Monday 16 April 2007, Denpasar - Dili

Leaving Bali for East Timor today.

Breakfast in Bali was great! A tropical delight of incredibly fresh fruit whose tastes just explode on your tongue. Juicy melon, sweet pineapple and an extremely tart lime to clear my palate. Followed by a 'traditional' Indonesian breakfast of fried rice, eggs and a wafer. Yummy. The solitude of the breakfast environs is brightened a little by the cute Australian Sheila sipping her bottled water several tables away from me as she plans her day of touristy activities.

Sanur, where the Hotel Puri Kelapa is located, is about 30 minutes from the airport and quieter than the more touristy districts closer to the airport. Rs85,000 for the taxi should get you here (that's the official rate) although beware of the other taxi touts wanting to charge up to Rs100,000 just because you look a little lost and like a tourist. Just like in Joburg! Everywhere there are hundreds of sccoters around. It's the most popular form of transport around. I've even seen some women riding side-saddle! The taxi driver yesterday was saying that that was the more modest way for a woman to sit on the pillon - not this modern way with legs akimbo. Anyway, that's something for me to try when I'm back home.

Unlike most of Indonesia, Bali is 90% Hindu. One of the most heartwarming sights on my way from the airport yesterday through downtown Denpasar was a mosque, a church and a temple with a huge statue straight out of the Ramayana co-existing side by side in one precinct on a city block. A sort of miniature South East Asian Jerusalem but without the religious contestation.

Checking in, all metal objects must be removed from one's person - including in my case my belt because the big buckle was setting off the detector. I wonder if passengers have wardrobe malfunctions here? Some of the locals had to remove even their shoes; I was spared that. Now a 1hr45min trip to Dili.....

Delayed....

My flight to Dili was delayed by more than an hour due to rotational reasons, so we're only flying out at 11h30 rather than 10h05. Again the whole complexion of the flight has changed. I guess few people go to Dili on holiday. Yesterday the taxi driver assumed I was a military type when I said I was going to Dili for 2 weeks. Or from the UN. So today I'm dressed like a tourist in 3/4 pants and sporting a shirt from Zanzibar that'll help me cope with the heat a little better. Most of the foreigners now occupying the departure hall are on their way to Jakarta. One Australian-sounding chap had evacuated several weeks back, ensuring that some local Timorese too were evacuated and had not been let back to run his business it sounds like. He was heading back now on a tourist's visa. Looks like Dili will be an interesting place.

Another assumption is that I'm local. The Malay/Javanese/Indonesian part of my heritage must be coming through quite strongly in my features. Like on my last visit to Thailand, it's interesting to see the virtual doubles of people I recognise as Capetonians on the these streets.

I nearly caused an international incident at Dili airport because I had insufficient dollars for the 30USD visa charge. Sweating in line I was sent from one immigration official to another, finally interrogated about the purpose of my visit and how come I had no money on me, how much was loaded on my credit card, just who were you visiting etc... Finally I got a break when the driver who had come to pick me up (John) was allowed to come and explain the situation and the reason for my visit. And it turned out that he knew the chief immigration interrogator - so it all turned out OK.

Leaving the airport, my first impressions was of a society under seige - but not from guerillas or armed militia - rather from the pervasive presence of police - official East Timorese, the UN police force drawn from countries from around the world, the special Portuguese police force and the Australian army in full military fatigues. All offering protection and security. While we have to drive along potholed streets and burned out relics of buildings - memoirs of the Indonesian army's withdrawal and their scorched earth policy with their retreat in 1999. The country it seems has yet to recover.

Unemployment is rife - upwards of 50% depending on where in the country you are. Marginalised youth are visible on the streets everywhere (this is my target audience) when they should be in school in the middle of the day. Dogs, goats and pigs roam the streets. Traffic rules mean very little; overtaking on a barrier line in the face of oncoming traffic has been perfected by most drivers. I have yet to see a car accident though. Although I guess one cannot travel too quickly given the state of many of the roads.

My accommodation in Dili is very, very different to that in Bali! My home away from home for the next 2 weeks will be a converted container that houses 4 little cubicles (en suite it must be told), mine being one of them. This is going to be interesting......