News – May 2007 (Dili / Timor-Leste, May 21, 2007)
- Website statistics: In April we were able to welcome on our website 30'741 visitors who did 748'302 hits.
- (March = 30'844 visitors – ??? countries* – 784'599 hits)
- Record days since 12/17/1998 - the birthday of our website: 2/19/2007, 2'518 visitors and 293'778 hits
- (*= the country counter, which stopped working March 23, 2006, has still not been repaired by the
- ISP Goldnet - frustrating! - usually there were monthly between 100 and 118 different countries!)
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- Since our last "News" on April 25th, we were able to visit not only two more Indonesian islands, but even a new
- country: Timor-Leste, the 156th. On April 27th, we left the island of Flores on our 8th Indonesian ferry for seven
- hours to the island of Sumba. As we experienced during the following week, Sumba is really (still) a "titbit". The
- people live mostly still the traditional way of life, but also its landscape is very fascinating . On May 4th, we sadly left
- this very beautiful island due to our Indonesian stay expiring soon.Unfortunately, the shipping connections from and
- to Sumba work only on a weekly schedule. But Sumba became definitively No. 1 in our "Indonesian hit list".
- After two tiring sea journeys of 17 hours each, which both went through the whole night, and after a stopover on the
- small "forgotten" island of Sawu (Sabu), we reached Kupang, the capital of the Eastern Nusa Tenggara province.
- Being rather a dusty, characterless accumulation of about 200'000 people, situated in the Western part of the island
- of Timor, we wanted to await there the outcome of the Presidential Elections in neighboring Timor-Leste (the earlier
- East-Timor). Luckily, the situation remained calm. Therefore, on May 15th, one day before our six months
- Indonesian permit ran out definitively, we entered our 156th country Timor-Leste in its enclave of Oecussi. Shortly
- before, President Ramos-Horta has surprisingly been elected without new unrest.
And Oecussi proved to be a real treasure. Actually, nobody knew exactly whether an exit from Indonesia and an- entry into this part of Timor-Leste – the more with an own vehicle – was
possible at all for a foreigner. Amazingly,
- nobody seemed to be bothered by our intention, although most probably no foreign tourist car ever crossed this
- boundary before. Shortly afterwards, we are surrounded by pure nature: Rugged, sparesely forested mountains, an
- adventurous track and finally the turquoise sea bordered by untouched sandy beaches. But also the locals welcome
- us full of enthusiasm, waving, often even bowing. Suddenly, we feel like being in paradise. But this paradise is poor,
- very poor! There are practically no public transports, no motorbikes, even no bicycles – in Oecussi the only
- transport is on foot. In the hot tropical sun, everybody – from school kids to grannies – is walking for hours up the
- hills and down the mountains. Very simple straw huts are lining the tracks with roaming chickens, goats, cows, pigs,
- dogs and water-buffaloes, anything which can be eaten. The water has to be brought in buckets from a well,
- sometimes from pretty far away. There is electricity only in the evenings for six hours in the main village; road
- maintenance doesn't exist, rubbish neither, as there is not much to buy. While even in the whole of Timor-Leste with
- a population of over one million only 4% know what Internet means, Oecussi itself with about 60'000 people has
- one Internet station – may this still be paradise? We are not sure, particularly if we look at the average life
- expectancy: 52 for men, 54 for women! Is this the reason that Oecussi has the world's highest fertility rate
- (8.4 children every woman)? And besides: Only 43% of individuals aged 15 and older can read and write!
- When we reach Oecussi-"Town", a village with about 5'000 inhabitants, the new ferry vessel, donated recently by
- Germany as economic aid, lies on shore; there is no pier. This now twice weekly sailing connection remains
- practically the only contact to the outside world, even to the main land of Timor-Leste and its capital Dili. Although
- Indonesia annexed the whole of East-Timor between 1975 and 1999, today there is no cross-border traffic of
- people or goods anymore. Today, Timor-Leste is orientated much more towards Australia.
- After three wonderful days of discovering Oecussi, we also took the ferry for a 13-hour night journey to Dili. What
- a difference to the "chaotic" Indonesian ferry adventures! Everything runs smoothly and well organized, nearly as in
- Europe – the sponsor can be sensed! On May 19th, at dawn, we reach Timor-Leste's capital Dili, a city with about
- 70'000 people. Unfortunately, the place has rather a bad reputation, especially in the international travel advisories.
- But nothing is eaten as hot as it was cooked before. We have the feeling that the media is sometimes exaggerating
- (good news are no news), though the notorious refugee camps are visible, which were blamed for some unrest and
- riots. But on Timor-Leste's Independence Day, on May 20th, when also the newly elected President José Ramos-
- Horta was inaugurated, no tension could be felt at all. Luckily, we were able to participate in these festivities too. As
- we have now the impression that Timor-Leste can be traveled and discovered without too many problems, we
- intend to explore this obviously beautiful and young country, which was "born" only on May 20th, 2002, during the
- coming few weeks.
- Unfortunately, the entire procedure for the temporary visit of our car to the Philippines has to be restarted from
- scratch – this may take some time! Saying this, it's not at all clear how the continuation from Timor-Leste will be for
- us, and when this will be. Either we ship directly from Dili to Manila, or we apply for another Indonesian visa to
- discover more destinations on its 17'000 islands, like e.g. Sulawesi and the Moluccas.
- Therefore, please check from time to time the progress of our "Indonesia-Trip, Part 4", and shortly also of our
- pictured site of "Timor-Leste"!
New Reports/Pictures
- SOUTHEASTASIA: mouse over picture shows comments
- click a picture to see details
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| + our Timor-Leste Trip, 2nd part | Mainland with Dili – May 2007 |
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| + our Timor-Leste Trip, 1st part | Enclave of Oecussi – May 2007 |
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| + our Indonesia Trip, 4th part | Sumba, West Timor – April-May 2007 |
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| + our Indonesia Trip, 3rd part | Lombok, Sumabawa, Flores – April 2007 |
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| + our Indonesia Trip, 2nd part | Bali – Jan.-March 2007 |
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| + our Indonesia Trip, 1st part | Sumatra, Java – Dec. 2006 |
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| + our Borneo Trip | Sarawak, Brunei, Sabah, Kalimantan – Sept.-Nov. 2006 |
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| + our LandCruiser on a "Rejuvenation Cure" | in Miri/Sarawak - the East Malaysian province on Borneo June-Aug. 2006 |
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| + added from a earlier visit to the USA: | Las Vegas (Millennium change) |
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| + added from our Arabian Peninsula round trip: | Pictures from Yemen (May-June 1996) |
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| + Flashbacks of our Worldrecordtour: | Pictures from "all the continents" (Oct. 1984 - April 1997) |
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