My short time in Bali was really only a stopover to enable me to get to Timor-Leste. As far as I know, at the moment, Bali and Darwin, Australia are the only airports with regular flights to Dili. There used to be flights from Singapore, too, but I am not sure those have started again since COVID.
As we came into land, we flew low over Dili and I could see the peninsula where the famous Cristo Rei statue is.
I was a bit stunned at how tiny the airport terminal was! Nice enough, though, and a nice setting for sure.
It was an extraordinarily hot afternoon when I arrived--"real feel" of 49 C!
Plaza Hotel was to pick me up, but no one was there when I arrived, so I waited in the heat (albeit in the shade). Eventually my driver showed up and drove me to the hotel, about twenty minutes from the airport. My room was not yet ready, so I went for a walk. It was too hot to be active, so I did not go far. I took out some cash--Timor-Leste uses US dollars, but mints their own coins.
Then I enjoyed an espresso and a sandwich at a lovely local cafe.
Across from the café there is some sort of food distribution depot where people come to get large bags of food, flats of eggs, and so on. I am not clear where the food is coming from, but it was rather interesting to watch the process. It was all very orderly and a little bureaucratic (clearly there was paperwork involved!), and people seemed happy with what they were receiving (everyone appeared to come away with the same amounts of the same foods).
After checking in and cooling down for a minute or two, I walked over to the East Timorese Resistance museum.
They do not allow photos inside of the museum, but it is a quite well done presentation of the Timor-Leste story from the Portuguese colonial period to independence from Indonesia in 2002 (note that this year is the 20th anniversary). At times it is a difficult story to learn about, but ultimately the story is very hopeful and optimistic, which I find consistent with the spirit I feel in Dili generally, despite the fairly serious and obvious challenges the country is facing. By the way, the museum is 25 cents for locals, and $1 for foreigners!
On the way back to the hotel from the museum I got caught in a downpour. I took shelter with some other pedestrians under the awning of a store and waited out the worst of it.
Thankfully the storm cooled things off considerably!
My lunch had been insufficient, so I ate an early dinner at the restaurant across the street from the hotel.
Definitely a cool thing about Timor-Leste is the Portuguese-influenced cuisine and coffee culture. That being said, although the restaurant served me beer in a Super Bock glass, and had Super Bock signage around, they did not in fact serve Portugal's signature beer!
Meanwhile, I walked along the waterfront.
The waterfront promenade is very nice, apparently sponsored by South Korea.
I passed the Presidential Palace, apparently built and paid for by the Chinese government (but this does not seem to be advertised as other foreign government-sponsored projects are).
As nice as the waterfront is, it is aging poorly, evidently suffering from lack of operations and maintenance, or perhaps its a classic example of foreign-designed infrastructure that is not really working for the people who actually use it.
There are many vendors along the promenade, including coconut sellers. Mostly I found this interesting because typically I associate coconut sellers with tourism and there is not any tourism going on here!
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Still, this tourist bought a coconut.
As obvious as the poverty is, I really feel a sense of optimism and vitality in Dili, and this mural is an example of that. I have been to many, many poor places where I sense desperation and depression, but to me (granted in basically only a few hours of being here) this feels different.
This morning, before breakfast and before my motorbike was going to be dropped off, I went back down to the waterfront for a walk.
This soccer field is another China-sponsored project and in this case that fact is prominently advertised.
Next door to the soccer field I was surprised to see there is actually a tourist information office.
And next to that there are beautiful fruit selling stalls.
He charges $35 for 24 hours, which seems steep, but within an hour I had no regrets! It is my first time riding one of these, and I first took it out east of the city to the Cristo Rei statue.
I very much enjoyed the twenty minute or so drive along the sea.
Traffic was basically nonexistent, and other than dodging a couple of goats, I was able to completely relax and enjoy the trip.
I climbed up to the statute, and along the way are the stations of the cross.
Halfway up or so you get a view of the other side of the peninsula, and look at this idyllic scene!
Eventually I reached Jesus.
From up here, this is the view back across the water to Dili.
On my way back into Dili I saw this mural, and liked it enough to swing back to take a picture.
In the hills above Dili there is apparently a small museum/memorial to the (mostly Australian, I think) soldiers who died during World War 2 that I figured I would check out. It sounded somewhat interesting, but best of all it would give me an excuse to head up into the hills. This was an even more exciting and beautiful ride with the Honda Beat Street than the seaside road had been.
Unfortunately, the museum was unexplainedly closed, so that did not work out, but I was not all that disappointed, because the ride had been totally worth it. This was the view back down to Dili from the museum parking lot.
I decided to carry on a little further up to a Catholic church/school complex.
And, from there, I came back down to Dili. It was another really hot day and I needed a break in some air conditioning. Before that, however, on my way back to the hotel, I passed the basilica (Timor-Leste is very Catholic) (the building is behind all of those trees) . . .
. . . and the Santa Cruz cemetery.
I had read about the Santa Cruz cemetery at the museum, because in 1991 the Indonesian military massacred at least 250 young Timorese protestors here. The anniversary is tomorrow (November 12), which is a holiday here, and they are setting up for a memorial in the street outside. This marker commemorates a British journalist who videotaped the events. The massacre, and the video of it, mobilized significant international pressure on Indonesia to end its occupation.
After some air conditioned rest and lunch, I took the motorbike back out for a little bit in the afternoon. My first stop was the Tais Market.
I was very disappointed with the market as I was the only shopper and I did not find anything that interested me to buy. I would have said the market is overrated, but it is likely that is an ignorant comment and in fact the problem is that I fail to appreciate tais textile, which I found out later is on UNESCO's list of "Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding." So, I suppose I missed an opportunity to appreciate what I was walking by. In my picture below, I am pretty sure the bags in the left foreground are made from tais. The Timor-Leste flag T-shirts are definitely not.
After the market, I went to the post office, which I read online sold postcards (which I had not found anywhere else).
The post office was sponsored by South Korea, and I realize now that despite the nice building, I do not think postal service is really a thing for Timor-Leste! The doors were locked, and the place deserted.
A lady did end up coming in as I was heading out, and opened the doors for me. She had a couple of very aged postcards and was able to sell me a stamp. There are apparently no post boxes in Timor-Leste, so I filled out the postcard there and left it for her to mail. I always mail postcards to myself so that I have them as souvenirs, and I will be interested to see if I get this one and, if so, how long it takes!
Since it was afternoon it was really hot now, and I retreated back to the hotel again to cool off. I took the motorbike back out for a final time this evening to get gas. I was amazed to find out that fuel is $2 USD per litre! No wonder there is so little traffic and such a preference for motorbikes! This high gas price is all the more interesting in light of this surprising fact (granted, it is from the IMF in 2010): "Timor-Leste stands out as the most oil-dependent economy in the world"!
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