South East Asia - East Timor - Atauro Island - v.g. photo
1. The capital, Dili, has a surprisingly modern district
2. The most beautiful beaches in East Timor are right next to the capital
3. Vising the kind of rural villages a European traveler is likely never to have visited before
4. Staying with local families in villages, and living in such primitive conditions that you feel you’ve travelled centuries back in time
5. The quiet, endless beaches on the south coast (around Betano)
6. Atauro island is a perfect idyll
7. The island of Jaco is difficult and tiring to reach, but also spectacularly beautiful, with heavenly, deserted beaches
8. We were surprised how easy It was to cross the border from Indonesia
9. It was also surprising how little litter there was in East Timor, at least when compared to Indonesia – many streets could almost be called clean
10. We did also see a lot of construction work, however, so it’s possible that it may not look so primitive in a few years’ time
1. Underdeveloped or non-existent tourist infrastructure – endless, exhausting journey down terrible, pothole-filled roads on run-down old buses at an average speed of about 20 km/h
2. Dili, the capital is (aside from the beautiful surrounding mountains) not an attractive city
3. The city of Same possessed nothing of interest – visiting was a waste of time
4. If you don’t want to eat local food then it’s very expensive, and the local food is nothing special
5. Most rural areas are quite barren – not much lush vegetation
6. Conversations with locals can become awkward if talk turns to the question of whether the country would have done better or worse by staying within a rapidly developing Indonesia
7. We felt safer in East Timor than in Papua New Guinea, but it was much less exciting
8. Hearing that the only hope for this impoverished country lies in its potential oil and gas reserves, but that multinational companies seem intent on extracting so much of the wealth they generate that there won’t be much left to help East Timor prosper
9. Inhabitants of East Timor automatically receive a Portuguese passport, so most of the few educated inhabitants soon move to Europe.
10. We thought that we’d enjoy a few days on a deserted beach, but somehow the absence of other people takes a lot of the fun out of the experience
