Saturday, January 4, 2014

saying cheese

We stayed in Kupang five nights.

Aside from us, few expats and locals passed their days at the bar, and the occasional visa run tourist would make an overnight stop. Whenever we asked for something, Edwin would yell towards the kitchen: "Emory!", his hired young helper who would fulfill our (and everyone else's) wishes.  One local joked that if Edwin was seated at the table with pen in hand and so much as dropped it on the ground, he'd scream for Emory to come from wherever he was to pick it up. We became so familiar with the place that we too were walking in and out of the kitchen as if it were our own... partly because we didn't want Emory to come running from whatever task he had at hand.

In general, few tourists pass through town, and instead of being accosted by locals asking if we need a taxi or motorbike, they'd greet us with shouts of "HI MISTER".  Clearly they hadn't been taught how to address both genders.

While exploring the town, my small camera battery died and I didn't have another.  I was left with only one option for photo taking, which I was quite keen on doing. And that was to strap a very conspicuous DSLR around my neck. I felt uncomfortable parading around town while trying to be stealth in taking pictures of locals with a clearly visible contraption. But I shouldn't have worried. Because the moment it hung down my neck, locals began throwing themselves at me to get their photo taken.















1 comment:

Patti said...

I love these pictures!