On Mar 7, 2024 we docked at Kupang, West Timor, which is the provincial capital city and port of East Nusa Tenggara province in Southeast Indonesia. It has a long history with both Portuguese and Dutch colonial periods. The city was heavily bombed by the Allies during World War II and many old colonial buildings were either destroyed or left as ruins.

We took an excursion that started out at the Museum of Nusa Tenggara which displayed natural and cultural history of Timor, including complex traditional ikat fabric weaving. In the third picture below we were able to see how local Timorese hunt and spear whales off the coast.

After the museum we went to a rural area where we were able to see a local man climb a palm tree and extract juice from its leaves, which was later cooked and pounded into a mixture that eventually became local brown sugar.

Our next stop was at Lasiana Beach where we were entertained at a traditional house by local dancers and musicians with local instruments.

We then headed back to the port, but first stopped at a textile market where we got the opportunity to see a large selection of locally made items.