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I've fallen in love with East Timor - Part 1 Ben Rashleigh September 2002
Finally it was time to jump on the plane to Dili. We flew North Air - which wasn't exactly that great considering how much the trip cost - but we got there in one piece. We landed in Dili airport at 8:30am Dili time. We grabbed a taxi into Dili and walked around for a few hours until we found somewhere to stay. Eventually after carting heavy packs around in 35C heat, we found a nice cheap place with power and sometimes running water. - Showers over here usually consist of pouring cold water over yourself with a scoop - good for water conservation I suppose.
We then spent the rest of the day just wandering and checking out Dili.
We ended up walking along the coast for a while until we came to a strip of seaside 'restaurants' called Areia Branka - which translates to 'white sands'. We had, char-grilled fish (which we got to pick out) with a few beers, watched the sun set oveer the coast whilst sitting right next to the water - not too bad for the first night! We had to hitch a ride back with a US UN worker who was really strange... Back in Dili, after 43 hours of being awake, I finally got some sleep.
Next day, Friday (27th) - The first real day in town was started of by just walking around all morning then Bakso for lunch - which is noodles, fish balls, a few sauces a teaspoon of MSG and soup - pretty damn good for 50c US. We then went to check out one of the dive shops to find out about our diving courses etc... For dinner, it was back to the same place but this time char grilled chicken and squid - even better!
On Satuday (28th) we made a last minute decision to travel inland to Maubisse, a small village located about 4 hours out of Dili. To get transport we had to go to one of the local markets and look for a truck or car going out that way. We found a pick up truck that was going all the way to Maubisse and there was room for us in the back. While we were waiting, both me and Ally tried a thing called Beetle Nut. It is a dark red nut wrapped in a leaf covered with lime powder (not the fruit - the stuff you put in the garden!). It is East Timor's local narcotic of choice. After chewing it for about a minute your mouth goes numb and you salivate quite a lot, then you start to feel a bit weird, a bit dizzy and slightly disorientated. It was interesting, but I don't think I'll be trying that again.
Anyway, we jumped on the truck headed to Maubisse and headed up over the mountains. The views were amazing (I took heaps of photos). Along the whole way there, the locals, when they saw there was a foreigner in the truck, would wave, and yell out 'Hello Mister'.
We arrived in Maubisse late in the afternoon and straight away looked for some food. We decided to have some more Bakso. They had some freshly ground chili paste which I thought would be a good idea. I put in about a third of a tea spoon - a minute later my mouth and throat where numb and tingling. I found out later that the chilis, which are about 1.5cm long, are very potent! - all part of the experience...
Maubisse was very beautiful, it is completely surrounded but mountains with one smaller mountain in the middle. The village is around the bases of these mountains. The locals were so friendly - every single person you passed would greet you - especially the children. The children loved to have their photos taken all the time - then they would all scream with delight when you showed them the photo on the camera's screen.
Before it got dark we decided to try and find some accommodation. Apparently there was only one place to stay in the village and it was on top of the mountain in the middle. So with our packs we walked up the mountain to find an up-market hotel right at the very top. It had amazing views of the surrounding mountains and the village below. We went in to find out the price and walked straight out again when we found the price was $80 USD (even thought he place was empty and had been for a long time). Disillusioned, we wandered back down into the village in the hope that a local would let us stay over. We asked a few people, with no luck. We decided that the local CIVPOL (Civil Police) might be able to point us in the right direction. By chance we then bumped into a local who said he would be able to take us to the CIVPOL office, he then told us that he was a CIVPOL officer and we were welcome to sleep in the back room of the CIVPOL office. So we finally got to put down our packs and head back into the village for some food. We found a cemetery and went for a night time stroll through it. I took an amazing long exposure photo of two tomb stone crosses silhouetted against the nighttime sky over the surrounding mountains - I hope it works out. We then went to a local restaurant where we met a French film maker, a Portuguese business consultant and an East Timorese guide named Pedro. Pedro had 25 children (that he knows of) across Asia and Australia, he is 75 and his youngest is 4 years old... Any way, char grilled chicken again (it was good again). That night, I got no sleep as we were sleeping on cold hard tiles and the temperature was a lot lower than Dili - we didn't have any jumpers or sleeping bags either.
The next morning (29th) we left at 5:30am, after about 30mins of sleep, to go see the sunrise over the mountains. So we hiked back up the mountain in the middle. The sunrise was great - and of course I took heaps of photos. We then walked back down into the village. Everybody said 'Bon Dear' (good morning) to us as we passed. When we got into the village we found that there was a market. So we bought some breakfast and walked around to see their church (the whole of East Timor is strongly Catholic). The church was overflowing, with people having to stand out side - and it was a very big church...
We sat on the back steps of the church for a few hours reflecting on life etc... with an amazing view of the surrounding valleys and mountains. We also tried to smoke some clove flavored Indonesian cigarettes which all the locals liked. The filter tastes like bubble gum and the smoke is sweet. Anyone passing by must have thought we were weird, as neither of us smoke and we really didn't have a clue. Anyway we are now trying to offload the rest of the pack to someone who actually wants them...
We then went for a bit of a walk around the surrounding areas, had lunch and headed back to Dili. We got a lift with a US political observer which was a little easier than the truck.
The next day, Monday (30th), was the first day of my open water diving course. It was mainly theory, so it was a bit boring - but good all the same. That evening I felt a bit peckish so I went exploring - I found a great place and had half a char grilled chicken - it was so good that we went back for dinner there about 2 hours later.
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