Blogs from Dili, East Timor, Asia - page 3

Another warm and humid day in Dili. Spent most of day meeting with local agencies and NGO's. ... read more

12/07/2010 Time to spice up my travels a little, my Indonesian visa was due to expire so in order to get an extension I would have to venture out of the country. Situated in Kupang, West Timor belonging to Indonesia I would have to head to Dili the capital of East Timor also known as Timor Leste, where in 1999 it became its own country. After years of conflict due to an unwanted Indonesian occupation where an estimated 100,000 to 250,000 East Timorese lost their lives the UN stepped forward and sanctions were imposed thus ousting out the Indonesians and making East Timor independent. Tensions these days apparently less obvious with the last public outbreak of conflict being in 2007 during the presidential elections. The poorest country in south east Asia, crime apparently not rife, but ... read more

Most of this was written yesterday, 16 Feb 2009, or the day before All backpackers express a desire to get “off the beaten track”, which isn’t always as great an idea as it sounds, because the reason a track is beaten in the first place is because it leads to a nice or interesting place. But still, it’s an alluring dream. In my opinion, there’s two ways to get off the beaten track. One is to use your travel skills, and negotiate with locals, probably do some research on a place, maybe learn the language, etc. The other way is to go to somewhere that doesn’t have a beaten track, then you have no option. “If there’s one thing East Timor doesn’t have, it’s a beaten track” says the Lonely Planet guidebook. Of course we all ... read more

aug25 Flight: Denpasar (DPS), Bali, Indonesia, to Dili (DIL), East Timor; Merpati Hotel: Hotel Esplanada, Dili, East Timor, $110 Today was our last morning in Bali, we were sad to be leaving so soon but we will definitely be back here someday! Our flight to Dili, East Timor was at 10AM so it meant an early start, getting up at 6:30, quick breakfast, then checkout at 7. I paid a chunk of the hotel bill with my remaining rupiah, leaving me with just 150,000IDR each for departure taxes and 20k for drinks. We had arranged a car to take us to the airport, $30 a bit pricey considering we had hired a driver for a full day yesterday for only $45. The driver kept turning this way and that as we passed by rice paddies and ... read more

Jasmine met up with Jenny and has arrived in Dili. Only trouble on the flight was that they had their insect reppellant confiscated. So they have been searching Dili for tropical strength RID to no avail. Emergency supplies have been airlifted in. That is all the news so far.... read more