Kalabahi, Alor

The calm water was a welcome relief from the journey of the past fornight of strong winds, large seas and adverse current. The trip across the north coast of Alor was less than pleasant.

Plus Kalabahi had internet…. we’d been out of service for nearly a fortnight and the laptop lifestyler among us was getting anxious.

Keen to stretch our legs we set ashore for a look around town. The waterfront road is pretty hectic, no footpaths and everybody wanting to say hello. There was a definite “Friday 5pm” feeling about town. It was busy! Open-backed trucks overflowed with workers heading home, as did the passenger ferries. The market overflowed onto the streets, as did the rubbish.

We were fortunate to be there during election campaigning which brought a carnival like atmosphere. Blaring sound systems, two-stroke exhausts with the baffles removed mingled with “hey mister” and bunting.

Our hopes of sopi cocktails and a meal overlooking the water were dashed though as we had forgotten the map.

During our jalan jalan we bumped into Marlon, the guide we had contacted earlier. Being the only white faces in town we were easy to spot. We lined up the tour for the following morning.

The main road through town is well sealed and lined with shops and some parks with magnificient large banyan trees. It looks like some love was poured into the town but that was long ago and the rubbish is mounting.

That night over a sundowner we marvelled at the calmness of the anchorage. Not a ripple on the water. Even the mosques weren’t too noisy. We heard one start up the call to prayer then a few moments later another started, then the one at the anchorage started. Here we coined the phrase “the mosque-ican wave”.

Warrior dress ups at Kalabahi, Alor

An island day tour of Alor

Our day tour with Marlon was a wonderful experience and the best island tour we’ve done so far. Marlon has excellent english and a lot of knowledge about his island’s cultures and really took the time to explain things. He asked us what we liked to see and shaped the day.

Firstly we went to Takpala which is a traditional village high up in the hills with a magnificent view over the ocean.

Takpala is a lived-in village which allows visitors. They still live with their traditional customs and animistic rituals. There are 12 dwellings to house the extended family and a few religious buildings and a barn for the goats and the goatherder’s family.

One at a time we entered the main three storey ritual hut where we were explained the animistic beliefs and shown the drums and the fireplace.

While I was in the hut having a blessing performed on me, Stretch was playing dress-ups with the caretaker. Their traditional armour is made of buffalo leather and there were a few fine examples of belts and shields. Marlon explained all the different forms of weaponry and which arrows were for rats and which ones for humans. There was a big knife with one notch on it. This knife had killed a man.

Before heading into the mountains we stopped at a rumah makan (restaurant) to get lunch as there were no cafes where we were going. I was pleased to see that the nasi campur was wrapped in brown paper and we were to eat it with our fingers.

We weaved our way up the mountains high above Kalabahi to an animialistic ritual site then continued through the dense forest and small roadside communities. Marlon pointed out the crops as we passed. The crops exist in amongst the forest growth. There are no mass plantations that we see in western countries but the countryside is dense with crops and income potential. There seems to be sustainable living and even though everyone has a fire burning, there is no apparent deforestation.

Coffee, cacao, betel, clove, vanilla and candlenut all feature in the hills of Alor as well as forests of Teak.

The roads were pretty rooted, the wet season must make this area very difficult to traverse. Our driver was very good.

Moving down from the mountains we took the coastal road to the western side of the “birds head”. The villages here were pretty dusty and distinguished by their crafts. One made functional ceramics while another produced baskets while the men fished.

The ikat weaver was a highlight. As we rolled into her place I rolled my eyes, Great, booming music and a sales pitch… None of that. The music got turned down and Marlon showed us around her workshop.

Talk about home industry. In the garden cotton grew. In the back of the house was a large area where the cotton was combed and spun with a hand operated thingies and a variety of  well-used looms sat.

The cotton was dyed on site. Natural dyes of tumeric, beetle nut and squid ink. Some in buckets, some dye in large clam shells with dead coral used to stir.

And no miserable girl sitting on a loom giving demonstrations. We found one we loved and bought it, which brought a large betel nut stained smile from the weaver. A large octopus ink coloured one with the local motif, a week’s worth of weaving. As we were leaving she brought out her trophy piece, 15m long ikat which had taken three months!

What a great day, and we were happy to have two extra sets of hands when we returned to find the dinghy high and dry sitting up in the rocks. Gah.

Determined to have a sopi cocktail that we’d read about we set out on foot again to find this restaurant only to be disappointed again.

Kalabahi doesn’t have a lot to offer in the way of restaurants. Plenty of street stalls but we didn’t care to sit in the hustle bustle.

Pulau Kepa

We set out on Tramp to see if there were any anchorages around Pulau Kepa or any of the islands opposite Alor. No such luck which was a shame as we’d read about how great the coral and marine life are. Alas, anchoring and that kind of marine-scape don’t mix.

Luckily Pulau Kepa is easily reachable with public transport. We jumped on an ojek each and headed to the wharf where we could get a boat over. We paid 25K each for the ojek and 20K each for the ferry and took our own snorkelling gear and snacks.

Snorkelling on the west coast was by far the best but we were wary of the currents. 4 knots had helped Tramp along the day before and we didn’t want to get caught in that swimming. Coral on the north and east was damaged and not worth a look.

All of the fresh water for the island’s resorts comes from the mainland. We helped a young girl cart her load out of her outrigger canoe. One good dead serves another and the girl offered us a ride back over which we were very grateful for. We were starting to wonder how the hell we were going to get back over as there was no-one around but a few kids and a western woman talking to a resident goat.

Day trips

A day tour with Marlon is a great experience. He can customise to what you’d like to see.
Diving and snorkelling is the thing here. Diving is only possible if you stay with a resort. Snorkelling would be best enjoyed with a tour or guide as the anchorages for a large boat are few around Alor.

Shopping

Pagi Mart has bintang by box or slab.

3 markets in town, plenty of kiosks etc

Dinghy docking, careful of tides. We docked off the pertamina station – they sell solar but only to fishermen.

Phone: an english speaking man can be found at Mutis Cell. He can help with your top-up.

Fueling

We were able to arrange some fuel with Marlon. He had to track down some additional containers as we wanted 800 litres. 3 trips in the dinghy with John as the braun carting the 30 litres containers of fuel on board. John was a lovely happy go lucky chap who was keen beans to come to Bali with us. It was hot work so he asked if it was okay if he took his shorts off. Of course I said, but I did make sure there was another layer underneath… We tipped him with a beer which he skulled quickly and belched loudly with delight. There is only one station which sells benzin and solar in Kalabahi.

Eating out

Resto Mama, no beer, average food overlooking the rubbish in the bay. A few rumah makans and street food near markets but Kalabahi doesn’t offer much in this department.

Locals: Achmed. Offered fuel at twice the price of Marlon and well above anything we’ve ever paid in Indo.