Timor-Leste

Understand

thumb|View of the town of Manatuto

Get in

thumb|375px|A map showing the visa requirements of Timor-Leste, with countries in dark green having visa-free access, and countries in light green having visa on arrival at Dili airport or seaport only.

Get around

thumbnail|Soibada, Timor-Leste

See

thumb|Dili and Atauro Island Carnival de Timor is the annual festival held in Dili in middle of April (sometimes in May, depending on rain season). Initiated by the Ministry of Tourism in 2010, the carnival is all about fun, music and multiculturalism. Both modern and traditional costumes, Timor-Leste and foreign minorities, even embassies participate in this annual festival. The parade starts at a landmark and ends at Palacio do Governo, greeted by bands and awards for the best dressed group. The crowd continues to dance into the night with live music and other attractions.

Tourists in Timor-Leste are a rare breed. Traveling from village to village, you're likely to hear choruses of "malay" (the Tetum word for foreigner) and folks will want to engage you in conversation. One could spend several days just enjoying the feeling of being a very welcome stranger.

Timor-Leste is at the end of the Indonesian archipelago, north of Darwin, Australia and at the base of the Coral Triangle, which hosts the highest diversity of coral and reef fish species on earth.

Timor-Leste offers a rich cultural heritage spun from tens of thousands of years of human habitation, the Portuguese and Indonesian colonial periods, and from the depths of a society which has cultural traditions as the fabric of that bonds society together.

Timor-Leste is well positioned for community-based ecotourism, which has been written into the nation's tourism strategic plan. The Nino Konis National Park (situated …

Eat

thumbnail|Cooking the natural way in Timor-Leste

The staple food in Timor-Leste is rice. Commonly grown food crops include taro, cassava, sweet potatoes and maize. Beans, cabbage, cowpeas, onions and spinach are well-liked vegetables. People also rear poultry, goats and pigs. Fish forms an important part of the diet and acts as a supplement to any meal. Most traditional Timor-Leste recipes use a generous dose of spices. Mangoes, watermelons, papayas, bananas and coconuts are the most commonly cultivated fruits here. Carbohydrates like sago or other grains form the main dish for many a Timor-Leste meal.

Many restaurants in Dili serve Portuguese and Italian cuisine and you can find Chinese, Japanese and Thai as well. Significant numbers of foreigners living and working in Timor-Leste ensure a loyal clientele for these restaurants.

Drink

Several beachfront bars and nightclubs provide the nightlife in Dili serving food and drink, but they cater mainly to the small expat population making them relatively expensive. Some fancy inner city restaurants include Nautilaus, Diya, Ocean View Hotel and Gion Japanese Restaurant. In the Meti Aut area is the newly renovated Atlantic Bar and Grill which is arguably amongst the best service and quality in Timor. Another is the Caz Bar where kayaks can be hired late in the night and a barbeque serves fried fish and all the beach side meals such as sizzling garlic prawns, hamburgers and a large range of cold beer.

Sleep

thumb|Night in Dili

Dili has a wide range of hotels at every price level.

Outside of Dili, there are really only two other bona fide hotels in the country, at Baucau and at Com. However, there are plenty of creative options if you don't insist on luxury, and these range from guesthouses to convents to camping.

Stay safe

Timor-Leste continues to face sporadic internal ethnic & political tension and related violence may occur. This may not be targeted at foreigners or tourists, but follow the guidelines below. There is still a considerable international presence in Timor-Leste, including a United Nations mission and international police and military (mostly conducting capacity building and training for national security forces).

Foreigners or tourists have been targets for violence in Timor-Leste, so visitors should be responsible and adhere to standard precautions as in any developing country. Remember, that you are travelling in a underdeveloped country, and crimes such as assault and theft do occur. The key to avoid such crime is to apply common sense and reduce your exposure to possible opportunity crime such as:

Avoid large gatherings (demonstrations have had the potential to escalate with little or no warning in the past). Remove any visible valuables from your car if leaving it unattended. Women should avoid travelling alone in taxis at night. Women should avoid walking alone at night in quiet streets.

Stay healthy

Malaria is no longer an issue in Timor-Leste.

Tap water is not safe to drink. Boil it or treat it before consuming, or drink bottled water.

Respect

thumb|Independence monument in Balibo Timor-Leste was devastated by the Indonesian occupation that may have killed up to 200,000 (1 in 5 of all people in Timor-Leste) indigenous people. Speaking well of Suharto's Orde Baru or of the idea of Timor-Leste becoming part of Indonesia will not be well received. However, the two countries enjoy a positive relationship today, and Indonesia played a key role in advocating for Timor-Leste's accession to ASEAN.

Many Timor-Leste people are sympathetic or even outright nostalgic about the period of Portuguese rule, where they were generally left to their own devices by the Portuguese colonial government. As with discussing politics abroad in all places, if you aren't sure a discussion about sensitive topics will go over well, don't bring it up.