BootsnAll Travel Network



East Timor (Timor Leste) – The Country

Hello all,

Well the last time I wrote, about a week ago, I had just finished an amazing trek south of Dili and was hitching everywhere.  Since then I have based myself in Dili and spent time in and around the area.  I hope to give you a better idea about the people and culture that exists in Dili.  I have spent my time the last few days in museums, cathedrals and government functions.  So I have been able to understand the people a lot better than before.

The people in East Timor or better known here as Timor Leste are called Timorese.  Back in the early years (like 2000 years ago) the area was populated by East Indian and Chinese cultures and some of these influences are still around (especially in the food).  In the early 1800’s the Dutch and the Portuguese came to the area and the Portuguese took over.  They ruled the area for a very long time, like they did with many areas in South East Asia.  The only time they did not rule it was during WWII when the Japanese had control until the end of the war.  The Portuguese then took over again but the Timorese people wanted independence.  Finally after many struggles with the Portuguese they got their independence on November 28, 1975.  Think about that, because it is not that long ago.  The unfortunate thing was that 9 days later they were invaded by Indonesia and they took over.  The Indonesians had help along the way to keep East Timor as a province of its country, help from the Americans, Aussies and UK.  The Indonesians fooled all these countries that they were aiding East Timor when in actual fact they were depriving them of many essential things.  After many protests the rest of the world heard their cries for help and the Indonesians were forced to leave in September of 1999 by the UN and the country declared independence once again.  This time the UN was sticking around to make sure all the corruption was gone.  The only bad part was that before the Indonesians left they burnt and destroyed about 80% of the buildings and killed at least 100,000 Timorese. Again, think of this fact, only 10 years ago they were still fighting for their rights!!! This is a fact that just amazes me.  10 years ago I would have been working for McCormick, living in a great house and having almost any luxury I wanted.  These people were still fighting just for freedom, really makes me appreciate what I have and what I am able to do.  What were you doing 10 years ago???  The UN handed the governing power back to East Timor in 2002 and it has been a pretty stable environment since, although there have been coup attempts even up to last year.  With all this fighting and influences from different areas I still find it hard to describe the Timor culture besides saying survivalistic.

East Timor is 85% Catholic and this is very evident in all the statues in the area of Jesus and the Virgin Mary.  On the East end of Dili they have built a huge statue of Jesus and constructed and massive set of steps all the way up.  Along the way is the full “Ways of the Cross” and is very impressive.  Like most things in East Timor it is not complete yet and they are working to finish as quickly as they can.  East Timor moves like most of the rest of South East Asia which is slow paced.  Time is irrelevant here as most take a long lunch break (at least 2 hours) during the heat of the day.  One of the main things you see in East Timor and especially Dili is construction.  They have had to rebuild everything and that is exactly what they are doing.  It seems that they have some kind of construction on almost every roadway, if you think Alberta road construction is bad in the summer just come here.  They are almost finished a big Catholic Cathedral here and it looks amazing and will be a main gathering place for the Timorese. Lots of new embassies are going up and they have rebuilt most of the shops to a good enough standard.  In most of the government web sites and reports they tell you that East Timor is still is a huge struggle and that it is not safe to travel, but I have found that to be completely wrong.  The websites tell of refugee camps everywhere and I have still to see one.  The Timorese are always smiling and try to be as helpful as possible.  English is not widely spoken here; the national language is Tetun, with Bahasa Indonesian and Portuguese as well.  I have been learning some words in Tetun to be able to get by and the rest I use hand signs or whatever else I can think of.  Sometimes it is frustrating but I try to remember that I am in their country and all these learning experiences are really good for me.  At this point I can count to 10 in 5 different languages (English, French, German, Spanish and Tetun), and I plan to learn many more.

The people here are very proud of their fighting spirit and you can see it in many different ways but one of the neatest that I have seen is in their sidewalks.  I know that sounds funny but in most places here they do not have any, but where they have build them they are in colored bricks that are the same as their flag (Red, Yellow and Black).  Imagine walking down a sidewalk in Canada that was all Red and White!!!  After spending time in 2 museums (Chega which is in a jail & the Resistance museum) I got a better understanding of the struggles that I have already spoken about.  It showed some videos on the violence and places where the Timorese hid undergrond from the Indonesians.  I also got to go to the parliament building but not inside and I also took in the Independence Day ceremony at the Presidents Palace.  Whenever you take in these places you must wear long pants and proper shoes.  The Independence Day ceremony was very interesting.  It started at about 9am and had dignitaries from everywhere.  A full color guard was standing at attention during the whole 2 hours or so.  They were from the military, ambulance service, police, forest service and traditional warriors.  I saw 3 soldiers pass out because of the heat and felt sorry for them as they were standing out in the hot sun for a very long time.  After several speeches and a cool flag raising ceremony all the color guard marched past the President.  Then they promoted 2 Generals and the ceremony ended rather quickly.  No one waited for the President to depart, they just all got up and starting mingling with each other.

The day before is when I went to the Jesus statue and on my walk back I stopped off at a beach.  They have a beach on either side of the statue and they are called Jesus Beach 1 and Jesus Beach 2.  I was at Jesus Beach 1 but had my day pack with me and really had no where to put it.  I found a group on people that spoke English and asked if they minded if I left my pack by them while I went for a quick swim.  They were mostly Aussies and Kiwis and were really nice.  I walked into the water looking for a refreshing swim and it was so hot, like a hot tub at home.  It cooled off a bit when I got deeper but I did not want to go too far because crocodiles have been known to be near the area.  After I had a quick dip I went back to the group and had a great conversation with them.  I got invited to an event for Saturday afternoon with them called HASH.  First thing I thought of was a group of people doing drugs but as it turns out it is a group of expats that get together every week for a social walk or run.  There are HASH groups all over the world and if you would like to know more about them just look them up on the internet.  They picked me up on Saturday afternoon and took me to where everyone was meeting.  Each week they pick a different part of Dili to explore and some walk and others go for a run.  It takes about an hour to complete and we walked up the side of a steep cliff that gave us some great views and then through some of the outer communities.  It costs $5 to go and with that they give you water to start and then all the beer you want to drink after the run.  They have some fun introducing the new people to the group and then have some fun with others also in the group.  I met some really cool people and spent a lot of the walk talking with an American originally from Montana.  He is here working with the coffee growers of East Timor.  East Timor coffee is known as some of the best in the world and until recently had the biggest area of organic fields in the world.  Actually East Timor does not use any chemicals in any of its fields so the whole country is organic.  They are also big in the Fair Trade practices in the coffee industry.  I also meet a few Canadians during the event but most of them had been gone from Canada for at least 5 years and did not watch much that was going on at home.  I also got a ride back from the event from a nice UK couple and we stopped to take a picture of the sunset.  That night the government put on a huge fireworks display for Independence Day.  I was very surprised by it and say that it would put the nightly fireworks display at the Calgary Stampede to shame and I think the stampede puts on an awesome display.  I think the big difference was how close they were.  They basically shot them out right over us and some of the ground ones were right in front of us.  It lasted about 20 minutes and had a band playing music in the background as well.  They had a party before the fireworks and it kept going for quite a while into the night.  One thing that stood out as well was the amount of kids at the fireworks.  You see kids everywhere here as East Timor has the 2nd highest pregnancy rate in the world.  They are trying to educate the Timorese on family planning but it is a slow process.

Another thing I have been able to complete over the last few days is get my Visa for Indonesia.  I am planning to enter over land and so I must have a Visa before I get to the border.  If I was flying in I would get one on arrival.  I had to get the proper forms from the Indonesian Embassy and then fill them out along with a copy of my passport, a passport photo with red background and a letter stating why I wanted to enter the country.  It costs $45 to get a 30 day visa and the same price for a 60 day but with the 60 day you have to have a more detailed letter, I am getting the 60 day.  Once I had everything together I had to go to the embassy in the early morning to get on a list, I got there at 6:15 and was number 27.  Then I went back to the hostel for a nap and back to the embassy at 8:30 to wait for my turn.  Once I got called I got another number (40) and went inside and had to wait there.  Not sure how I went from 24 to 40 but at least I was in.  After about an hour I got called up and they review all my info and I was told to come back the next day at 3pm to pick up my visa.  I went back the next day and handed in my receipt and had to wait for another hour while they went through all the people there.  I got my passport with the stamp in it, it takes up a full page but looks impressive. I have 90 days from now to enter and then 60 when I get in.  Not that I am going to need 90 days to get in as I am leaving for there on Wednesday.

My expenses have dropped dramatically from Australia here.  I am paying $12US a night for a dorm room and most meals cost about $3.50.  Most of the attractions to see are free and I have walked to most of them.  Whenever I have had to take a taxi it is usually $2-3 to get across town. I have cooked some of my own meals as well so I would say that I am spending about $20US per day.  There is an internet café across the street that costs $1 per hour and I have used that to keep in contact with friends and family.

I started making my plans to head out of East Timor on Monday and now I will be taking a bus to Kupang (West Timor) on Wednesday.  The bus journey takes 12 hours and goes along the coast to the border and then inland through West Timor.  Once I enter West Timor I am officially in Indonesia.  Indonesia is a massive set of islands that are going to be very interesting to travel around, with another new language to learn, new religion to see (85% Muslim) and new adventures to seek out.

I guess that is about it for this time.  I hope you all have an idea now of what I have seen in East Timor.  I would recommend to anyone that is planning a trip to South East Asia to not miss this small part of it.  As they continue to rebuild and get more facilities for travelers I think this country will just prosper.  I do worry if the UN every decided to completely leave if the peace would stay or would some country around try to take it over again.  I would hope the world would not let this happen again.

Thanks to all, everyone take care,

Steve

PS: Can you believe that it is December already!!! That is crazy; you will all be getting ready for Christmas and the office parties that no one really wants to go to.  Still not sure where I will be for Christmas but since it will be in a Muslim nation I am guessing that there will not be a lot going on.  I will have to have my Christmas vicariously through all of you.

PPS: What the hell were the Riders doing taking a penalty with 5 seconds left??? What a way to lose!!

PPS: Happy Birthday goes out to my cousin Myron, thanks for everything you are doing for me while I am gone.  I truly appreciate it.

 Freedom Statue in the center of Dili

 New Catholic Cathedral in process of been built

Jesus Beach 2 from the top of the Jesus statueJesus Statue at east end of Dili

 Sunset in Dili after HASH walkColor Guard for Independence Day ceremony, the group in front are traditional warriors

 Flag raising ceremony

 Soldiers marching

 Sidewalk in Dili, same colors as the flag

 View of scenery around Dili from the top of the hill climbed during HASH walk

 Fireworks from Independence Day



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13 responses to “East Timor (Timor Leste) – The Country”

  1. Don & Audry Mackie says:

    Hi Steve
    Keep safe and enjoy your trek, love reading about your adventures. Beautiful sunsets. love you and miss you.
    Auntie Audry & Uncle Don

  2. Judy (keybrand) says:

    That firework picture is fabulous!! keep on treckin’ ;o)

  3. ann turner says:

    Dear Steve
    Glad you enjoyed Timor-Leste… I am putting together a brochure for the Timorese ministry of tourism and wondered if I might use your fireworks photo and the one of the flag raising… we can’t pay, but you would get a name credit in the brochure. Pls let me know… and let me have your full name if you agree.
    Cheers
    Ann

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