Kupang - Bemo Town

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After some days in Ende the ferry finally came to take me to the southern-most Indonesian island, to Timor. Since East Timor has become an independent country the Indonesian part is called West Timor. The only big town over there is Kupang which is still quite small. Among the local are a couple of Australiam escapists, some with Indonesian wifes. They meet at 'Teddy's Bar' every evening to play pool, stare at the sea, and get drunk. After a few days I found their company pretty depressing... they were not too helpfull for my plans of a boat to Australia. But the steak sold there was awesome after all the Padang food.

During my inquiries for my planed boat trip to Australia I had another go with the local transport system which I had first got to know in Padang. In Kupang the little buses are called Bemos. As a foreigner you never know where they are going. When I wanted to go to the habour out of Kupang I just asked the boy in the next one passing and was waved to get on. Being the only passenger, having loud music, and most important going into the wrong direction since nearly half an hour the Bemo boy asured me of my destination. Finally I got it: for him and his driver it was just boring to have no passengers on there loop, they just loaded me for entertainment! So I thought I'd rather use the time for some little 'Bemo shooting', just because it's so unique for Indonesia and even more for Kupang. See pictures...
After about one hour we got back into town and I was dumped there (certainly without paying the fare) for getting another Bemo - to the right destination this time.

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Photos

The Bemo...
... usually is a quite small Mitsubishi minibus model.

The Front part...
... is for the driver and one to two passengers. The usual stuff like tachometer and fuel gauge are not that interesting at all. Usually they are not working anyway. A lot more interesting are all those lights and, most important, the tapes.

The Back....
... is where you squeeze in. Two benches are on top of two large loudspeakers. Usually there is another one just behind the driver.

The Decoration...
... on the outside of the Bemo and on all the windows shows pictures and poetry. Love is a big issue.

...and the Bemo Boy.
He's the one that collects the money from passengers getting off the Bemo. His second duty is to roll and smoke cigarettes regardless of the weather, the speed of the Bemo, or his age.