Bon Dia, Obrigado and Viva!!! Greetings from East Timor – one of the world’s newest countries

East Timor – Born in 1999

 Bon Dia, Obrigado and Viva!!! Greetings from East Timor – one of the world’s newest countries. In 1975 Indonesia invaded East Timor by land and sea. The population then was 700,000. 5 years later it was 500,000. 200,000 killed in the first 5 years of the Indonesian ‘occupation’. Fast forward to 1999 and after years of struggle East Timor declares it’s independence from Indonesia. But the Indonesian army wreak havoc. Dili and other cities go up in flames. More than 200,000 Timorese fled into the nearby hills and civilians across the country were massacred.

UN car, UN cubicles, UN compound

Overseas troops arrived and the Indonesian army retreated. But the damage had been done. Dili had no water and no electricity. 90% of the cites buildings had been burnt down, shot at or sabotaged. The first decade of independence played out with varying international military presences in East Timor. Riots in 2002. Riots again in 2006. An assassination attempt on the President in 2008 resulting in multiple gun shot wounds to his stomach. Riots.

Bucket hat and blanket

Here we sit, in 2010, in Dili, East Timor’s capital city. After 14 hours from Kupang on a bus and a border crossing we pulled in through the gates of the Australian Residential Compound to be greeted with homemade pizzas and beer by ex-Jakartan-come-Dili delight Ms Miri Smith. Miri has allowed us to lounge around her house, eat her food and invited us to cool places for the better part of a week, and deserves major kudos for housing us travelling bums. United Nations four-wheeled drives line the streets. Men in berets with guns walk past you when you are looking for brown bread in the supermarket. Burnt out and bullet-ridden buildings still stand. We wanted a night out, as we’d heard good things, only to be told that the better nightspot is currently closed after a Timorese and International soldier were involved in a gunfight (over a girl).

Warships fighter jets helicopters and marines

Anchored in view from Miri’s front porch are 2 US navy warships. One afternoon we were relaxing watching war DVD series ‘Band of Brothers’ on the couch. Mid way through a bloody WWII battle scene the entire house started to shake. We looked outside and 3 helicopters had just flown closely overhead. The previous day a jet fighter was weaving trails in the sky. 

Mid run shower

 Dili is still young, still recovering and building but is a very cool place to chill. The day after our arrival was the inaugural Dili marathon which was a good sight at sunrise. Especially seeing good mate Sconeface pounding the pavement.

Jesus and DH. Like chalk and cheese

We summited the stairs to the 27 metre tall ‘Chirsto Rei’ statue of Jesus that watches over the bay of Dili and the city centre.

 Santa Cruz cemetery

We ventured to the immense cemetery at Santa Cruz, where 100 Timorese students were massacred in 1991 as they protested peacefully. It was one of the key turning points in the quest for independence.

Timor’s own Rage Against the Machine

We went to the premier of a Korean made film based on an East Timorese youth soccer team. The deputy Prime Minister was there, we were in thongs. Dili’s first MTV music festival was held at ‘Democracy Field’ in the centre of the city. ‘MTV Exit’ festivals are held around the world to raise awareness about the scary world of human trafficking. Rain in the day and punk at night led to frivolous bouncing around by a bunch of 7-30 year old Timorese guys (and Miri) at the front and some good head nodding from around 10,000 others.

Front/centre

We Jammin’

The home-cut singlet and the skeleton jump suit – mosh pit classics no matter what country you are in

Face matching the shirt

Mud pit

Superman is Dead. One of Indo’s biggest band crossed the border and whipped it into a frenzy

Post festival oranges

 The concert ended and we headed over to Palacio di Governo, Timor’s Parliament house, to watch to much anticipated Portugal vs Brazil game at the public big screen with 5000 others. East Timor, when compared to other South-East Asian countries, is pretty expensive. They roll with the US dollar, itself not too bad, but the abundance of well paid overseas people inflates the price of everything. We tried to go to an island off the coast and a local fishing boat was going to cost us $150 one way, so we brushed it. We came to East Timor but haven’t left it’s capital city. We have been sitting on the awesome Miri’s couch, cooking good food, doing little day trips and letting the body recover a bit before we get island hopping again. Peace!!

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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Kupang Night Markets – West Timor
A little photo essay from a meal at the Kupang night markets.
 

Frying batter

Martabak, Indonesia’s finest food; pancake, chocolate, peanuts, condensed milk. Fried and folded.

Money Mark and fresh fish on ice

Shopping around

Toys and food

Waiting to pay

 Jilbabs and crabs

Boost juicing

Only friend in Kupang

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Thursday, June 17, 2010
West Timor – Next to East Timor
 

After a couple of weeks doing it ‘tough’ in the villages of Sumba we boarded the new Airbus A380 flight from Waingapu and arrived 50 minutes later in the ‘big smoke’, the capital of Nusa Tenggara Timor, Kupang. A cross between Darwin and Broome with nice wide streets and gentle traffic Kupang sits alongside the Timor Sea and is where you will find the residence, and our home for the next week, of the infamous Mr Mark “The Cock” Peacock (aka Pak Ma-u) .

“Close the shutters if the view’s a bit much…” – Lopo (hut) and the Laut (sea) from Marky’s living room window.

Making the most of Pak Mau’s lopo

Bintangs and home cooked spag bol perched above the ocean, fresh seafood at the night markets and 1kg portions of smoked pig helped us to acclimatise back into big city life. But there was only so long that 2 intrepid travellers could handle the fast paced life of Kupang. So it was back onto the harley hogs and down to the tiny fishing village of Tablolong on the southern coast for a night of camping and star gazing. ‘You could lose yourself in the horizon’. Heading south west from Kupang on the motorbikes 

Sammy telling yet another hilarious story on the camp site.

0-100 km/hr in under 20 seconds

Arriving back to Kupang we were greeted by the capacity building smiles of the Jakarta AYAD girls (Jane, Claire, Vanessa & Naomi), who had all decided they were in need of a long weekend holiday in West T. 

The next morning, we awaited the arrival of J-mac from Jakarta and we were off to the remote island of Pulau Semau. 3 motorbikes, food and sleeping supplies were piled on to a small fishing boat and we begun the journey. An hour later we arrived on the island, drove for another 45 minutes through a barren but beatiful countryside, to arrive at our campsite; Otan beach. A pristine white sand beach, old fishing boats and a small crew of young local guys greeted us. If we were 15 years younger, born on Pulau Semau, knew how to fish and were happy this would be us 

 Pak Ma'u catching flies with Indonesia’s best mohawk

Even ‘bules’ can make fire

village Otan beach

The next morning, we emerged from the comfort of our tent on the beach front and the boys set out on a 3hour epic motorbike ride around the island. It was a Sunday, so church was in session, and the streets and sleepy villages were even quieter than usual. Riding along small dirt and stone roads we found some of the most beautiful beaches we’d all ever seen. Think of a postcard of a perfect tropical beach, then times that by a thousand, and that is where we were. At one beach we found the severed and alien looking head of a hammerhead shark that had been caught and eaten recently. We attempted a ride on the beach but the 100cc scooters aren’t made for the soft sand so we headed back to base camp. It’s tough getting out of bed in a place like this

UiSimuk - village Otan

Next stop was a small rock pool near the campsite, about 15x5 metres. In this tiny little rock pool lives 3 sea turtles and a bunch of massive fish. How they got here is anyone’s guess but they are now sacred and the locals can’t fish or kill anything. After swimming around and watching the turtles swim beneath you one of the local boys decided to catch one. A big dive and some fast underwater swimming as the turtle banked and turned like a fighter jet and the turtle was caught for a show and tell to the white folk. Pretty skillful stuff. Van was a little distressed at the turtle capture but Marky was yelling for blood and wanted to slow roast it over the campfire. Sometimes he’s a bit ‘backward’ 

Pulau Semau locals

Island life had to come to an end so we headed back to Kupang and relaxed into some Bintangs and the sunset. Hit the local night market for dinner. A hundred metre long strip of fresh food and stalls provided plenty of culinary options for the night. Dirt cheap, delicious and outdoors. It is pretty hard to complain with the setup. "You can order all the classics at the Kupang night markets"

At 2 am that morning, the household awoke to watch Australia’s opening game in the 2010 world cup against the Germans. A 2am wakeup isn’t great to start with but is even more painful after a 4-0 defeat. Game over and returned to sleep. The next morning, in order to get the bitter taste of defeat out of the mouth, DH and SR split from the group and jumped aboard the SS Kupang headed for Pulau Rote, the home of the world renowned left hand break at Nembrala. This isn’t the wave at Nembrala. The wave is too far away and the camera zoom isn’t strong enough. This is a nice tree in the water
 

The surf was flat but the rumour mill was rife saying a swell was on the way. Cruised by day, watched the World Cup by night and waited for the swell. Next morning the crew were up early to be greeted with 4 feet of rising swell coming over the reef. Surfed for a couple of hours, got plenty of waves and came in for breakfast. Rote was turning it on for us.Google image of the left wrapping around the end of the reef at Nembrala. We’re not giving anything away here, it isn’t exactly a secret spot. 

Surfed again early morning the next day and the wind had dropped, the crowd had thinned and waves were abundant. Our visa has run out, so we need to skip the country and get a new one. The plan is to head to East Timor, but we are having some visa troubles, so the next blog could come from a variety of Asian nations; Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia…who knows? "60 clicks across the dirt soccer field toward the palm trees"
 

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"greetings from Semau island" 

crossing pier to Semau island 

traditional crossings tools to Semau island

wow..! paradise in Otan beach

"thanks and welcome"