Around the bird's head on a motorbike

I decide to hire a motorbike for a day from the Homestay owner in Alor. It's a semi automatic, ie it has 3 gears and a foot brake, but no clutch, and comes without a helmet. I throw all caution to the wind and go on an adventure.

It takes me a little while to get used to the gear changes, but I've ridden a bike like this before so it's not completely new. Soon I'm feeling more confident and managing to get a bit more speed up on the nice roads. I head towards the airport and the beach at Mali, but stop along the way to admire the turquoise waters and deep blue sky.

After Mali the road heads up hill and becomes narrow and dodgy, and doesn't improve one bit for a very long time. I'm feeling a lot more confident on two wheels now, but still play very safe indeed. I find myself at a lovely bay called Batu Putih, named after the white stone cliffs at one end of the golden sand beach. It's hot, but very picturesque. The locals say it is safe to swim (the waters around Alor have wicked currents so it's important to ask before venturing in to the water) but I decline. I don't know what it is, but I'm just not that into going swimming, even though I've brought the snorkelling gear with me.

The road then heads up into the mountains, gets very steep, very narrow, and even more dodgy. It then begins to rain, so I quickly stop to put my camera and all electronics safely away inside my lightweight drybag. By then it's pouring down and I find it impossible to ride with the rain pelting in to my eyes. My sunglasses provide no protection, and since I have no helmet, there's nothing to stop it. A young farmer offers to drive me up to his house and let me shelter on his verandah until the rain abates. He happily walks back down to his farm.

Once the rain stops I continue further into the interior. The rain has caused the branches on each side of the road to droop over, making for an interesting and rather wet ride, and the road itself is a little slippery now its wet. I drive oh so carefully and have absolutely no dramas at all, no slipping wheels, certainly no falling over. I'm really proud of myself.

I get to a small village, and ask the way. I later discover there is a nearby waterfall, but I missed it through ignorance and a complete lack of any maps or signage aimed at tourism. Though admittedly, there are many more road signs on Alor than I'd seen on Lembata, which had, well, none!!

I find myself at Kokar Beach, on the northern side of the birds head peninsular. The road has now improved and I hope to get back to Kalabahi by dusk. I am stopped by a couple on a motorbike going in the opposite direction and invited to their house. It's only 2 o'clock so I happily agree. I turn around and head back maybe a kilometre, to their house, where I meet 3 generations of family. They are all incredibly welcoming, feeding me a local dish of papaya and banana blossom cooked with coconut, offer me betel nut to chew, a cup of tea, and even some Sopi. They totally understand when I just take one glass of the sopi, explaining I still have to drive back to town.

They are none of them camera shy, so we all take lots of photos on our phones and nice cameras. Then I get back on the bike and head home.

The road skirts the coast the whole way back to Kalabahi. It passes Sebanjar beach, good for snorkelling, and Alor Kecil, where the boat to Pulau Kepa goes from, then turns south bordering the strait between Alor and Pantar. There are a bunch of other islands in the strait, including the Sopi producing island of Pura, all of which you can visit, with a boat of course.

I arrive back in Kalabahi just as it's starting to get dark. I made it!!

And then there is Alor

After a little over a week on the beautiful friendly island of Lembata, I took another ferry further east. This one was a car ferry, and left from a port south of Lewoleba, necessitating the taking of an ojek through the night to get there. Once on the ferry I found myself a space on the vehicle deck to throw down a mattress (provided by the ferry company for an extra 20,000Rp) and make myself at home. I'd brought some sate and rice for dinner, so I ate that, and then went to sleep. It wasn't that hard, though I could have made it a little more comfortable by unpacking my bag a little to fashion up a pillow, and when, at 3 in the morning it became just a little chilly and everyone else used their sarongs as blankets, I too could have if I'd bothered to unpack it. Instead I tucked my shirt in and managed without.

The ferry was slow. We left Waijarang on Lembata at 8pm, and arrived in Baranusa on Pantar at 6am. We then waited there about an hour before heading further east, arriving at Kalabahi on Alor around 1pm. But the scenery was superb, particularly the sunrise as we headed in to Baranusa.

Once in Kalabahi I took an ojek to Cantik Homestay, a small place in a leafy suburb just up from the hospital, very central but still quiet and away from the traffic on the main road. The rooms are set around a courtyard, are air conditioned and cheap, and the cooking is superb. Perfect for sleeping away the rest of the day, and washing all my filthy clothes before heading out for a massive meal of baked fish down at the night warungs by the harbour.

My plan in Alor was to do some sight seeing before heading off to Pulau Kepa for a couple of days of diving. But I hadn't booked a room on Kepa, and they were full, as the diving season has already commenced. The next ferry wasn't for another week, so I had all the time in the world to relax and get to know the island and its people. And if I thought Lembata was friendly, Alor is even more so.

So what did I do with my days?

I slept in, drank coffee and chatted with other guests at the homestay. There's James, from Singapore, running a game fishing charter boat business, there's Kennedy, from Manado, and his wife Isobel, looking to start up a dive business. There's Pak Khris the owner, his wife Karolina who is a fantastic cook, and Deddy and Yanti who work at the Homestay. Everyone is friendly and relaxed, and evenings over dinner and some Sopi (the local palm wine brewed on the nearby island of Pura) with great conversation in a mixture of English and Indonesian, are something to look forward to.

During the days I wander around town or further afield.

I find a funky little cafe just down the road, opposite the hospital, which sells souvenirs as well as some delicious cocktails made from Sopi. It's run by a fantastic lady called Mika, who becomes my friend. More about her and the work she is doing on Alor in another post.

I visit the Museum Seribu Moko, which has a collection of mokos, ancient brass drums used for making music but also for dowry, ikats from around the island, and various old ceramics and historical paraphernalia. I make another friend, Razta, who offers to take me to the traditional village of Takpala.

samurai swords from the Japanese occupation during WW2

Mokos

the models have conspicuously white skin and features

irate detail

I hire a motorbike for a day and do a circumnavigation of the birds head peninsula of Alor, which involves some rather dodgy roads through the mountains and getting caught in a massive downpour. And meeting a very friendly family of three generations.

I drink more cocktails at Mika's cafe, and on Sunday we go for dinner at the local posh restaurant of Resto Mama, built over the water with drop dead gorgeous views of the sunset. The food isn't as good as Ibu Karolina's but it's a great location, only spoilt by the Karaoke that the restaurant also offers.

I buy more ikats and souvenirs, too many to keep with me when travelling, so I head to the Post Office to send them home. It's cheaper to send them from Kupang, so Mika offers to do it for me when she goes there in a week or two.

I go down to the port to confirm where and when my ferry to Atapupu, on the eastern end of West Timor leaves. My research told me Tuesday night, but Pak Khris and the port security guys tell me Wednesday.

I spend a night at Mika's house and the next day we head into the interior to distribute shoes to needy school children.

And then I miss my freaking ferry!!

All these stories next...well soon anyway....