Fasten your seatbelts because here we go!

Yes, we ladies are in for an adventure. After planning and longing a whole year for this to happen, we finally managed to save enough money to begin our travel. So our backpacks are fully loaded, we’ve got our best climbing shoes on, our spirits are up and off we go!

East Timor

After hours of plane sitting and bus driving until we couldn’t feel our bums anymore, we arrived in Dili. The first thing I immediately noticed was the extreme poverty  in which people were living.

As we know, East Timor has struggled for many years as a country especially since the genocide caused by Indonesia, that invaded the country for over 25 years. It was a massive bloodbath.

It is unreal to me that just six years ago, the nation was filled with violence and gangsters on the streets shooting everything that moved. For 25 years (It seems so unrealistic that something so horrible can last 25 years) the people of East Timor had to endure executions, tortures and starvation.

It was until we visited the Santa Cruz cemetery, in the capital of Dili, that I sensed the monstrosity that has been the Santa Cruz massacre, where East Timorese pro-independence demonstrators were shot. The massacre was some sort of wake-up call for many pro-independence demonstrators of the world because shortly after that the UN sent their peacekeepers force into the country to restore calmth. We also saw a few  state institutions that was built by the UN. What baffled me is how much police officers were casually walking around with their guns to insure their country’s security. I think that in a sense, it makes people feel more safe. I guess it’s how you look at it. As an outsider this is a bit frightening, but for the people that had been taken advantage of and suffered for so long, it’s quite a safe feeling that police officers are not out of reach.

We saw a few UN troops gathering around and leaving the country. The election of 2012 was clearly a success. It shows that it resulted in a peaceful transition of power. I just hope it stays that way.

I can't wait to explore Dili, I am so eager to learn more about the country's culture.

Greets

Jihane

source article:https://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/12/2012123173256112503.html
source image:https://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/55886477.jpg
 

During our bus trip we noticed the many coffee plantations. Coffee seems to be East Timor's most important export good since their colonial period with Portugal. Coffee is so important that it counts for 80% of the total export. Nevertheless a lot of these important economic coffee planations were ruined during the genocide. Farmers and their families were deported or killed, their farms, plantations and harvest were destroyed. A disaster since coffee is the most important profit source for East Timor and 15 % of it's inhabitants.

To see these plantations we went to Maubisse which are located more in the centre of the country where the most coffee plantations are located. To get there we had a rough and bumpy ride through a mountainous, silent and beautiful nature. This area, next to mountain Ramelau, can be 1000 metres above sea level. So the climate there was chilly, about a 15° C. Ofcourse some of us forgot to take a sweater...

We could smell at the heavenly odeur that we had arrived. The local farmers welcomed us very enthusiasticly yet they're going to a rough time. The rebuilding of the coffee industry is tough and it has been estimated that the coffee industry will only be recovered in a decade. That's why the initiative Timor Cooperativa Café was created. It gathers 20000 local producers and fairtrade organisations help out this initiative.

We've heared that the coffee from East Timor is one of the most exquisite in the world and we all agree! And for all of you, the ones who stayed home, go to Starbucks and taste it yourself because they use fairtrade coffee from East Timor. Starbucks purchases 40% of the coffee production made in East Timor. So there is a demand towards the very smooth coffee of East Timor.

Enjoy your coffee!

Amina

Source:https://www.abc.net.au/landline/content/2010/s2888080.htm

After visiting Maubisse’s plantations and having this huge jet-lag we thought it would be a good idea if we just hung out for one day at the beach. So we slept until 11 am, packed our beach bags, took a brunch and left.

At our hostel's reception we saw an advertisement to hire a Vespa for one day. We thought it would be a great idea to go to the beach with these Vespa's because we also had the chance to drive around for a bit in the afternoon.

During the time I was signing the contracts, Jihane and Kimberly had met foreign people outside the hostel that knew some amazing places in this area. They told us to meet up at Little Pattaya, one of the best Thai restaurants on the beach.

So we left with our Vespa’s and drove to the beach. There we just relaxed and swum. There were beaches that we could call our owns. What a silence. This was unknown.

At noon we went to Little Pattaya, where we met the foreign people from outside the hostel. Little Pattaya seemed to be an amazing place where you can eat Thai food and enjoy a great view. In Belgium you would have to pay a lot of money to have dinner on a place like this. But here, it was cheap. Together we only paid 50 USD for dinner and drinks.

After having this great lunch we drove around with our Vespa’s. It was truly amazing. I have seen the most beautiful landscapes/views in my entire life. I will cherish this forever. We also have visited a local Portuguese School in Dili. We have seen a big contrast between our education and theirs.

As it was getting darker and darker we started panicking because we had no clue where we were at that time. Luckily we had met some locals and they showed us the way back.

At 8 pm we arrived in our hostel, had dinner and now we are going back to sleep. Everyone is tired but it was an amazing day, we have discovered wonderful things and I’m pretty sure we’ll be dreaming about paradise.

Sweet dreams

Julie

Photos:

Amina swimming in the Timor Sea.

Charlotte also known as Raving George playing her first set in East Timor.

Eline, Julie and Jihane in front of Little Pattaya (Thai restaurant)

Kimberly and the Timor Sea.(What a view)

In the article below you can find 6 reasons why you should visit East Timor, well one thing is sure, definitely for the amazing beaches.

Article: https://travel.cnn.com/explorations/life/reasons-visit-east-timor-414416

Sources:

• https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g297517-d3359436-r145359324-Little_Pattaya-Dili_Dili_District.html
• https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Ps-tfxO3bkg/TTikmUTdBgI/AAAAAAAAAcs/3oiSLX7UEJg/s1600/At+the+beach3.jpg

Yesterday we’ve noticed that there was an island a couple of kilometers away from  Dili.
We decided to look that up this morning when we had breakfast.

In a tourist brochure available at our hotel we saw that this island is 30 kilometers away from Timor.
The island isn’t very big it is only 25 kilometers long and 9 kilometers wide.
You can take a taxiboat to the other side and it takes about two hours to get there.
Our plan of today was to go on a boattrip!

We had to wait for about ten minutes before the taxiboat, that would bring us to Atauro island, arrived.
The sun was shining and we were all looking forward to see what surprises the island has.

It was very early when we were on our way to Ataura island but It’s very pretty to see the nature waking up.
The sun is shining, the water is clear, we got everything to start a good day!
Even though two hours seem to be very long, the boattrip was an experience on its own.
Our boat was surrounded by dolphins, something that we’ve never saw before.

After two hours we finally arrived at the island and it’s even better than the pictures!
Today we wanted to get the most out of our day because we didn’t had a lot of time.
It was possible to hire a guide for 10 dollars and so we started our trip around the island.

I was glad that I’ve put on my walking shoes because there was a lot of climbing before we were at our first stop.
We visited the locals in the town “Pala” and the first thing I noticed is that all the girls were very busy.
I took a closer look and saw that they were weaving.
After watching 5 minutes how they did everything we decided to also try it!
At the beginning it was a bit difficult but we’ve tried and we have a beautiful souvenir.

On our way to the next stop the guide told us that there live about 7500 people at the island.
In the past the island was used as a prison because it is isolated but because it was isolated it was also protected during the Indonesian occupation.

After all our climbing we all wanted to eat and the guide commended Barry’s place.
This was one of the two hotels at the island.
We had a lunch and a drink in the hotel. We’ve tasted some fresh Timor coffee, local fruit, crusty rolls and wild honey stroll.

When we finished lunch we took a little break at the eco-village,  that is made from bamboo.
We talked a bit about the beginning of our adventure with a beautiful view of the bay in the background.

It was very nice to visit the island but it was time to go back to Dili because we had to take the taxiboat again for about 2 hours!

We were all very tired so we all just took a nap on the boat.
After 2 hours we arrived again at Dili and went immediately to our hostel.
After dinner and a little chat everyone went to bed!
Already excited for tomorrow!

Goodnight!

Kimberly
 

Eco-village

Picture of Autora taken at the taxiboat

The view during lunch at barry's place

Sources :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfs_QipaPmY

https://www.timorleste-hotels.com/Barry_s_Place_on_Atauro

https://basboonstoppel.waarbenjij.nu/reisverslag/2997852/are-you-the-dutch

The Districts of East Timor

In this journal, we already talked about the different places of East Timor we have already seen. We've been to, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful places this world has to offer. I've been, several times, completely mesmorised by the simplicity and beauty of mother nature. I can't wait to see what this journey still has to offer us.

So we talked about our visit to Dili, one of the thirteen Disctricts of East Timor. The names of the other twelve Districts are:

1. Oecusse.
2. Liquiça
3. (Dili)
4. Manatuto
5. Baucau
6. Lautém
7. Bobonaro
8. Ermera
9. Aileu
10. Viqueque
11. Cova Lima
12. Ainaro
13. Manufahi

On the picture below you'll see a map on which you can see every of the thirteen Districts located.

So after visiting Dili, we've decided to travel South and visit Aileu, Manufahi, Ainaro and Cova Lima.

The first District we visited after Dili was Aileu. In my opinion, Aileu didn't stand out a lot between all the other places we visited. It is without a doubt a beautiful place, but since it's not directly located near the beach, i started to miss the tropical views this country has to offer. Although this District might not be as beautiful as the other places lying in East Timor, i must admit that i'm very pleased to have had the chance to walk along one of Aileu's rivers. For me personally, that walk was a spiritual one. I've had the chance to think about several things for the first time. My mind and sould were opened.

Possibly due to its close proximity to Dili and because it is quite easily accessible, several development programmes have layed their eyes upon this District such as Water Aid, World Vision and Plan International.

After visiting Aileu, we decided to travel further South were we stopped in the District of Manufahi. Manufahi is a District just a little bigger than 1.300 square kilometers. In Manufahi, we visited the capital city of this District called Same, where we were able to enjoy a very delicious meal consisting of some freshly caught fish. The people in this city were all very friendly and kind of us. A think you wouldn't always expect when travelling through a country that has known misery and pain during many years.

After having a good night rest with one of the friendly people living in Same, we decided to continue our journey towards Ainaro, lying on the West side of Manufahi. Ainaro is a small mountain town with great abundance of rivers and fertile terrain for agriculture. Although Ainaro isn't the biggest District around, it's still possible for you to walk on the beach in Ainaro near the Timor Sea, or to go rock climbing on Mount Ramelau, also located in Ainaro. 

Mount Ramalau is also known as Tatamailau and is with it's height of 2.960 meters the biggest point of East Timor. The name "Tatamailau" means "Grandfather Of All" in Mambai, the local language. "Ramelau" is the name of the massif of the mountain. The mountain is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and is therefore subject to annual pilgrimages. On the peak of the mountain you'll find a three meter high statue of Virgin Mary, originative from Italy.

Tatamailau is accessible from the town of Hato Bulico or from the village of Aimeta. Whether you leave in Hato Bulico orAimeta, you'll have to climb about 900 meter, which is quite a lot if you're not used to heavy walking or climbing rocks. On the other hand, during you're climb, you're able to have a look at some beautiful mountain views, all unfolding right in front of your eyes.

The last District we visited is called Cova Lima. There's not a lot to say about this final District since we were only passing through, eagering to continue our journey and see a lot more magnificent places this world has to offer.

Charlotte.

SOURCES:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Timor
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aileu_District
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufahi_District
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramelau

After a lazy but well deserved day, we wanted to do something cultural. We didn’t know anything about the culture of the country, so we decide to learn more about the nation’s culture.

We enjoyed visiting the places with our guide, because he knew more interesting things than the usual guide book that you can buy at a store.

Our guide was Pedro, a lovely native man.

So we started our visit at the beach, where we saw some old war houses, bunkers and other important buildings.

Did you know that East Timor is an independent nation, only for 11 years? In 1975 Indonesia invaded East Timor, this resulted in a war. The buildings we saw today were built for this war. Pedro informed us to watch the movie ‘Balbido’ , the movie tells the story of 5 men who were killed in the war of East Timor. Balbido is the name of an important war house, that we also visited. After these nice but emotional hours we wanted to visit the local cities. Since there weren’t many tourists, the local people were very happy to see us. We conceived a beautiful scarf , which was made especially for visitors. Now we have a nice souvenir.

We could sleep at a local family’s house if we wanted to. In the beginning we hesitated because they were all strangers, but we couldn’t miss this chance, so we decide to do it.

A family of 2 children invited us to their house, they were very kind and we decided to buy a present for them.  The night was hard because the beds were made of straw. But we had a very nice time!

Eline

After an eye-opening experience in East Timor, we headed for the Samosir Island.

Our first stop was Berastagi, a small town which economy mostly depends on tourists. Berastagi is 2 hours by bus from Medan. The main attractions were the two stratovolcanoes and we were in for some climbing.

What are stratovolcanoes you might think? Well, stratovolcanoes are shaped like high cones and made of layers of lava and tephra. They even regularly have explosive eruptions which basically means that we were pretty badass and adventurous to go on a trip like that. But all worth it if you ask me. The view was amazing but oh boy do I feel those leg muscles!  As The Beatles would scream, I got blisters on my fingers! But in my case, more on my feet.

So we spent hours of marching up and down and we decided to just go on one volcano because we just had enough of it. We opted for a small tour around the town. The population is mostly Muslim and I was intrigued by these weird looking houses and decided to get more information about them. They are called “long houses” or "Batak Toba houses". They made me think of a Harry Potter movie, quite magical in a way.

From Berastagi we headed to the Toba lake. However we didn’t go straight to the Toba lake where we would take our ferry to our next stop, we travelled out of Berastagi first on a more natural adventure namely the Tahura National Park. It’s a beautiful spot for exploring the jungle. We saw the magnificent Sipiso-piso waterfall which is simply a natural wonder and such a beautiful scenery.  It reminded me of some sort of vortex that I could be sucked into.

So we’re back on the road again and came across one of the hot springs located at the base of Mount Sibayak, we plunged in it for some "therapeutic bathing” which made us 5000rp poorer but heavenly relaxed. We had quite a funny moment when one of the primates of the jungle decided to join us.

Until we were all wrinkled up from the water we dried ourselves off, put our marching shoes back on, and went for the Toba Lake. We had one last stop at a local family. It surprised me that, how little some people may have, they’re always so hospital. We even shared a meal.

When we arrived at the lake we took the ferry to the Samosir Island which is situated in the middle of the lake. We visited 3 small towns, Tomok and Ambarita  which are known for their graves of the kings of Sidabutar and Batak Toba. We also saw the traditional homes of the Batak.

At last we visited the museum of Simanindo where we saw a traditional dance performance of the Batak toba tribe. I was amazed by all the colors and even tried the dance out for myself.

Greets

Jihane

Sources:

https://www.panoramio.com/photo/31123376

www.wikipedia.be

After a marvellous time at Samosir Island we travelled back to the mainland by ferry. Afterwards we drove towards Sipirok. We halted several times during our drive to visit a pineapple plantation and a rice-field. We saw women working these fields. They even came to talk to us and showed us how they cultivate! During the ride we also stopped at a local pharmacy since I had been bitten a lot by insects during the night. The itch was driving me insane! Luckily the salve I bought was very effective.

We drove and drove for hours on the Trans Sumatra Highway, but where was the way? The road was horrible so we were extremely happy when we arrived in Sipirok. Sipirok was a complement of our trip. It's an authentic and serene place, with no tourists in the area. Perfect to take a breather from our busy trip. We slept in a Batak hotel. It was a fantastic experience!

After breakfast we headed to Bukittinggi. Of course during our drive we had some stops. We visited Ursotolang, an old village where there are remains of the Mandailing Batak houses. Our second stop was Bonjol. A town that lies just at the equator line, it's a touristic spot.

Once arrived in Bukittinggi we noticed that there were a lot of things to do! The first thing that caught our attention was Bastion De Kock. It seems that Indonesia was a colony of the Netherlands for more then three ages. During the second world war Japan conquered large pieces of the Dutch East Indies campaign and the population of Indonesia became stronger with there own movement. After the Second World War Japan gave up and Indonesia declared its independence.

So we walked towards Bastion De Kock, which wasn't very impressive, but the bridge that connects the bastion with the museum Taman Bundo Kanduang was! There's a great view on the lively main street of Bukittinggi. The museum is packed with traditional items of the Minangkabaua tribe. It’s tribe from a Buddhist kingdom in Sumatra and existed around the 14th century.

Tomorrow we're heading towards new discoveries!

Good night!

Amina

Source: https://wonkgonewild.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/fort-de-kock/

It was 9 AM when our alarm clocks went off. We took breakfast, packed our bags and left together with our guide named Sukarno. 
First stop of the day was Anai Valley where we saw a waterfall that leads to Padang. Actually it quite disappointed me because I thought it would be more spectacular. In Padang we took an airplane to Jakarta.

From the moment we flew into Jakarta it was clear that it was more developed then all the other countries we had visited yet. But Jakarta also has four main problems. First of all there’s the population growth, each year the total amount of inhabitants of Jakarta grow with 5 %. Second of all there are lots of floods during the rainy season. Third of all there’s the air pollution that is one of the main problems in Jakarta and at last there is the copyright violation. In Jakarta the sales of illegal copied material is widespread.

We took a cab and went to our hotel named: “Morrissey Boutique Serviced Apartment”. It was the first time that  we had a room like this, well actually they were apartments. Clean bathroom and fresh linen. Some of us could really appreciate this and immediately took a shower.

After taking a shower we all went outdoors to take a late lunch at Café Batavia. A café that scored well at tripadvisor.nl. The food was amazing and we had an amazing afternoon.

As we didn’t want “a useless day” with only one thing that we had visited we thought it would be a good idea if we visited “Monas” also known as the national monument. It was huge and beautiful. Something the Belgian country could take a lesson from. This 137-mettre tall marble obelisk was more spectacular than the Atomium. The Monas contained 35 kg of gold.

After visiting Monas we wanted to sleep early so we took dinner and went to our room/apartment. It was a great day though we hadn’t seen much.

Cheers, Julie

Photos:

Sources:

-        https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakarta#Bevolkingsgroei

-        https://www.tripadvisor.nl/Hotel_Review-g294229-d1845751-Reviews-Morrissey_Boutique_Serviced_Apartment-Jakarta_Java.html

-        https://www.tripadvisor.nl/Restaurant_Review-g294229-d1182757-Reviews-Cafe_Batavia-Jakarta_Java.html

-        https://www.indonesiapoint.com/tourist-attractions/jakarta.html

We started our day with a hearty breakfast at our hostel.

Today’s plans were visiting Borgor, accompanied by a guide.

Bogor is situated 54kilometers South of Jakarta. It is located near the main road from Jakarta to Bandung. Next to it you find the railway line Jakarta-Bandoeng that still has the original station since 1873. But today our transport is a little motorbus so we won’t be able to see the station.

It was a pleasant ride, we could see the different parts of Bogor will we were driving to our first stop.
The guide told us that Borgor has a historical part with some monuments, which we were going to visit first. In the afternoon we were going to visit “the green side” of Borgor.

Back to the first stop! We arrived at a place called Batavia which is the capital of Dutch East Indies. We went here yesterday to eat something but we didn't saw a lot.
I immediately noticed that Netherland had a big influence on this town. You can see a lot of old-colonial buildings and now I get it why our guide said that the first part was rather historical!

There were a lot of different architecture styles but I didn’t like all of them.  We walked through Batavia and we all decided to hold on for a moment when we saw the Town Hall dated 1710. It was such a beautiful building with a lot of colors. We got thirsty from our promenade and took a break at the ‘Batavia café” (where we went yesterday). I took a closer look today and saw that it was furnished like the 50’s, even the music and pictures were adapted in theme.

Last thing we did in Batavia was visiting the Sunda Kelapa port, this reminded me of the Batavia café where we had a drink. When we saw this place we thought that time stood still.
It’s a port where workmen still used the techniques of 50 years ago. They carried heavy bags of tapiocaflour and wood and walked on little shelves to reach the boat.

After the historical part it was time to discover the green side! We started a long walk in the botanical gardens. We walked for about 2 hours and my feet were hurting a lot but the beauty of the gardens made me forget my pain!
Our guide told us that the botanical gardens are one of the largest in the world, they have a surface of 110 hectares with 12000 different sort of plants. Most of the plants are exotic, they even have more than 3000 different sorts of orchids. My mother would really like this, she has 6 orchids at home but this is nothing in comparison with what I saw today.

Now it’s time for a little rest I will give you an update later this day!

xoxo  Kimberly

Sources : 

https://www.columbusmagazine.nl/azie_en_midden-oosten/indonesie/jakarta/reisreporter/tip/8086/de_oude_batavia_stad.html

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g297706-Activities-Bogor_West_Java_Java.html

https://www.travelmarker.nl/bestemmingen/azie/indonesie/bezienswaardigheden/bogor.htm

Town Hall