Saumlaki
Saumlaki has been a great start to our travels in Indonesia. It is the capital of the Tanimbar Islands and the attraction for us has been the friendliness of the people and in particular Mathias, who has been our guide and translator. He introduced himself to us on the morning of our arrival and organised immigration and quarantine clearance for us. Latter we had a tour of the town and and he showed us all of the necessary shops and services that we needed.
The following day we hired a bemo or taxi that is actually a small van that has seats that run down its length. For the whole day with the driver it costs 200,000 rupee or about $23.
We were on our way to Tumbur, a wood carving village but we had a quick stop at another village that makes whiskey. We walked into small thatched roof building with about 6 men attending to a wood fired still about the same size as a 44 gallon drum. We were told that this whiskey is famous in the area and is exported to Ambon where it is in demand. We were offered a taste and it was not too bad but had a smoke flavour from the fire which is hard to get past. The alcohol content must be high as they poured some on the seat and lit it to show us that burns, like metho. It is made from coconut trees. The flower is cut off and a plastic bottle is placed over the stem to collect the sap for a day. I didn't understand how this is then fermented but I understood that they transferred it straight to the still. There is three grades, the first bottle in the distilling process is the best and most expensive and is sent to Ambon while the other grades come latter. I purchased a plastic coke bottle full of what I expect is the lowest grade for $2.50. The local people call it sopi and mix it with beer or concentrated energy drink. Later I tried some in my beer and it made it almost undrinkable.
We then went to the carving village and went to one of the local houses. Carvers were called to bring their work to us to view and purchase. We bought a few things and were given a demonstration on weaving by a lady. Most of the carvings from here are sold in tourist shops in Bali. On the way back to town we stopped at a small beach for a swim.
The following day was Daniel's birthday and one that I don't think he will forget. We started with delicious lunch at a cafe that we stumbled across. The owner called out "hello mister" as a lot of people do and we asked what sort of food they had but "hello mister" was the extent of her English. I asked if they had nasi goreng, fried rice and she said no and pointed to the kitchen and gave the thumbs up. I think it was the only dish they had and it was a Macassan beef curry. For the five of us with coffee and bottled water it cost about $12 and it was fun practicing our Indonesian on the lovely ladies that ran the shop.
We met Mathias and the immigration officer at the Hotel Harapan Indiah for Daniels birthday celebration. Mathias brought along some BBQ grilled fish and some sopi and we ended the night at the back of his shop singing karaoke with his friends and family. Everyone was very welcoming friendly and it was a great insight into their culture and way of life.
