48 Hours in Timor Leste || Dili Travel Vlog

In the Java Sea amidst the vast archipelago of Indonesia lies one of the youngest independent countries in the world. In just 2002, Timor-Leste won a centuries-long battle for independence from Portugal and Indonesia. It was a country and history I knew little about, so I jumped on a plane from Bali to discover this place for myself. And here's how it went. Good afternoon, guys, and welcome to my 126th country, Timor-Leste. I've just taken a flight from Chengdu, China, down to Bali, which is one of the few places where you can get a connecting flight to this tiny little island nation of East Timor. And East Timor shares a little island with Indonesia, so it's part of the Indonesian archipelago, and half of the island is still part of Indonesia, and then the east part is one of the newest countries in the world, gaining its independence in 2002, and this is Timor-Leste. And we're in the capital here of Dili, which is right along the water, and I'm really excited to check out this country. It's one of the least-traveled countries in Southeast Asia, so I'm really excited to check out this place and see a more local, authentic look at some of the island life here in East Timor. And East Timor has a crazy past. It was a Portuguese territory for a while until World War II when the Japanese took over, and then after the Japanese, they got an independence for just a few months in the 70s until Indonesia did a hostile takeover in the mid-70s and took over this half of the island, and it was under Indonesian occupation until 2002 when there was a strong resistance movement, and East Timor finally got its independence recognized by the world. So one of the first things I want to do in East Timor this afternoon is learn a little bit more about the history of East Timor and its fairly new independence. And right behind the National Palace, which is right in the center of town, right along the water here, is the East Timorese Resistance Museum. So let's start by heading there and just learning a little bit about the history of how East Timor got its independence from Indonesia. So yeah, let's walk there and learn about the history. I've just walked around the National Palace, which is right in the center of town, right along the water, the promenade there, and it's not too much to see this big white building, mostly fenced in, but then you walk around to the right back corner, and I've made it to the East Timorese Resistance Museum, and I think it'll be really interesting to start by heading in here and just learning about the resistance movement against Indonesia in the 70s through the early 2000s, to give me a little background as I begin exploring East Timor. So let's head in and check out the museum. I really did not know much of that history of East Timor at all, so it's really fascinating going in there. They have some really good archival photographs and timelines that just really help chronicle the resistance movement against Indonesia, and again, just a lot of that I didn't know, and amazing how much of that just even happened within my lifetime and my parents' lifetime. And I'm not a huge museum person, but that was definitely worth checking out if you're here in East Timor, in Dili, just to give you a bit of a background and some context for this country. So anyways, there's another exhibit probably just about half a mile from here on the edge of Dili town that chronicles some of the resistance movement and the occupation movement called the Cega Exhibition. So let's walk to the Cega and check that out as well. So I've just walked about half a mile to the edge of the town of Dili here, and we're starting to see some of the beautiful mountains that surround the city here. And I've made it to the Cega Exhibition, which is another museum which tells some of the personal stories of some of the victims from different occupations from the Portuguese, Japanese, Indonesian occupations here. So let's head into the exhibition and yeah, check out another museum, just giving some of the history of East Timor. So that was the Cega Exhibition and Museum. And cega means stop in Portuguese. And this building used to be one of the prisons that the Indonesians used to imprison and torture and beat the resistance movement people from East Timor. So you go in there and you can see some of the insides of the prison cells. You can see there's some really graphic images of the prisoners. And then some of the prisoners have little stories of different ways they escaped or some of the torture methods that the Indonesians used while they were imprisoned there. So a very intense place to visit. But again, it's just giving me a lot more context and history as I embark on my journey around Timor-Leste. So from here, about half a mile away is the Santa Cruz Cemetery. And that's one of the things that we learned about in the museum there was that there was a massacre during one of the protests in 1991 at the Santa Cruz Cemetery. So it's an important place, again, to check out some of the Timor-Leste independence resistance history. So yeah, it's about half a mile down the road here. So let's walk there and check out the cemetery. So I've just walked half a mile to the Santa Cruz Cemetery here. And this is actually a gorgeous cemetery. There's so many of these tombstones that are just jam-packed in here. And they all have different designs and shapes and colors. And it's really actually one of the coolest graveyards I have ever seen. It's just so densely packed. And then you have the mountains and the palm trees off in the distance. And I mean, it's a graveyard, so it's sad. But it also has a very sad history in the resistance movement because this is where, in 1991, there was a massacre here during a pro-independence rally. So quite a few people were gunned down at that rally in the cemetery here. So it's a really interesting place to check out for that history. But again, just having all of these really colorful graveyards is just really quite cool. It's worth coming here just to walk around and see some of these tombstones. And there's so many beautiful flowers here. So let's walk around the Santa Cruz graveyard here, checking out some of the tombstones, and just enjoying the beautiful mountains that surround Dilley. The most colorful graveyard I have ever seen. This is just so beautiful. You have these bright greens and blues and pinks. Some of these have tiles and some have crosses and statues. Some have pictures of the deceased. A lot of them have flowers on them. You can tell people visit this place a lot and take care of their loved ones' graves. And it's just really amazing to walk around. I probably walked around for almost an hour here, just checking out all of the little grave sites. And each and every one of them is so unique. And I came here for the history of the massacre, but just honestly coming here to see all of the gravestones has just been one of the highlights of the day so far. Anyways, that's about it for today. Tomorrow, there's some beautiful beaches, some really cultural markets. There's the Christ the Redeemer statue and some old churches in town. So tomorrow will be a lot more of the sightseeing, hopefully a lot more of the fun aspect of Timor-Leste. But I think it was really important to start the day by just learning about a little bit of the history and how Timor-Leste gained its independence. So I'm gonna head back to the promenade beach area, probably try to catch a sunset there overlooking some of the islands of Timor-Leste. And I'll see you guys tomorrow morning when we explore more of Dili. Good morning, guys. It is day two here in Dili. And I have just come to the more western part of the downtown to the Dili Lighthouse here. And it's kind of on this point. And we have just this vast beach here that stretches on for quite a ways, probably all the way to the airport. And from the lighthouse here, we can look around the whole harbor of Dili. And we can see some of the mountains off in the distance. And we can see the Cristo Rei statue way down there on the mountains. And that's where we'll end up later this afternoon. But yesterday was all about learning about the history of Timor-Leste, just familiarizing myself with how this country became an independent nation, some of the resistance movement against the Indonesians and the Portuguese occupation way back in the early 1900s, and then up until the independence finally in 2002. Stopping at some of the museums and the graveyard and some of the historic sites. And today, I'm going to take you guys around a little bit more the downtown of Dili. I want to show you some of the old church history here. And then there's some really interesting markets I'm going to show you. And then eventually, we're going to work our way all around the bay here to the Cristo Rei statue, checking out some of the beautiful beaches and nature here in Dili. So yeah, let's start by walking past the lighthouse here along the little promenade that takes you along the water. And we'll be going to one of the oldest churches in Dili. So yeah, let's start walking. I have just walked along the promenade of Dili here a little ways. And we are right in front of the Motel Church, which is one of the oldest churches here in Timor-Leste. And it was built in the early 1800s by the Portuguese. Again, they occupied Timor-Leste for about 300 or 400 years from the 15-1600s up until the early 1900s. And this is not the original building, although because it was destroyed during some Japanese air raids during World War II. So the building we're looking at here was rebuilt in 1955. So let's head in and check out one of the oldest churches here in Timor-Leste. Unfortunately, the church is closed today. So I won't be able to take you guys inside the church. But there is another newer church just down the road. But on our way, we're going to walk by the Teas Market, which is the market that has like a lot of traditional Timor-Leste handicrafts. All right, guys, I've just walked a few blocks in from the church, from the coastline, and I'm at the Teas Market. It's just a small block here with a few narrow rows of shops that sell a lot of like the local handcrafts of the Timorese people. So let's head in, weave our way through some of these shops. So that was a brief walk through the Teas Market. And you have about two rows like this of just all these colorful fabrics and clothing. And there's some jewelry. And there's some people that are even working on some of the fabrics as you're walking around here. A lot of the merchants are like playing card games with each other. And I'm actually surprised I'm the only tourist here. I haven't even seen another tourist. And this is like a very one of the more touristy places I've been here in Dili. So but very beautiful, all of this colorful fabric, and really a place that gives you a little idea of the colorful handicraft culture of the Timor-Leste people. So anyways, about a quarter mile from here is the Cathedral de Dili. So let's walk through the rest of the Teas Market, and then we'll head to the cathedral. I've just walked a quarter mile from the Teas Market, and I've made it to the Dili Cathedral, which was built in 1984 by the Indonesian government. And it's the largest church in East Timor. And it's in the top five largest churches in Southeast Asia. And unfortunately, it's completely under renovations right now, because I just heard from one of the locals here that Pope Francis is visiting in just a few months. So they're making sure that everything's nice and neat and tidy and renovated for when he visits in just a few months. So unfortunately, we won't be able to see all of the church, but I think we can still step inside, see a little bit of the interior. But a lot of the exterior here is all unscaffolding, so we won't be able to see too much. But yeah, let's head in and check out one of the biggest churches in Southeast Asia. And again, a little disappointing, because it's completely going under construction now. And even the front of the cathedral inside, there was scaffolding just completely covering the altar as they do renovations for the preparation of the Pope's arrival. But the inside was just this big, open, white, cavernous space. There were a couple nice stained glass windows. And just, yeah, a big, nice open cathedral. And so, yeah, pretty cool to see. One of the largest churches here in Timor-Leste and in Southeast Asia. So anyways, we're going to keep exploring Dili today. We're going to start heading towards the Cristo Rei statue, which is about three miles out of town. But so I'm going to walk through town, back to the promenade. And then right along the promenade, there's a fruit and vegetable market that I want to check out on the way to the Cristo Rei statue. So yeah, let's head back to the coast and walk along the coastline. So I've just walked through the town of Dili, and now I'm on the east side. And not too far from the beach and the coastline, there's the fruit and vegetable market. So I'm going to walk around here. It just looks like this really colorful local market. You have all these bananas hanging, and then you have all these other fruits piled up. So let's just take a look at this local fruit and vegetable market. And it just smells so good, so sweet. And you have just so many different colors. And you just see a lot of these local people just driving up. They'll pick up some fruits. And really cool to see another very lively local market here. And yeah, just so many colors. And they have them stacked so neatly. And like a lot of fruits I recognize, but there are a few that I've like never seen before. So yeah, very, very cool, very colorful. And just another look at a market here in Dili. So one last thing that I want to do this afternoon is head out to the Cristo Rei statue. And I think I can get one of these little mini buses for less than a dollar out there. So we're looking for mini bus number 12. That'll take us the next three or four miles to Cristo Rei. So I've just taken the mini bus number 12. And it's dropped me off right at the Cristo Rei beach. And we're right at the beginning of the hiking trail. That'll take us up to the Christ the King statue here. But we just have this nice white sand beach, blue water. You can see the mountains just above Dili, way over there. And then, yeah, right at the end of the beach here, we have the giant Jesus statue. So let's start by hiking up to the statue. I've heard that there's another beach that's even prettier on the other side of these hills. So yeah, let's start the hike walking up to Cristo Rei. I have just come up 570 steps, a little less than half a mile. And it probably took just about 15 minutes or so to get up to the top of this cape here, where the Christ the King statue is. And this statue is 88 feet tall. And it just towers over these cliffs here. And you're looking back on the city of Dili, which is probably about three or four miles along the coastline here. And then behind the Christ the King statue, you just have these beautiful beaches and rolling hills that just go on towards the east end of East Timor. And the statue was built in 1996. And it's the second tallest Christ statue of this kind. And it resembles the Christ Redeemer statue in Brazil, which is also a former Portuguese colony. So yeah, very beautiful views up here. And it's one of Timor-Leste's most popular tourist attractions. Although I'm still the only tourist up here. But there's a lot of locals that are running up the stairs, doing workouts, going for runs around the statue, around the park here. So we have about 45 minutes to an hour until sunset. And we'll get a beautiful sunset overlooking the city of Dili here. So I'm just going to walk around, enjoy some of the views of these cliffs. And then eventually we'll watch the sunset from up here. I have just come down from the Cristo Rei statue and decided to just hang out and watch sunset from the beach here. That's right beneath the statue. So you can go swimming in this crystal clear water. Watch the reflection of the sunset on the sea there. You can see these layers of mountains off in the distance toward Dili. And just a beautiful place to watch the day end here, right beneath the Cristo Rei statue. There's a lot of people having barbecues. There's some music. There's some cafes right along the beach here, but it's still super chill. And that pretty much wraps up my two days exploring Dili. And I don't think I've seen a single tourist the whole time I've been here. It's just been super local, super authentic, and just a really interesting look into this tiny little Southeast Asian country that just became independent about 22 years ago. A lot of really interesting history that I learned through going to some of the museums and some of the historic sites here in Dili. And then today checking out a few of the old churches, the more cultural markets, and then coming up here to the Cristo Rei statue and just seeing the beautiful views, the beautiful landscapes overlooking the city, and some of the beaches here in Dili has just been a really cool way to introduce myself to Timor-Leste. And so the next two days, I'm hoping to get a ferry out to Aturo, which is an island really known for snorkeling, very remote. And today I went around asking how the ferries worked and like no one could give me a straight answer. So I'm not 100% sure how that works. I might have to be hitchhiking with a fisherman tomorrow. But hopefully I'll make it out to one of these remote islands just off the coast of Dili off of Timor-Leste and show you guys a little bit more of Timor-Leste. So yeah, that's it for Dili. Thanks for watching. And hopefully I'll see you guys next time on one of the islands just off Dili.