Above: There weren’t any four-legged passengers today but not all two-legged ones need a seat.
Heading back to Dili
The weather wasn’t warm enough for me to try out the spring-fed swimming pool. So I hopped on the mikrolet to take me to Kota Baru (new town) to catch the bus back to Dili.
Despite being the second largest city of Timor Leste, Baucau’s Kota Baru was largely a collection of corrugated sheds serving as shops. I found a bus straight away but we circled the town for about 30 minutes for more passengers. Fortunately it didn’t fill up and I had a spare (but broken) seat next to me.
I chatted with people along the way. Often, when I’m mistaken for Indonesian, I don’t feel that they would like to kill me. I truly feel that East Timorese at at peace with their former oppressor and vice versa. The journey was uneventful until someone threw up in the aisle which required a wash stop just outside Dili.
I reached Dili after 3h15 and caught a mikrolet back to the hostel. One observation on my trips out of town is that there isn’t much visible agriculture. There were some rice fields and that’s about it. But there does seem to be a lot of produce at the markets.
Cost of Travelling here
In the 8 nights that I was in Timor Leste, I spent a total of USD308 (excluding visa-on-arrival at USD30 and one dive at USD45).
About USD150 of that went towards accommodation in single room or shared double. Another USD100 went towards meals. The remainder went towards transport and incidentals.
NGO demand has meant that a simple (or even disgusting) room may cost USD30 whereas one could get 3-star comfort in Bangkok. For food, 3 vegetables plus rice costs about USD2.50 while 1 meat and 2 veg plus rice costs about USD5. This is similar to prices in a first-world country like Singapore.
Summary of Timor Leste
You can take Timor Leste out of Indonesia but you can’t take the Indonesia out of Timor Leste. Not quickly anyway. Eg. The best of Indonesia lives with rendang and dangdut. Likewise with the Indonesian language, produks (sic), old women wearing sarong kebaya. Sadly it is a chip off the old block with littering and corruption (I hear).
Timor Leste feels like Indonesia with a Portuguese flavour (zilch to mild). Travellers pay a huge premium over Indonesian pricing for that Portuguese flavour. In particular, accommodation and food (even simple local food) has been priced upwards to meet NGO budgets. It isn’t a value destination for holiday makers or those needing modern comfort.
It was great to see for myself as a traveller, life in this new country. It was born on 28 Nov 1975 (declared independence unilaterally after being abandoned by Portugal) only to be kidnapped by its
neighbour some nine days later only to be released as an independent nation again on 20 May 2002.
What amazes most of the travellers I meet is the lack of animosity of East Timorese against Indonesia. Many East Timorese see Indonesia as a friend and partner now. In fact East Timorese will gripe about Timorese Chinese and mainland Chinese but not Indonesians!
First World Complainers
Timor Leste isn’t ready for people who have first world complaints. Here are some that I’ve heard:
- The internet is slow (sad but true).
- The coffee is shit (no it isn’t, this is the way many Asians like it).
- The music is shit (no it isn’t, it is a matter of taste; get used to Dangdut and Portuguese music).
- People are smoking inside; or in the bus (how quickly people forget this was OK in Western countries not so long ago).
- Errr … it is a squat toilet; or the toilet has no seat (learn to squat or hover).
Fortunately I haven’t heard many of the above. Like Iran and Pakistan, only people who want to be here actually do come. As with anything, there are exceptions.