Exploring Kupang
Once you’ve had your fill of great food at Cafe In, you can continue to explore the rest of magical Kupang. Kupang can refer to the metropolitan Kupang City, or the much larger rural Kupang Regency, which comprises nearly 20 per cent of Timor Island west of the Noelmina River, as well as Semau Island.
Kupang’s Old City waterfront is popularly known as Tedis Beach, but its proper name is Lahi Lai Bissi Kopan (LLBK), which means “the place from which Kupang originated” in the Helong language. Famous landmarks in LLBK include Fort Concordia and its lighthouse, which are situated where the Dendeng River meets Kupang Bay.
Today LLBK is known for its vibrant local nightlife, with many bars, cafes and hawker’s stalls in the vicinity. CafeIn 2 is situated in the LLBK/Old City district, about a three minute walk from the Tedis waterfront.
Greater Kupang is home to seven indigenous clan kingdoms: Amabi, Amabi-Oefeto, Babau, Funay, Helong, Lesser Sonbai and Taebenu. They united as one Kupang Kingdom in 1917 as West Timor transitioned from Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC to Dutch East Indies rule. Kichi’s se’i infused cocktail Royal 1917 is an homage to this historical event.
Kupang’s Old City is the Helong homeland, but most Helong migrated to Semau island in the 18th century to flee from the Penfui War. Kupang is also home to sizable Rotinese and Savunese diaspora communities. These ethnic groups are portrayed on the murals in the LLBK Old City district.
Indonesian is spoken by almost everybody in Kupang City, but the colloquial lingua franca is “Bahasa Kupang” (Timorese Malay), an abbreviated Malay-based creole influenced by local languages such as Helong, Dawan and Rotinese. Timorese Malay speakers find it mutually intelligible with standard Indonesian, but many Indonesian speakers unfamiliar with Timorese Malay don’t think so. English is widely spoken in hotels and workplaces, but not necessarily by taxi drivers, shopkeepers or restaurant staff.
