What a shock
Trip Start
Aug 01, 2007
1
16
20
Trip End
Aug 01, 2008
Dilli and Com,
Timor-Leste
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
We were informed that there was still a huge contingent of troops in the country both Peacekeepers,Police and Ozzie defence force. You seen these guys everywhere in big armoured cars and trucks in the shops with their assualt rifles slung over the shoulders. Everybody seems to be armed.
You could really tell this place was well and truly off any beaten track and there was hardly any tourists at all. We were given plenty of dos and donts while we were staying in Dilli including not going out at night unless you had arranged trasport with a driver you could trust. The Taxis stop running after dark and that when the gangs apparently come out throw rocks at anything that moves down by the airport. Its a good job that the hostel has a really well stocked bar.
We did not see any trouble in our time in the old Portuguse style city and we found the people very differnet from the indonesians in many ways. We did not get the shouting and the hassel you tend to assosiate with indonesia and they speak a different tounge here in timor leste. Its called Teuten but lots of the older people speak portugese and the young of course speak Bahasa from Indonesia.
While we were at the hostel we met a few mates and had a really good time drinking in the eve. One face in particular was that of an east German Called Stefan we got on with him like a house on fire and he traveled with us for over 5 weeks in the end. Him and Mike where contantly battaling it out with each other about the War and so on. After a few days in Dilli we all got a little more adventures and decided that we wanted to head east further.
We had a destination in mind the problem was geting there. There is virtually no set up for tourists in East Timor yet so with the aid of another german called ingo we chipped in and hired a 4 wheel drive and head off into the unknown( Not really but it was still pretty remote where we where going and we did not see another western face in the 3 days we were gone) The Drive was a blast one min the road was fine the next it was gone compleatly we had to drive through riverbeds,Past heards of Water Buffalo and some seriously big pot holes.
We finally arrived in Com which had a great beach and is a retreat for a lot of the NGO workers at the weekend. for the nexy couple of days though we had the place to ourselves. We spent the next day or two smimming and walking and then just walking as we were told that Crocks ussually frequent the shore. Along with the Crocks Tiger sharks,Dolphins and Whales are seen close to shore.
On the way back to Dilli we went through many of the refugee camps that have been set up to house the many people who found themselves without a home during the last set of riots and trouble in Aug. There does not seem to be much happening on this front and you can see that these people are going to be there a little while longer. I dont like to think what will happen when the rain comes in December. We Got back to Dilli and Picked up the passports from the Embassy again they did not give us the 60 days we asked for the robbing sods. It like the Indonesian Goverment really does not want to your Tourist Dollars. We booked our Bus to Kupang and Me,Mike and Stef hit the road through flores towards Bali. Overall a real experiance here in East timor the people are extreamly genuine and have the real flair about themselves maybe that is a throwback to the days when portugal ruled here. Beaches aplenty and really unspoilt ones at that lots of history and Dilli i found to be a rewarding few days, i really do think though that getting out and about is the best option here we mde it to com and the drive at the time and now in hindsight was a great experiance. I met 3 or 4 others who got a little further and the reports were the sae that it is a beautiful country with great people and a bright future if differnences can be resolved lets hope so hey.
