East Timor Travel Guide

East Timor OVERVIEW

Not without anguish, East Timor has eventually won its independence. With a limping economy, infrastructure devastated by more than two decades of struggle against Indonesian occupation, and memories of extrajudicial executions, torture, and starvation, the country has suffered enough to be automatically considered as totally devoid of holiday potential, let alone any bliss.

Meanwhile, some of the world's best shore diving can be done in Dili, the otherwise shabby capital whose colonial legacy rests under the blanket of dust. Brush it off and you'll discover a vibrant melange of decent places to tickle your taste buds (what coffee they have!) and some engaging traditional sights, including an old Chinese cemetery, a Balinese Hindu shrine, the bustling Tais Market (heavy with hand-woven cloths from around the country), and the Motael Cathedral blessed by John Paul II in 1989.

For more nature sponsored delights, head to the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco where you can rub noses with dolphins, feed on fruit and wild honey, be dazzled with coral while having the snorkeling experience of a lifetime, hike through thick mountain forests, and watch life drift by lazily in bucolic, welcoming villages. Here time stopped long ago, and it only works to the advantage. Just you, some of the most kind-hearted people, and purifying simplicity.

Quite a lot for a place you've been ready to write off, isn't it? Of course it's no garden of eden and you'll have bones shaken out of you trying to travel places, but you're bound to fall in love with the country the moment you see the beaming, genuine smiles of East Timorians who will most definitely make up for any inconvenience you come across during your stay.