Every December, I make it a point to try and visit a new place to dive. Last year, it was the Maldives and this year, I landed on Timor Leste (otherwise known as East Timor).

One of my favorite fun facts about Timor Leste is its name. ‘Timor’ (or ‘Timur’) translates to East in Malay, and ‘Leste’ means East in Portuguese. This makes its name East East.

Timor Leste has a dramatic history of national independence – first being colonized by the Portuguese for hundreds of years, and within days of their independence, being invaded by the Indonesians. This was despite them strongly affirming that they had no territorial ambitions on East Timor. During the occupation by the Indonesians, approximately one-third of the population were brutally wiped out.

After a 24-year occupation, Indonesia finally withdrew, giving Timorese their independence. And fast forward 20 years later, Timor Leste is now part of the ASEAN Association. 

The young country is now in a state of accelerated development, investing heavily in its infrastructure – evident in the roads that were being paved out and built in Atauro to the smooth pavements I saw in Dili.

I was also glad to hear that work has begun to upgrade its airport, such as widening and lengthening its landing strip as well as building a new airport control tower. 

Interestingly, Timor Leste and the Philippines are both considered to be the top countries most forward when it comes to human rights in SEA, including LGBTQ rights.

Timor Leste reminds me of the Philippines. It looks familiar and they share many similarities – Catholics, developing country, with a rich history of finding independence.

What’s different, however, is the development of their countries. I have been to the Philippines at least 10x in the past few years, and I can’t help but feel sorry for its people as development is almost non-existent. This is in spite of a young population and rich resources.

I feel a lot more optimistic about Timor Leste’s growth trajectory. If it plays its cards right, it will become a tourist hotspot in the next 5 years.

On one of my morning walks, I noticed locals using a metal can with rod wrapped around – effectively using it for fishing with sliced bananas as bait.

I’m not sure if it’s the area I was in, but Timor felt relatively well-developed, compared to the developing areas (ie. non-touristic areas) of the Philippines & Thailand.

Dili gave me a good impression – it didn’t smell, roads were well paved & being built, and the locals’ national sport was running!

Unfortunately, the Timorese Resistance Archive & Museum was closed – despite it showing as opened on Google Maps.

Perhaps it’s the Xmas celebration, but Google was about 70% accurate – from shops’ operating hours, to ferries or flight actually arriving in Atauro Island. So do take everything with a pinch of salt and plan for the unplanned.

My sense is also that Timorese seem slightly better off than the developing areas in PH or ID. Food prices are not exactly cheap – a plate of Nasi Goreng easily sets one back at $3 USD, which stacks up similarly to a meal in a neighbourhood hawker centre in Singapore.

Transport prices are wild – a blue taxi costs much higher (but reliable as you can call and book them), yellow taxis are abundant but in shabby states and require haggling, and microlets (Timor’s local transport) costs $0.25 regardless of distance. 

Travelling to and fro Atauro will be an essential part that the Timorese govt needs to fix if it’s banking on tourism to boost its income.

It was challenging to find our way to and fro Dili-Atauro.

Due to the Xmas celebration, ferries/boats were unpredictable. I came via the MAF flight (booked 10 days in advance via WhatsApp; nobody responded to my emails sent months before), while the fellow travellers I met in my dive resort came via 1. A chartered speedboat (divided by the # of people) or 2. Fishing boat (Foreigners pay twice the price of locals; and the fishing boat totally exceeded capacity – not supposed to be more than 25 but they took more than twice the people). 

Atauro boasts the world’s most bio-diverse reefs – and it’s true. In all my dives, I was exhilarated to see plentiful colorful reefs and abundant of fishes. I’m unsure if it was the dive sites that I went to, but it seems to me that bigger species are not commonplace – the usual sightings like white tips (none), turtles (saw 1 on my last shore dive). 

Stayed in Atauro Dive Resort for 4 nights and got completely devoured by mozzies throughout. That said, got a beachfront accommodation which gave me the best views of the sea, and lovely snorkelling right at our doorstep.

Some sights around Atauro – including the cutest bus, and a little scenic view up a hill after a short hike.

Switching gears back to Dili – got some lovely Indonesian and Portuguese food.

And then it was time to bid Timor Leste goodbye. Very interesting airport – flight waiting area was luggage check, immigration checkpoint, souvenir shop all packed in one place.

Thank you for a lovely time, Timor Leste. I’m rooting for you!

Ending this post with some beautiful skies of this journey.

With much love,

Olly’25