous plates of heaven only knows what - a great experience and super evening at similar prices.  Now we're being hosted by the Indonesian government to all sorts of activities; music, dancing, singing, speeches and food with a huge gala dinner with the city's major tomorrow night so I still won't have to cook for at least another day.  We can expect a lot of this at each and every rally stop.

This part of the rally is called Sail Komodo and the buildings and streets of Kupang are covered with enormous posters welcoming the participants of the rally.  We had no idea it was such a big thing to them and have been astounded at the public response to the event considering that it has fallen in the month of Ramadan.  

Tonight's entertainment started with a bus trip to a venue where we were told there would be a technical meeting.  The truth was, the two rally chaps had no idea what was planned, just that we'd be given more information about the various options of routes we could take within Indonesia.  As it turned out, this was all arranged by Kupang officials as well as the chap who put his head on the block by guaranteeing each and every one of our boats in order to get us through all the red tape necessary to take a foreign sailboat into Indonesia.  We were welcomed with rally golf shirts, flags, money belts and a host of information on other venues.

While waiting to start, we were entertained by a couple of fellows playing the sasando, a fascinating harp-like instrument made from a bamboo tube with many strings stretched from top to bottom.  This is then surrounded by a fan of dried leaves to resonate the sound, which was amazing; could have listened to them for hours.  We were served some snacks at this time, traditional Indonesian fare, some not quite my cup of tea, followed by the main presentation of what entertainment to expect at various anchorages on our chosen route which proved very informative.  

At this stage, we assumed it was all finished and most headed back to the buses except we saw girls preparing to dance for us so stayed back a bit.  When we thought that was over, we walked away towards the buses only to be told no, you  must go back, dinner is being served.  More singing, more dancing and even a short fashion show thrown in and lo and behold, dinner was served.  It was great and such a pity that most didn't know about the dinner - I think this is a sign of the organised chaos we'd been warned about.

PHOTO ALBUM:

Checking in

Street madness

There are literally thousands of bikes

The nightly food market

Sampling things