a quick visit to East Timor

After the excitement of PNG, it was a relief to find East Timor to be such a sleepy, laid-back place.  Yes, Dili has a government palace and a few large foreign embassies along the waterfront, but it is definitely a town rather than a city in all respects other than its status as the country's capital.  So it was a nice place to hang out for a few days.

Of course I had to make the long walk east of Dili and up the 570 steps to the Cristo del Rei statue, with its lovely views over the nearby hills and beaches.

& I had to visit the Museum of the Resistance and the Chegg! exhibition, in one of the prisons from the Indonesian occupation.  The way the Timorese people were treated by the Indonesians was really awful, but almost more shocking was the way this disaster got so few headlines whilst it unfolded.

I also went out for a couple of nice meals (surprisingly easy as this small place has several Italian restaurants along the waterfront), as I met up with two different friends who were there at the same time.  & I was invited into one family's porch area for some fruit as they got their son to practise his English with me!

Then on my final day I ventured out of time, taking the local minibus some 25km along the coast to the ruins of the Ai Pelo prison (late nineteenth century to 1939).

I also had some nice long chats with room-mates at my hostel - some interesting people, but of course East Timor is not the kind of place your average sun-seeking tourist goes.

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