I've been in West Timor for the past few days. I'd always been curious about this place. After spending a year or so in East Timor, I wondered what life was like on the other side of the border, and from what I've seen, it's not all that different.

In Kupang, West Timor, the people look and dress the same as in Dili, East Timor. There are lots of kiosks where people go to buy coffee or biscuits or cigarettes. People get about by traveling on mikrolets, the only difference in Kupang being that there are seemingly millions of the things and the drivers have a fondness for the Black Eyed Peas.

There's a KFC in Kupang, although it looks decidedly out of place. The roads seem relatively flat and the temperature is about the same as in Dili. There is, of course, little in the way of a visible UN or aid-worker presence, which is refreshing. In fact, I haven't seen any foreigners at all since I've been here, although I've yet to venture to the more popular areas.

People are certainly surprised to see me out here in West Timor. Most of the locals seem positively baffled when they catch sight of me. I tend to be equally baffled as I'm really not sure what I'm doing here, although I'm enjoying it nonetheless.

Judging from the small glimpse I've seen of Kupang, people don't seem much more well off than in Dili. These are only superficial observations, of course, but it would fit that the people of West Timor deal with many of the same kind of struggles as the folks in present-day East Timor.

Even the airports in Kupang and Dili are similar. There's certainly a lot of scope for exploring this place and delving a little deeper. At the moment I'm on Rote Island, which is about four hours off the coast of Kupang.

Yesterday I went to my first West Timorese wedding. Again, it was the same kind of shindig as I've seen in Dili, although nobody drinks alcohol in this particular village.

I've been offline for a good few days now so if anyone has been trying to get in touch with me, that's why I haven't been responding. I'm behind on a quite a lot of work now and have much catching up to do.

I didn't realize it's only a week until Christmas. I have no idea where I'll be on Christmas Day, or New Years Eve for the matter, but I don't really care this year.

One thing I am certain of is that from January 4 until February 12 I will be in Salatiga, Indonesia, attending a language course. After that I will be back in Dili for three months or so trying to wade through the long list of stories I've penciled in.

Anyway, more to come later.