Hotel Adi Dharma
Located just a short walk from the ferry terminal in Kalabahi. Economy rooms start at 40,000. VIP rooms start at 72,500 with air con.
I like this place because there is a large covered area that is great to hide out in during the rainy season. You have a good view [...]
Traditional Alor Homes
The native home in Alor is built off the ground on stilts with a loft for sleeping. The platform below is used for lounging during the day.
Big flat round wooden disks on the stilts act as rat stoppers to keep these varmints from climbing into the living quarters.
The [...]
Cancelled flights
Travel in Alor can be unpredictable during the stormy season. Low ceilings and high winds can keep aircraft on the ground and high seas might keep the ferrys in the port waiting for better weather.
Earlier in January the government stopped all travel by public boat or plane for a few days until a tropical [...]
Eating dog
Dog meat, frogs, pork and other “unclean” meats are never eaten in most parts of Indonesia because it could never be halal or acceptable to the Muslim dietary regulations, but in non-Islamic areas these meats are eaten with gusto and reserved for special events.
Click the “back” button if you do not care to see [...]
Diving in Alor
Alor is reputed to be a great place to dive. The information I have here is very limited but if anyone cares to add please write to the forum and I will cut and paste the information at the end of this story. Dive shop advertisement welcome as well.
Across the channel from Alor [...]
Pelni Ships
Pelni ferrys make the trip from Kupang to Kalabahi every 2 weeks or so. Third class tickets only costs around 54,000 rupiah and there are plenty of benches to lounge on.
There are lots of flying fish and dolphins to look at on the way over.
The other deck passengers will stop by to ask you [...]
Alor ikat
Alor is not known for it’s ikat weaving but they have their own designs and are of a very good quality.
Apui ikat has it’s own traditional design but is now made with factory thread to give it more vibrant color. Most of the villagers will prefer to wear ikat made with bright [...]
Baranusa on Pulau Pantar
A public boat leaves at 8am almost every morning from Kalabahi to Baranusa on Pulau Pantar arriving around 5 hours later depending on how the tide is running. The boat leaves from the harbor next to night market which is about 200 meters from the Adi Dharma hotel.
The weather was calm and [...]
Pulau Pantar - the east side
A church on Pulau Pantar uses the casing from an old WW2 mine as a bell and some of the old men speak a little Japanese. Times were very hard during the second world war here.
A few motorbikes follow the coastal road but I did not see any 4 [...]
Apui on Alor Island
Apui is a mountain village in central Alor. It is not that remote but after hearing a local guy talk about it I thought it was going to be a hard trip but it turned out to be a basic 5-6 hour round trip from Kalabahi.
Panzir or old Toyota Landcruiser [...]