Kupang

A view from Kupang centre across the bay

Kupang is a lovely little city on the western end of Timor – I don't think there's much of the mythical sleepy towns of South-East Asia that you find in a Graham Greene novel and Kupang is no exception, with lots of motorbikes, cars, building and chaos, but, compared to the big cities, it is open, slow-paced and relaxed.

The contrast with East Timor was also very noticeable. Firstly, it was clearly far more prosperous – not just in terms of infrastructure, but in terms of people's houses, clothing and the contents of the shops. I don't know much about West Timor's history, beyond the fact that it was once part of the Dutch colonies and was incorporated into the independent Indonesian state, whereas East Timor was part of the Portuguese colonies, somewhat absurdly given up only in the early 1970s. Whatever nostalgia some East Timorese have for them (and plenty don't), they didn't contribute much in the way of industrial development; apparently when they left there were no paved roads or electricity outside of Dili. Following their brief period of independence came the brutal Indonesian occupation, during which, evidently, there was a fair bit of basic infrastructure, such as roads and electricity, introduced – as well as large-scale aerial poisoning of forests and exploitative logging. On their departure they employed a systematic scorched earth policy, destroying as much of the infrastructure they'd introduced as they could. In short, the effects of Portuguese and Indonesian occupation, a long and brutal war and a scorched earth policy, meant that East Timor didn't have much to start with once they finally achieved their treasured independence at the turn of the century.

Whatever the history of West Timor, of which I have a shamefully inadequate grasp, it has clearly experienced much more peace, investment and independence from western influence. Another contrast in Indonesia has been the lack of western NGO's, aid programmes and managers that are still very much in evidence in Dili in particular – along with an emerging and ugly rich elite. Here, everything is run by – and largely for – Indonesians.

Anyway, regardless of the historical tapestry, we've found people here exceedingly friendly – lots of people smiling, saying hello and happy to chat with us in our rudimentary Indonesian or help us out if we can't work out what's going on! We've encountered few people with much English beyond 'hello mister!' or 'how are you?', so it's been very good knowing a smattering of Indonesian. Our amazing couch-surfing hosts Arin and Kino had very good English though, so we could pepper them with questions and humbug them to help us organise a few logistical things – as well as discuss our countries and cultures.

Arin, Kino and their kids Malif (l) and Dheera (r) farewell us with lunch at Mie Aceh

To call them couch-surfing hosts would be doing them a disservice, however, as we felt more like honoured guests on a tailored tour, being shown everything and having everything explained. We had sunset drinks overlooking the harbour, a dinner of yet more lovely fresh seafood at a favourite place of theirs, went with Arin to Crystal cave, a 50 metre scramble over limestone to a subterranean swimming hole with the loveliest, clearest water a few metres deep – or, for the brave, you can don scuba gear and go exploring!

Descending into Crystal cave

Swimming in Crystal cave (and stunned by the flash!)

After that Arin took us out of town to Tablalong beach, a long sandy and, being a weekday, deserted beach.

Swimming at Tablalong beach

A shady lounging spot

Driving back in Arin's flash car!

If that wasn't enough, she also arranged some scuba-diving, so on Saturday, with her and Kino, we did two dives across from the port. The first was in a fearsome current, an express sideways facing dive over coral bommies on a sand bottom and the second, much calmer, on a coral-covered slope that was lots of fun – I felt, for some reason, that I was in Yellow Submarine and could almost hear Ringo's droning voice through the water!

Post-diving langour as we head back to port

After diving, we went home, got ready, had a quick lunch of yet more delicious food at another of their favourite spots, Mie Aceh (Aceh Noodles) then they dropped us off at the port to get on the AM Awu, a large passenger ship of the state-run Pelni shipping company for our three-day (as we thought! - it turned out later it was actually four) trip to Surabaya on Java's east coast and bid them a very fond farewell.

Spicy Aceh noodles – the last of our delicious Kupang meals!

A fond farewell from our new friends Arin and Kino!