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Blogs from Baucau, East Timor, Asia
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June 14th 2012
Thursday is the big market day in Baucau so of course we headed straight there. The market was pretty chaotic, with heaps if buses and mikrolets blocking the road with the roofs loaded right up. Mainly it was veg, flour and grains and kitchen stuff, with shops in tin shacks lining the adjoining streets. Emma bumped into the local crazy man (he really was, Victor showed his photo to a local later that day and that is what he told us). The crazy man asked Emma is she was a girl. It took a while to work out what he was saying, the gesture he was making was an upside down ok, and he had Emma checking her fly and looking at her belly button before she realised that he was asking her if she had ... read more
Dili is Dili and East Timor is East Timor - Baucau
Published: June 19th 2012Asia » East Timor » Baucau
June 13th 2012
Today we got up early (ish) to take a bus to Bacau. Dili was pretty quiet at this time compared to the rush hour the day before so we were able to cross the road with our backpacks on without getting ourselves killed. A short walk later and we hit the back of the line of buses for Baucau and were hussled by touts. We got onto the next available bus which only had a couple of seats left so we figured it would depart soon. 30 minutes later we left, bus drivers rev their engines like they are about to go in an attempt to drum up more business when they guys who have paid to hang out the doors jumped on we thought we were sure to go but 10 minutes later we finally ... read more
September 18th 2011
We arrived back at the hotel earlier today after 2 long days driving to and from the eastern end of East Timor. It certainly was interesting. We left Dili at 8:00 a.m. and had lunch at East Timor’s 2nd largest town Baucau which is just 123 km away. I’ve been on worse roads in China but these were still pretty bad – huge potholes, missing bridges, missing tarmac etc. If we weren’t slowing down because of road conditions we were slowing down so that we didn’t hit a cow, goat, pig, dog, chook or human. Still, we travelled in relative comfort in a 4WD. The locals travel either by small motorbike, microlet, bus or truck. A microlet is a tiny minibus which is packed to the gunnels with people, often with people hanging on but travelling ... read more
The one where I injure myself, but don't worry I'm OK.
Published: February 21st 2009Asia » East Timor » Baucau
February 21st 2009
I wrote this blog a day ago, on Friday 20/02/2009, mostly relating to events of the previous day. My leg is healing up nicely, so don't worry. I have to admit, back home I sometimes check SMSes while driving. This is of course illegal; back home. What I do not do, however, is check my SMSes while driving a minibus jam packed with 25 people around hair-pin bends with an almost-vertical 200 m drop and only an intermittent one-foot high guardrail, on a heavily trafficked road barely wide enough for two cars. As a general rule, I would be opposed to that sort of behaviour. Besides, I can SMS blind, which this guy clearly can’t. I can see his eyes in the rear-vision mirror and they’re firmly facing down at the mobile phone. No-one else seemed ... read more
May 27th 2008
Sunday morning I said goodbye to the clinic and to the crazy, chaotic, and energetic city of Dili and made my way to Triloka. The night before I left, the housemates I had been staying with had a small party for me. After pryer in the small back room, we gathered around the kitchen table where they wished me well and sent their regards to my husband and family and presented me with a traditional tais cloth. Tais is the traditional weaving done in East Timor. I stood there in this romm full of beautiful Timorese people speaking to me in a language I am just beginning to understand and felt overwhelmed once again. Immediately, they recognized that I might be about to cry (again) and told me not to be sad, that I would come ... read more
