"TIMOR LESTE" a East Timor Travel Page by black_mimi99

Once upon a time, East Timor had a thriing little tourism business. That was 30 years ago, before Portuguese colonial colapse, Indonesian invasion, a long-running guerilla struggle for independence, a short spell of uttermayhem and finally an Australian-led UN intervention.
Today, the world’s newest nation is taking tentative steps towards getting back on the tourist map. It’s not a big place. It has a population of less than 1 million and an area of about 15,000sq km.

The 2963m summit of Mt. Ramelau is a very good place to start. It only takes a couple of hours to follow the walking track to the portuguese statue of the Virgin Mary which gazes out towards the north coast. The views are fantastic.

Dili, the relaxed little capital sprawls along the bayside, hemmed in by mountain only a few kilometres inland. The eastern end of the bay features a giant Christ statue, looking as if it has been beamed in from another ex-Portuguese colonial city, Rio de Janiero. The statue was an “Indonesian gift:, as is Dili’s huge Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Dili has wide range of hotels.
The Tais market is the place to pick up a piece of traditional tais (colorful woven sarongs), beautifully crafted Timore weaving.
Nearby, the ANZ Bank has an ATM machine that will dispenses US dollars (the official currency of East Timor)

Baucau is the country’s second-largest town, perched on a ridge high above the coast. Another pousada from the Portuguese era has been restored and kick-started back to life and this one is probably the most colourful place to stay in East Timor. Indeed, its pink paint job more than justifies its alternative name : Hotel Flamboyan.

Com, home to the Com Resort, an Australian-built weekend escape for Dili expats. Turning island the road runs to Los Palos and all the way to village of Tutuala, perched at the extreme eastern end of Timor, from where local fisherman with an outrigger canoes shuttles passengers accoss to nearby Jaco’s island, the absolute eastern end of East Timor. (Organise the charter before you leave Tutuala village at the top of the hill, it’s a long way back to find a fisherman if there is nobody down at the beach). The reef between the beach and Jaco island offers fine snorkelling. There’s excellent scuba diving from Bali right along the sweep of island to Papua New Guinea, and East Timor’s water are no exception. Until the UN arrival. They were aslo virtally undiscovered.

Atauro, the island that dominates the skyline directly offshore from Dili. Today there’s an interesting little Eco Lodge resort on the island and some great dive sites, particularly along the mountainous west coast.

Oecussi is an enclave of Timor Leste located some 70 kilometers inside Indonesian West Timor.

From Dili, we can see this statue, blessed Dili city....