Hotel Tropical Dili

... se ne sono andati nel 1975 e gli indonesiani hanno invaso il Paese una settimana dopo, e teatro degli stessi casini fino ad un paio di anni fa, nel 2006. Una citta' in cui ci sono migliaia di occidentali, ma pochissimi turisti: lavorano tutti per l'Onu, la Fao, l'Unicef, la Croce Rossa, altre organizzazioni. Una citta' il cui traffico e' composto per una buona meta' da camioncini delle Nazioni Unite, qui per tenere la situazione sotto controllo. No, non la definirei pericolosa ...

... had been thrown into the Australian Embassy complex (fortunately it was not a time when the Aussie expats were enjoying their once a month BBQ + beer so no one was hurt) with no felon in sight. Despite all of this, the city seemed peaceful and I never felt unsafe during my stay. The only thing I feared was catching malaria or denghi by the hundreds of mosquitoes attacking me day and night. In fact, I found the Timorese to be friendly and soft-spoken, even as ...

... border controls. There were no buses around so the options consited of spending the night in the town or heading down to the Border on the back of some Scooters. We Took the Bike option and before Mike could protest (He was actually stood there mulling over how me and him plus the driver and our bags where going to get on this small Bike) we were zipping off at breakneck toward east timor now mike really started to feel like Mr Palin Between the grunts ...

Our Bus ride to Dilli was pretty Much a doddle and i really enjoyed it we headed straight through a range of mountains in west timor and i found the scenery pretty stunning most of the way we got to see some really remote villages and the locals waved us past and chased the minibus everytime we went through a village of Beehive shaped huts. Again not a tourist in sight even when we arrived at the border town of Atumbua where we had to arrange trasport to ...

... Inspector line to line like a unknowing student with filling and stamping the Carnet - although East Timor has not been listed for Carnet-Countries. Aft**wards the country presented itself with untouched and v**y poor, but incredible friendly country with always smiling citizens. Along lonely beaches and untouched by any tourism it was going to Dili. In Dili we checked in to the only but v**y nice cheapy East Timor Backpack ...

... meal. We have to plan our day so we get to the restaurants after 6PM which we've found is the time they start serving the evening meal here. At breakfast this morning we met Sylvia, a UN worker from Uruguay. This was another one of those 'it's a small world' encounters, as it turned out she and Irina both attended Bay City Central High School at the same time. It's a big school and they did not know each other then but knew lots of the same people and ...

... pulled up to few young men gathered in front of the refugee camp behind us. A youth stepped out of the building we were in front of and looked back down the street toward the refugee camp. He ran inside speaking urgently, with hand gestures, to the others then ran back out and pointed toward the cyclist, then others started coming out of the building. One of youths in the building ran to a metal utility pole and ...

... Asia where there isn't someone trying to sell you something, but Jaco is one of them - nothing but clear water for snorkeling - so we 4WD'd it back to our "resort" for a pig feast, and some local Palm Wine! The people (smiling kids everywhere!), villages, wandering animals and road conditions reminded me of Nepal years ago; except that here evidence of the brutal war in '99 is still everywhere... strangely (to ...

... pretty much like Christmas at home. Except the food was different, the people were different, and we had rain instead of snow, (the rain always makes people think of Christmas here). SO my Christmas was nothing exciting and it was so close to Christmas at home that it made me homesick. Which is why next year I am going to spend it with Americans. I did enjoy hanging out with the older kids that came home for the holidays. Mom was so excited that the kids were coming because they ...

... dan eksotikanya tidak akan berubah, apalagi lifestyle masyarakatnya akan terasa berbeda dari kehidupan masyarakat Indonesia pada umumnya, itu sudah terasa jauh sebelum Timor Leste menjadi negara tersendiri..<br><br>Sayang, album-album foto kami hilang saat mengungsi tahun 1999, mungkin kami hanya boleh mengenang dalam hati dan ingatan kami saja, dan semoga kami dapat berkunjung lagi kesana dan melakukan 'napak tilas' kehidupan kami yang tidak akan kami lupakan.<br>