Our packs full of gear, food, water, and still feeling pretty light we headed to the hills. 15 minutes later we were walking along a road at the base of the hill looking for what could be a track up the mountain. We could see a set of stairs headed up the hill, and assumed that they must be the start, so we headed down an alley that looked like it would get us to the base. It didn't - but undeterred we climbed over some old razor wire atop a small stone fence after sneaking through someones backyard and started scrambling up the steep loose hillside. It didn't take us long to reach a road, where we met a girl our age, Tina, who was studying at the Institute of Business, and spoke very good english, and showed us a walking trail up the hill past her home, that she said would get us on the trail to Dare. And it did, but it also took us along the side of another Timorese house from the rear, and much to my surprise the entire family was sitting on the verandah at the other end of the house, sheltering from the rain that had just started.
The invited us to join them, and we had a good old chat (as much as was possible with our limited Tetum, and the kids much better English). Starting on our way again we made it to the concrete steps, and further up the trail before it started to rain heavily again and we took refuge under a roof covering two tombstones with a view of Dili. Once the rain stop we continued up the path, which was pretty straight forward mostly, apart from one place where it didn't look to be going in the direction we wanted, so we back tracked a little and took a small side path that looked substantial initially, but soon became just a farm access track. After a bit of bush bashing we saw what looked like a constructed road down the hill, so we bush bashed down to it and slid down a 4m cliff to join it. Soon we re-entered populated territory, and the people told us that this was Dare, though it was just a collection of 3 houses. We continued a little further, and joined a bitumen road. As fortune had it we turned left, down hill, and the right way. Soon we came upon the Australian war memorial, and were elated to see the excellent views over Dili, and that we had ended up where we had wanted to. Finding some where to camp proved a little more difficult, though eventually we settled on an abandoned hut up a quiet road. We were unsure why it was unoccupied as it was quite sound and water proof if a little outdated (being built of bamboo and palm fronds for the roof), so we kept a low profile, turning off our torches whenever we heard traffic on the road.
The next day - Alieu and Maubisse
Showing posts with label Timor Leste. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Timor Leste. Show all posts
Monday, October 4, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Timor Leste - Dili
So I have written a bit about Dili before, but here is what we did in Timor:
Day 1: We arrived in Dili early in the morning, and caught a taxi into the back packers. After dumping our stuff and choosing from the plethora of empty beds we hit the town. We wandered along the waterfront, and a Timorese guy came along for the walk. He asked several times if we wanted to go to his house for food, and after an hour or so of walking with us decided that he wanted a couple dollar for his efforts. That was our first, and one of only four or five instances, of people asking for money. I don't know what else to say really. It was like most of the small cities I have seen in south-east asia: lots of young people with carts selling water, snacks, warm soft drinks and phone credit; warm and humid; a bit smelly, dirty and wet; but bustling with life and smiles.
That afternoon we headed to Hotel Dili for drinks with a bunch of Australian yachtsmen who had just arrived in Dili after competing in the first Darwin - Dili yacht race since the Indonesian invasion. My cousin Ethers partners families big boat was anchored off Dili, and were coming to the party, so we went to met the family, and the sailors. Turns out it was a great arvo. We met a whole bunch of interesting sailors and ex-pats running big businesses in Dili. We met 5 of the family, and had a good chat to Alice and Angus who are from my our sort of hood, having been to Mazenod and St Brigits. Alice was working in Dili in Events Management with a government department, helping to organise an adventure race, and the Tour de Timor (a MTB tour - the roads are not road bike friendly).
Day two in Dili started with fried rice for breakfast at the Dili Beach Hotel, followed by some more wandering around, in between looking for stuff we needed to take on our adventure out of town. We saw a bunch more UN, and met an Australian Naval Officer (several times over the course of the day - such is Dili) who is advising the Timorese navy - it consists of 3 boats at present.
Our Timorese rural adventure was going to start by walking from the back packers to the hills fringing the south of the city, and finding the base of a path that has been trod by many a Timorese foot. Alice had indicated to us that there was an old trail that many refugees used to travel to and from Dili at various times of turmoil in the countries history. We had checked this with other people, and it seemed such a trail did exist, so we were going to give it a shot, and walk to the Australian War Memorial at Dare, a town 5 or 6km up the mountain, overlooking Dili. And that is what we did.
Day 1: We arrived in Dili early in the morning, and caught a taxi into the back packers. After dumping our stuff and choosing from the plethora of empty beds we hit the town. We wandered along the waterfront, and a Timorese guy came along for the walk. He asked several times if we wanted to go to his house for food, and after an hour or so of walking with us decided that he wanted a couple dollar for his efforts. That was our first, and one of only four or five instances, of people asking for money. I don't know what else to say really. It was like most of the small cities I have seen in south-east asia: lots of young people with carts selling water, snacks, warm soft drinks and phone credit; warm and humid; a bit smelly, dirty and wet; but bustling with life and smiles.
That afternoon we headed to Hotel Dili for drinks with a bunch of Australian yachtsmen who had just arrived in Dili after competing in the first Darwin - Dili yacht race since the Indonesian invasion. My cousin Ethers partners families big boat was anchored off Dili, and were coming to the party, so we went to met the family, and the sailors. Turns out it was a great arvo. We met a whole bunch of interesting sailors and ex-pats running big businesses in Dili. We met 5 of the family, and had a good chat to Alice and Angus who are from my our sort of hood, having been to Mazenod and St Brigits. Alice was working in Dili in Events Management with a government department, helping to organise an adventure race, and the Tour de Timor (a MTB tour - the roads are not road bike friendly).
Day two in Dili started with fried rice for breakfast at the Dili Beach Hotel, followed by some more wandering around, in between looking for stuff we needed to take on our adventure out of town. We saw a bunch more UN, and met an Australian Naval Officer (several times over the course of the day - such is Dili) who is advising the Timorese navy - it consists of 3 boats at present.
Our Timorese rural adventure was going to start by walking from the back packers to the hills fringing the south of the city, and finding the base of a path that has been trod by many a Timorese foot. Alice had indicated to us that there was an old trail that many refugees used to travel to and from Dili at various times of turmoil in the countries history. We had checked this with other people, and it seemed such a trail did exist, so we were going to give it a shot, and walk to the Australian War Memorial at Dare, a town 5 or 6km up the mountain, overlooking Dili. And that is what we did.
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