Loseman Anda

Loseman – Soe

The Loseman Anda in Soe has seen better days but only costs 15,000 rupiah per night. The nights get downright cold up there in the mountains.

It is always a good idea to carry a small padlock that you can put on the doors. Some places you stay don’t have a keyed lock for the door. Here there is a feeble hasp that can be locked.

The crime rate here is low but there are a lot of young guys coming back and forth because the management has set up a projector to show the world cup competition on the wall. Sometimes if you leave too great a temptation out there something could come up missing.

People who have stayed here over the years will know what I am talking about when I mention funky decor. There are sculptures of women built into the walls and several large concrete ships that have small rooms for rent.

It is kind of bizarre but old Pak Yohannes was an artist and a colorful character. He passed away 2 weeks shy of his 89 birthday which would have been last week.

His daughter has taken up the task of renovating the place. She is a very friendly lady that has a bit of her fathers personality. I should have taken a photo of her with her dutch boy outfit and bright red socks and hand woven vest. What a trip!

Her and her husband have an electronics shop in town. There is not a lot going on in Soe. I was the only tourist to show up in 3 months. Soe could be used as a staging area to visit some of the local villages but I prefer Kefa because it is too cold in Soe for me.

July and August are the coldest months. When we were watching the world cup everyone had on winter jackets with hoods. I had 3 t-shirts on.

They were in the process of putting in new windows in the large meeting room. It is a really big hall where weddings and banquets could be held. I’ve never seen that in a small loseman before.

An old guy from the village that I knew from Kupang sat next to me on the couch and set a lime container for betel nut on the coffee table. He had been trying to get me to buy one of his containers in Kupang and had tracked me down in Soe.

He was a cool old guy in traditional garb. He didn’t say anything, just set the intricately carved container on the table and looked straight ahead. I really have no use for this sort of thing but he had put a lot of work into it and was asking 20,000 rupiah (2 dollars)

I didn’t say anything but pulled out a couple of oranges from my bag. He got up and went to the door and spat. Came back and set down next to me. We shared a few oranges and I handed him 20,000 rupes and he walked.

He had to spit out the betel nut or he wouldn’t be able to eat the oranges. Cool guy.

Soe – West Timor