Tour de Timor

29 June 2012

June 26th – 29th

So we got a text message from James on the Friday while we were on Atauro Island: Brice, your carnet has arrived! YAY!!!

Another text message on the Monday morning: Brice, ETA for vessel is tonight, come and pick up carnet when you want. Off I went to Toll, picked up the carnet, and went to Customs main office, which sent me across the street on the docks to talk to the custom officer onsite, who was out for lunch. Back at 2PM, at the main office, I finally got to talk to someone who had a clue about the Carnet and told me to go and pick up the car, then have the carnet stamped by the officer on duty. He would then run an inspection of the car before releasing it.

Back at Toll, I had to pay the bill of course, 1400AUD instead of the original 1800AUD quoted, since Troopy wasn’t sailing in a container. Unfortunately they forgot to hand over the correct release form so by the time I got to the docks; I had to return to James to get it. Toll’s office and the port are only 2km apart but crossing Dili is a nightmare. The town has anything between 250.000 and 300.00 people, most of them drive either a car, or a scooter, or take either a cab or a mikrolet, all that with the state of chaos created by the absence of street signal, road code or even proper roads, and you imagine the rest.

Anyways, FINALLY, at 4PM, I got Troopy out of the docks, with no inspection whatsoever, just a stamp and that was it. How easy is that?
So for the rest of the afternoon we just ran from the supermarket to places who might possibly sell gas bottles, but no such luck. We’ll have to make fires instead.

So we spent one last night at João’s and get all excited for the next day. In the morning, I realize my backpack is missing, along with three portable hard disks containing over fifteen years of data (both personal and professional, a potential big impact on my ability to work properly in the future). But while we finish preparing Troopy for its first tour of Timor, our spirits were high enough to forget about the theft.
Fill up the tanks (diesel = 1.25USD per litre) and go! We left Dili around 11AM, after a goodbye to João and headed for the north-east coast to Baucau. Many people told us about the state of the roads, warning us about their terrible conditions, well frankly, while the potholes might swallow a whole truck, most of the time they weren’t so bad. Some stretches even allowed fourth gear in, and a cruisy 70kmh!

Arriving at Baucau, the plan was to keep along the coast but somehow we got lost, probably the lack of street names and road signals of any kind does not help, so we found ourselves on the road leading to the south coast. All things considered, we thought this would be a better plan, since living on an island for so many years left us somewhat “blasés” with white sandy beaches. The mountains were in fact a lot more appealing.

Along the way, rice plantations are everywhere. With the familiar “terrace” pattern, they are just iconic of Asia. But while the Australian Outback offered a lot of opportunities to stop wherever we wanted, and the tranquillity of knowing the next town was a day away, we sort of got used to the idea of “being alone”. It’s a very different story on a small island with a population of over 1million. As soon as one village ends, the first huts from the next town are already there. Finally, a secondary road takes up towards Mundo Perdido, a 1700m inaccessible peak, but with great views and, oh joy, no one in sight. We pick a flat spot to park Troopy, and set up camp for our first night in Timor’s outback.

Since the terrain is very rocky, we opt for sleeping inside the car, so after a great meal (and a beer, one of the last few ones brought in from OZ, Cooper’s Amber Ale, yummm), we got ready for bed. Just before though, a local villager and his four kids showed up, and after seeking his permission for camping, we got into talking about our journey. As much it’s frustrating not to be able to communicate more freely with the locals (we don’t speak much Portuguese, let alone Tatun, apart from hello and thank you, and they don’t speak a word of English), it’s amazing how much we’re able to exchange with sign language, a dozen words, and some smiles and gestures. We understood he was impressed with the car, its content and its set up. But what we understood next left us somewhat regretful. He invited us to stay at his place, telling us the cold and humidity of the night would be bad enough, and he’d be glad to have us in. But this was our first night with Troopy for over ten days; we were really looking for this, so we reluctantly declined. I know we’ve hurt him, possibly insulted him, and we promised ourselves we’d accept the next invitation that would come along.

We rose with the sun the next day, as we quickly got back into our usual routine. But what a sight! The clouds had lifted and the view of the valley was just superb. How much we’ve missed the mountains!

Down we went, after coffee, and made out way south, to the coast. Again, people had warned us about the state of the roads on this side of the island, making them sound like an impassable dirt track, through crocodile infested deep rivers. Instead, we found driveable roads, with bitumen most of the way, and only one river crossing. But the smiles of the children along the way, looking at Tanami and shouting with excitement, were well worth any conditions the roads were in.

Further along, we found the road to Mount Ramelau, the country’s highest peak (2986m), and stopped just over 2200m, next to the last village on the road up, Hato Builiko. The road up to the summit hangs just of the side of the cliff, not wider than just one car, and as steep as anything. Claire gasped more than once at the sheer drop from either side of the road, and quickly we realized here again would we find no “empty spot” to park the car. We opted for the single space available, next to a cabbage field on a steep angle, and a horse paddic, just as steep. And soon, as the night fell, we found ourselves above the clouds. Below us, only clouds, and above us, the moon and the Milky Way. Amazing.

Just after dinner, after we drank our very last two Aussie beers, we got yet another visit, this time a mother and her two daughters stopped to warm up beside the fire. Incredibly, they were wearing just a blanket around their shoulders, and walking in flip-flops. With a temperature well below 10 degrees Celsius, it’s no wonder they were shivering. Apparently they do that every day.

We said out goodbyes as we climbed into bed, and got ready for a cold cold night.

In the morning, one, ten three then seven kids woke us up, on their way to school, amazed by the big truck parked alongside the road, with two “Malai” inside (Malai is Tatun for “stranger, white person, foreigner”.) As they too were wearing little more than flip-flops, t-shirt, shorts and a blanket, we got the fire starting to get them warm. And since we could hardly have breakfast in front of them, we offered them hot cocoa as we drank our coffee. You should have seen the look in their eyes. Forget the fact the beverage was too hot to drink; they gulped it in happily and gave us a huge smile “chokolateh chokolateh”. Then there were the usual posing for the camera, the funny faces and the laughs as they did so. While they drank, they taught us some words in Tatun, making it easier for us to understand each other in the future.

Time for school kids, we headed down the road, on the way back to Dili. The view from the top was astonishing. It was the first time I’d ever been in the mountains “above the clouds” and it’s just as I expected it. Bright sunny day above, white froffy white down in the valleys. Awesome. And it’s just 2000m hight, imagine what it’ll be like in Nepal next year!

The road back to Dili slightly improved, and third gear was engaged most of the way. People’s driving didn’t improve though, and we got near-misses with trucks and scooters more than I care to remember. A true test for the nerves!

In town, after a quick lunch on the beach, we went to Toll to fill up insurance claim forms and hope it leads somewhere. We booked in at the backpackers to get Internet, a shower, a shave and bake bread, but as the place had no availabilities the owner let us park the car in his yard and sleep inside.

We’ll be going out with João and Maité tonight, as we say goodbye to them, and celebrate Maité’s good news: she got the funding for her NGO. Congratulation mate!

Distance to-day: 487km, total: 20698km.