It's a Dili Day One
Trip Start
Nov 15, 2006
1
35
228
Trip End
Jul 15, 2008
Dili,
Timor-Leste
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Dili, Timor Leste (East Timor)
08 32.936S 125 35.204E
We are now in the third world. There wasn't any gradual transition; as soon as we stepped off the plane it hit us. The immigration officer lost some of our papers as soon as we gave them to him, but it didn't seem to matter. The only customs inspection was to say that we had nothing to declare. The airport toilets had no seats, were unflushed and no toilet paper. A country this beaten up and poor can't be concerned with making a good first impression. We sucked it up deciding we didn't need to use the toilets that bad. When we lugged our bags outside the terminal we were attacked by kids yelling: taxi! taxi! They jostled each other grabbing at the bags we were carrying hoping to earn a tip on the pretext of 'helping'. Even though we checked with several taxi drivers we still ended up paying $10 US, instead of the $5 our guide book said was the price for the ride into town. We tried to save some money on cheap accommodations by staying at the Dili Guest House for $5/nite but one look scared Irina off. So we had the driver take us to the Hotel Torismo, listed as a mid range accommodation at $50/nite. No need to change money here they use US dollar bills, although their coins are distinct.
East Timor shares the island of Timor with Indonesia to the west and has been racked by violence since 1999 when they voted to separate from Indonesia. It is the newest country in the world and listed as one of the most dangerous. A former Portuguese colony until 1975 when Indonesia invaded the country causing the death of maybe 100,000 timorese. The Indonesians didn't leave easily and the UN had to step in 1999 after the independence vote to keep them from killing even more. There's been a UN presence here more or less since then. Then in May of last year there were riots between factions from the east and west of the little nation. Not particularly caused by Indonesia this time, rather internal divisions. The people in the east claim the people in the west sided with the Indonesians and this is the source the festering resentments as we understand it. The UN lead by Australia sent in large forces to keep the peace and now Dili is saturated with UN peace keepers. There is little tourist presence here, just UN peace keepers and NGO workers. The first person we meet at the Hotel Torismo, other than the clerk, was Deb, an Australian police officer. She and Irina got along great and she took us in her utility vehicle for a tour of the city and surroundings. The May riots left many buildings in the city burnt out and destroyed. We drove out to the village of Baccoi where most of the town had been burned out. Deb called it the Mogadishu of Timor Leste. She repeatedly referred to the UN presence as a "full on mission". She had been here for 8 months and we we're the first tourist she'd met.
Comments
East Timor - Dili
The best budget place to stay in Dili is the Backpackers Guesthouse in Mandarin next to the Tiger Fuel.
Hot water showers, secure, nice restaurant and bar out back and an Indian restaurant out front.
Say hello to Rita and Henry from the dutchpickle
for more info check the dutchpickle website