http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/East-Timor/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , East Timor en-us Mon, 07 Dec 09 00:47:45 +0000 Mon, 07 Dec 09 00:47:45 +0000 In a land where ripping off the tourist often seems to be a national pastime for many touts transport personnel restaurant and accommodations catering to westerners it sure was nice to find a refreshing change of pace. I stumbled upon Edwin and his L'Avalon barcafeaccomodations one day while simply meandering the streets of Kupang West Timor having already been in town three nights. His hi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/East-Timor/Dili/blog-444230.html My family and I wanted to visit a part of Italy that we had never visited before. We decided for the northeast. Normally when you do not know the place it is a problem when it comes to sightseeing reaching the hotel food transportation museums and a lot of other things.We went to many travel agents and scanned through number of internet pages but all went in vain. Finally we came to know ab http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/East-Timor/blog-378476.html I wrote this blog a day ago on Friday 20022009 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 hairpin bends with an almostvertical 200 m dro http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/East-Timor/Baucau/blog-375526.html Most of this was written yesterday 16 Feb 2009 or the day beforeAll backpackers express a desire to get ldquooff the beaten trackrdquo which isnrsquot 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 itrsquos an alluring dream. In my opinion therersquos two ways to get off th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/East-Timor/Dili/blog-374557.html Just a quick note that I arrived in Dili yesterday. As far as I can work out Internet is a bit unreliable and I can't find a wireless access point. I mainly spent yesterday walking around Dili which is quite spread out fairly poor and full of UN vehicles everywhere. I got bitten by lots of mosquitos already despite taking all the precautions but don't worry Mum I'm taking my doxy tablets http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/East-Timor/Dili/blog-374022.html Sunday November 30 2008I slept for ages last night. Itrsquos the first time since I left Boomtown I have slept through to late morning and boy was it good. The air conditioner is working like a little champ and my room was like a walk in cold room at your local BWS when the domestic staff woke me by opening the door again at around 10.30am. Irsquom not even fazed by the cleaning ladies anymor http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/East-Timor/Dili/blog-351072.html Saturday November 29 2008I wonder as I sit here in lsquoOne More Barrsquo just how much bandwidth at any given point of the day is taken up with porn. There are two army types sitting up from me slightly to my right who think they are being subtle and yet look exactly like what they are two randy blokes watching porn on the Internet. Itrsquos not just ya run of the mill porn either from w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/East-Timor/Dili/blog-349821.html Friday November 28 2008I deliberately didnrsquot do a lot today after my big one yesterday. It probably took most of the morning to write the previous bloody day up anyway. For most of the arvo I divided my time between the net caf trying to upload yesterdays video and my bed catching an awesome poppy nap. Pretty boring hey and that was just what I was after. I spoke to Tezza in the earlier ev http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/East-Timor/Dili/blog-349490.html I'm still waiting on my Youtube upload of yesterdays video and am very bored. Just for some fun I wanted to share my blog statistics with you all. You will notice that the clear winner of all my entries is the Dili Dally Rally entry. It has by far the largest number of views in any one month. Second would have to be the Be Warned Strong Language entry with a huge lead on overall views so far.N http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/East-Timor/Dili/blog-349284.html Thursday November 27 2008Today was not boring. I still have brains on my shoe I swear Irsquove been lost and very nearly ran out of fuel in one of the rural areas surrounding Dili. I had a Machete swung at me by a kid whohelliphellipThatrsquos as far as I got into todayrsquos events on my first attempt. No sooner had I typed in the word lsquowhorsquo than my phone began to ring. I http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/East-Timor/Dili/blog-349254.html Tuesday November 25 2008Itrsquos raining cats and dogs as I write this entry sitting on the front veranda area at City Caf. Ok so there are no little fur balls named Fido Rover Socks and Tabby falling from the sky just great heavy sheets of water that are cascading off roofs and quickly filling the streets. The wet is not a furious storm such as the ones I have imagined hitting Brisbane of http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/East-Timor/Dili/blog-348730.html Hi guys. I have been trying for a while to get videos up and hosted on this travel blog with only some success so in the end I have placed them on Youtube. Here are the linkshttpwww.youtube.comwatchvgqD8kO5homs A walk through Dili with Downplay cranked.httpwww.youtube.comwatchvrQyAAVdGwEo The voicemail I got from Tez and Ambz when I was in Townsville.httpwww.youtube.comwatch http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/East-Timor/Dili/blog-348157.html Saturday November 22 2008I have just realised that tomorrow will mark the end of my 1st month on the road. Time has become very elastic I must confess. Irsquom not sure how long it feels since I left home to me at times much longer and at others severely less than the month my diary is telling me. Today is an excellent example because although I didnrsquot do anything of real note I soon fou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/East-Timor/Dili/blog-347705.html Friday November 21 2008This will not be a big entry kids.. my head is still making funny drum like noises in coordination with my heartbeat.. booom boom booom boom. I could not find my painkillers this morning maybe I left them on Jeffrsquos boat but either way it meant I was off first up to find a pharmacist and try and explain what I wanted. I found the correct store but everything is in http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/East-Timor/Dili/blog-347352.html Thursday November 20 2008I slept in a bit this morning and feel I have now properly recuperated from my rest deprived sailing voyage. Irsquom still peeling from all the sun exposure though damn my pasty white complexion When I hit the caf downstairs Lauran had several other peoples Ipods for me to load up and even had a list of requests for songs. Thankfully Azzamates Cheesy Hits have most http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/East-Timor/Dili/blog-347045.html Wednesday November 19 2008I found it a bit harder to crash last night. After a full day of writing I couldnrsquot shut my brain down. It was still composing and revising well after I told it to go to sleep. Stubborn bastard of a thing that it is Itrsquos a lot hotter in Dili again today but I just hung out at City Caf and finished tidying up my blogs while I sipped on coffee and had a small http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/East-Timor/Dili/blog-346759.html Monday November 10 2008This part of my story will be called the Dili Dally Rally for reasons that should become apparent later on. We left Darwin hoping to go straight to Bali via a quick recoup at Ashmore Reef but prevailing weather meant our only hope of actually getting anywhere was to head much farther north than we anticipated. I donrsquot want to get ahead of myself so how about we get b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/East-Timor/Dili/blog-346411.html aug25Flight Denpasar DPS Bali Indonesia to Dili DIL East Timor MerpatiHotel Hotel Esplanada Dili East Timor 110Today 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 630 quick breakfast then checkout at 7. I paid a chunk of the hotel b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/East-Timor/Dili/blog-317161.html First week travelled to Bakau with Bebe and her brother in law Francesco. He drives safely and does protection. I made them fix the brakes before we travelled Even though it made Bebe have a day off work guilts but hope ok...You may have heard that two tourists had an altercations with young Timorese but not us we are being looked after. Right now it's dark in Dili and I will be picked http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/East-Timor/Dili/blog-305076.html 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. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/East-Timor/Dili/blog-303481.html