DILI,
29 August 2004
After 10 hours by bus from Kupang, another 2 hours going through
immigration ... there we were, dropped in the middle of Dili
... looking for the Backpackers 231 ... the ultimate recommendation
from travellers across Indonesia .. only to discover that they
had moved and noone was able to tell us where ...
So we ended up staying at the Dili Sands motel .. which was
luckily only a few minutes walk from the Indonesian embassy.
Letter of invitation, photos and passport in hand, we were ready
to assault the embassy the next day ... hoping to get our visa
processed as fast as possible ... The trick was to bribe the
officials but ... how do you bribe anybody when you have a crowd
of people pushing through the tiny counter ... ? In the meantime,
we'd moved to Villa Harmonia and met an incredibly friendly
crowd of people, discovered that the Villa used to be a hub
of information for foreign correspondants during the fight for
independance and that the only other two foreigners living in
Baguia, North of Dili were there with us to process their visa
... !
In the end, although we didnt have the chance to explore Timor
Leste beyond Dili, we've had an incredible insight in the lives
of the Timorese people through Pedro and his family, the well
documented Xanana reading room and just chatting with people
in general.
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