A flavour of the Orient
Rai & Stephie in Asia

Getting to some indonesian islands was never going to be easy. Following our whale hunting experience in Lembata island the idea was to somehow cross the Sawu sea and explore West Timor. The wooden ferries were not travelling for the next week or so, the better Pelni boats were nowhere to be seen and the little cesna planes were long booked up. Going further east to the Alor islands for some cheeky snorkelling and then onto West Timor was not an option unless you fancied a very very very very long swim!

So we were forced to backtrack which we hate...but not for long...after a 4hr truck journey in the middle of the night and a 4 hr ferry ride back to the Eastern  port of Larantuka in Flores our luck changed and we are able to transfer onto a dodgy looking ferry for an 18 hr ride to Kupang the main city of West Timor. We were given two seats on the ferry and some floor space for sleeping. The cabin was nice and smokey despite it being oficially non smoking...indonesians love their clove cigarretes and they won't hesitate to light up on buses, taxis, ferries, toilets, shops, ....

Despite the boat rocking from side to side (the waves were big, very big) we managed to get some sleep and after nearly 30 hrs on the road we walked into a hotel in central Kupang smelling pretty bad and in need of a cold shower.