August 2, 2025 • 11 mins
Exploring the spectacular municipalities of Aileu and Ainaro.
More information on Aileu - https://exploringtimor.com/aileu/ and Ainaro - https://exploringtimor.com/ainaro/
Website - www.exploringtimor.com
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@exploringtimor
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jonty (00:06):
Bondi.
Welcome to exploring Tim Este,the podcast that talks about
Southeast Asia's best kepttravel secret.
I'm your host Jte, and I'llshare firsthand insights, expert
interviews and practical traveltips.
Whether you're a traveler, acultural lover, or just curious
about places rarely covered inthe mainstream.
You're in the right place.
Let's explore two more.
Less day.
(00:31):
Today's episode I'm gonna talkto you about the municipalities
of Ale, and Narro, These aresome of the more spectacular
parts of Timor, to explore.
If you are looking at a map ofTimor-Leste Ale and a narrow are
basically due south of Dili.
So if you head outta Dili on theroad to the South coast down to
Mani, you're gonna go throughAle and Anau.
(00:54):
so talk about each of them inturn, starting with a layer.
'cause that's the one that'sclosest.
It's one of the smallestmunicipalities in terms of
population home to only 54,000people.
And it's one of only twolandlock municipalities.
There are a number of historicand religious sites to visit in
AEO, along with local markets in1999, Alea was briefly
(01:14):
considered as a potentialcapital for Timor Less day
before they decided to keep itin dli.
In terms of things to see and doin a layer, the first thing
you'll come across ispotentially the BOLO waterfall.
This is a 35 minute drive southfrom if you head through the
Kama Road rather than the DaryRoad, there's kind two roads
that eventually join going fromDilly into aeo.
(01:36):
and so the Karo is at the westof Dili.
So if you drive up from there,the road basically goes through
the waterfall.
You can't miss it depending onthe time of year and the amount
of water coming from the falls.
There'll either be a puddle todrive through or quite a large
pool of water for your vehicleto navigate.
And it's quite an impressive andcynically located waterfall.
(01:56):
The road continues up into thehills with some amazing views
back down towards the coastline.
And then you're gonna get intoao, which is the name of the
main town in the municipality.
So in the outskirts of um,, eosyou come into it is the
projector Quinta Portugal, whichwas established in 2016 as a
agricultural center, which isaiming to improve food security
(02:18):
in Timor Lessee.
And so they grow around 450,000trees, which have then been
transported elsewhere in TimorLessee.
And you can do tours to seetheir coffee, farming, and
explore the plantations.
The town really is marked whenyou're heading into a layer by
the Tegra Pillar Monument, whichis a three column, red and white
local landmark on the main road.
You'll then go past, on yourleft Dili Vanilli, which are
(02:42):
growers, buyers, and sellers ofa hundred percent organic
coffee, vanilla tea, and spices,including turmeric, ginger,
cinnamon, and cloves, which wereestablished in 2018.
There's a shop on site, which iswell worth visiting, and there's
also accommodation if you wantto stay longer when you come
into ao.
The center there is aroundabout, the Rotunda ao, and
(03:04):
there's a figure on top of theroundabout that represents the
team Marie's breaking free ofthe chains of colonization.
Now, I'm assuming it's similardesign to ones I've seen
elsewhere in Timor and which areall built during the Indonesian
occupation.
So it's ironic that theIndonesians.
Even though they were prettybrutal occupiers, they're the
ones who put these statuesabout.
I think it was the idea ofAsians breaking free from the
(03:26):
Portuguese colonizers.
By the roundabout is a largeformal park and that's home to
various symbolic structures.
And there's one spot with someshade and that's where they put
the playground and that openedin mid 2024.
As I mentioned earlier, thereare some large regional markets
which are held there.
Saturdays probably the best dayto visit, and that's where the
bus stop is to otherdestinations Just past the
(03:48):
markets as the Ale MassacreMonument.
So on the 31st of August, 1942,Alayah was invaded by the
Timorese allies of the Japaneseinvaders and the five Portuguese
soldiers.
A number of civil servants andmission were killed.
So the monument commemorates themassacres and opposite the
monument is an attractivecolonial style building from the
Portuguese time and as a pair ofstatues representing uh, Manet
(04:10):
men and feto women in localtraditional clothing.
A little bit outta town, youwouldn't drive past it.
You have to drive to it.
There's only a few minutes, butit's around the back is the
Nikola Lool monument.
This is quite an impressivemonument with a large bust of
the head of the first Primeminister of.
the Democratic Republic of EastTimor.
(04:30):
So his time in office and hislife unfortunately, was cut
tragically short by the actionsof the Indonesian government.
So he only lasted I think 10days in office as the prime
Minister before Indonesiainvaded Timor.
He then went to hiding, but hewas captured and killed three
years later by the Indonesians.
So this memorial also honors 32Timorese, who helped him and
other resistance leaders hideduring the Indonesian occupation
(04:53):
and 137 veterans that wereinvolved.
He's also commemorated by Dili'sAirport, being named after him
and the presidential palace.
As you head out of ale to theSouth, it's worth taking a quick
detour to your right toprojector.
Morana ha, which is animpressive local NGO, and it
runs a restaurant, a guesthouse, a handcraft center
(05:13):
woodwork, and even a dentistrycenter.
It has a Brazilian influence andtrains local youth in art and
culinary services, and it's agreat place to get some lunch.
Now before you get to Alejo Townfrom Dili, you can turn to your
right and you can head over toSooy Crack.
The main road through Ale and anarrow is sealed and is a
(05:34):
reasonably decent road when youhead off towards soy.
The road is definitely not ofthe same standard and you can
actually continue from Salothrough to Glen O and Am Mirror.
And that is a bad road from thaton my motorbike.
And that was quite a challenge.
But Sooy crack is a beautifulplace home to a water lily field
lagoon, and it's surrounded byatmospheric rice fields.
(05:55):
It is a very beautiful place tovisit.
You can have on a clear dayviews of Mount Ramlow.
There are camping opportunities.
There's some eco lodging,there's quite a lot to do around
soy crack, and so that isdefinitely worth overnighter
from Dili.
You can go there as a day tripor if you're going up into
Alaya, I definitely recommendspending some time there.
Apart from the detour to soi,there's basically one road
through a Leo.
(06:15):
so if you just keep going upthrough that, you'll go through
a Leo town, you get somebeautiful scenery, some nice
rice fields, and then you'llcome into a narrow, and that's
home to some of the mostdramatic scenery in the country,
including Mount Ramal, which isshared with the municipality of
Amira next door.
But most people access it fromthe a narrow side.
It's also home to dock milewaterfall, which is probably the
(06:36):
most impressive in the country.
Now the main town in Narro isMoisi, which is a popular by
Timor standards.
It's still pretty quiet touristdestination.
So Moisi is a decent sized town,about 1500 meters above sea
level.
It's definitely cooler up therethan it is in Dilly.
It's quite nice to escape theheat, although it can be quite a
lot wetter, it's a really greatplace to relax and enjoy the
(06:58):
mountain air or go for mountainbiking or hiking.
Now when I visited in late 2024,the Prasada DUI was closed, but
it is being renovated, and sohopefully it'll open at some
point in the near future.
And even if it isn't open, thesite is worth visiting.
This was a mountain retreatbuilt for the Portuguese
governor, and it wassubsequently turned into a
(07:19):
hotel, it's got very nicelandscaping and spectacular
views of the landscape, so veryworthwhile.
Taking a quick visit to explorein moi, there's the sizeable
church of Saint Matthew, whichcan't really miss and that's
worth a visit.
And then on Thursdays andSundays, large local markets are
held in the bc which attractpeople from across the region.
Heading through MO a fewkilometers down the road is
(07:42):
quite a beautiful waterfall.
A waterfall, which has quite adeep pool.
It's about a 20 or 30 minutewalk from the road, but there's
quite a range of path that'svery easy to get lost.
So it's best to get a localguide from the local Hama
cooperative.
And they also offer some basicaccommodation and provide other
tours including of coffee.
(08:03):
Heading further along the roadfrom Umi uh, Mount Lau, not lau
Lau is a prominent peak close tothe town and that's been
developed for tourism over thelast kind of 10, 15 years with
the training of locals.
And about three years ago theystarted building some camping
facilities.
It cost a couple of dollars toenter, but if you go to top.
(08:23):
There's a Catholic Shrine siteat the top with a statue of Lady
Mary and incredible views.
When I visited last in late2024, they were building a new
road, which will make access alot easier.
Generally every October theyhold the Lau festival, which has
local cultural events and music.
And it's a pretty popular placefor Team MAs in particular to
(08:44):
visit.
They're heading on from moi toone of my favorite places in two
Leste, which is how to licko.
This is the highest village inthe country, which lies around
1,950 meters above sea level.
It's the base for hiking, so thesummit of Mount Ramlow, but
there's also quite a lot to doin the village itself.
A lot of people will just comeand do the Ramlow Summit and
(09:05):
then head away.
But I would definitely recommendspending a couple of hours to
walk around town.
There's a very large andstrikingly blue church, which
was inaugurated in October,2022.
Like when BC the PortugueseColonial administrates built
quite a nice place in the primelocation in the center of ha bco
opposite it, they hold localmarkets on Wednesdays and
Saturdays.
(09:25):
On the hillside above there's alarge white tomb to an important
local clergyman.
And then going along the valley,there's a beautifully located
cemetery on the hillside andthere's quite a lot of
traditional Timorese thatchbuildings in the village,
including a number of lulisacred houses, and there's lots
of day walks as well around howto BLE coast.
So it's a great place to spendsome time.
I say the main reason for mostpeople visiting is to hike up
(09:46):
Mount Ramala, which I've talkeda bit about in my hiking in
Timor Este podcast.
Heading on further in through anarrow dock.
Marley waterfall, as Imentioned, is probably the most
incredible waterfall in, inTimor-Leste.
Although it's not the easiestplace to reach in Timor.
So if you continue along theroad from obesity for about 45
minutes south, and then pullover from the road, there's a
(10:06):
one and a half kilometer path,which is quite steep, which goes
up to the waterfall and back.
So you need to allow probably atleast an hour.
The path is generally decentwith a number of steps, but
closer to the falls care doesneed to be taken as it can be
very slippery and enterprisingLocal has built a bamboo bridge
to access the waterfall forwhich it's$2 for Malay or
(10:27):
foreigners to, to visit.
So you have to pay to, to getacross the bridge and then get
up and close with thisincredible waterfall.
And the final spot headingfurther into an narrow, is
actually a narrow town, which isquite different to moi in how to
bco as it's much lower elevationbased in the Lush River valley.
It's one of the largest towns inTimor and therefore has a.
Large church, and there's also anumber of memorials and other
(10:49):
things in town to see, but it'snot really a major tourist site.
But I guess if you're headingdown to the South coast, it's
worth stopping in a narrow townand having a look around So
hopefully that's given you a bitof a flavor for some of the
things you can see and do in AOand Ro.
Thank you so much for listening to exploring Timor
Less Day.
If you've enjoyed today'sepisode, please consider leaving
a rating or review.
It really helps more peoplediscover the show.
(11:11):
If you have any questions orfeedback, I'd love to hear from
you.
Drop me an email at exploringTimor lessDay@gmail.com.
Until next time, or Bodo ADEs.
Bondi.
Welcome to exploring Tim Este,the podcast that talks about
Southeast Asia's best kepttravel secret.
I'm your host Jte, and I'llshare firsthand insights, expert
interviews and practical traveltips.
Whether you're a traveler, acultural lover, or just curious
about places rarely covered inthe mainstream.
You're in the right place.
Let's explore two more.
Less day.
(00:31):
Today's episode I'm gonna talkto you about the municipalities
of Ale, and Narro, These aresome of the more spectacular
parts of Timor, to explore.
If you are looking at a map ofTimor-Leste Ale and a narrow are
basically due south of Dili.
So if you head outta Dili on theroad to the South coast down to
Mani, you're gonna go throughAle and Anau.
(00:54):
so talk about each of them inturn, starting with a layer.
'cause that's the one that'sclosest.
It's one of the smallestmunicipalities in terms of
population home to only 54,000people.
And it's one of only twolandlock municipalities.
There are a number of historicand religious sites to visit in
AEO, along with local markets in1999, Alea was briefly
(01:14):
considered as a potentialcapital for Timor Less day
before they decided to keep itin dli.
In terms of things to see and doin a layer, the first thing
you'll come across ispotentially the BOLO waterfall.
This is a 35 minute drive southfrom if you head through the
Kama Road rather than the DaryRoad, there's kind two roads
that eventually join going fromDilly into aeo.
(01:36):
and so the Karo is at the westof Dili.
So if you drive up from there,the road basically goes through
the waterfall.
You can't miss it depending onthe time of year and the amount
of water coming from the falls.
There'll either be a puddle todrive through or quite a large
pool of water for your vehicleto navigate.
And it's quite an impressive andcynically located waterfall.
(01:56):
The road continues up into thehills with some amazing views
back down towards the coastline.
And then you're gonna get intoao, which is the name of the
main town in the municipality.
So in the outskirts of um,, eosyou come into it is the
projector Quinta Portugal, whichwas established in 2016 as a
agricultural center, which isaiming to improve food security
(02:18):
in Timor Lessee.
And so they grow around 450,000trees, which have then been
transported elsewhere in TimorLessee.
And you can do tours to seetheir coffee, farming, and
explore the plantations.
The town really is marked whenyou're heading into a layer by
the Tegra Pillar Monument, whichis a three column, red and white
local landmark on the main road.
You'll then go past, on yourleft Dili Vanilli, which are
(02:42):
growers, buyers, and sellers ofa hundred percent organic
coffee, vanilla tea, and spices,including turmeric, ginger,
cinnamon, and cloves, which wereestablished in 2018.
There's a shop on site, which iswell worth visiting, and there's
also accommodation if you wantto stay longer when you come
into ao.
The center there is aroundabout, the Rotunda ao, and
(03:04):
there's a figure on top of theroundabout that represents the
team Marie's breaking free ofthe chains of colonization.
Now, I'm assuming it's similardesign to ones I've seen
elsewhere in Timor and which areall built during the Indonesian
occupation.
So it's ironic that theIndonesians.
Even though they were prettybrutal occupiers, they're the
ones who put these statuesabout.
I think it was the idea ofAsians breaking free from the
(03:26):
Portuguese colonizers.
By the roundabout is a largeformal park and that's home to
various symbolic structures.
And there's one spot with someshade and that's where they put
the playground and that openedin mid 2024.
As I mentioned earlier, thereare some large regional markets
which are held there.
Saturdays probably the best dayto visit, and that's where the
bus stop is to otherdestinations Just past the
(03:48):
markets as the Ale MassacreMonument.
So on the 31st of August, 1942,Alayah was invaded by the
Timorese allies of the Japaneseinvaders and the five Portuguese
soldiers.
A number of civil servants andmission were killed.
So the monument commemorates themassacres and opposite the
monument is an attractivecolonial style building from the
Portuguese time and as a pair ofstatues representing uh, Manet
(04:10):
men and feto women in localtraditional clothing.
A little bit outta town, youwouldn't drive past it.
You have to drive to it.
There's only a few minutes, butit's around the back is the
Nikola Lool monument.
This is quite an impressivemonument with a large bust of
the head of the first Primeminister of.
the Democratic Republic of EastTimor.
(04:30):
So his time in office and hislife unfortunately, was cut
tragically short by the actionsof the Indonesian government.
So he only lasted I think 10days in office as the prime
Minister before Indonesiainvaded Timor.
He then went to hiding, but hewas captured and killed three
years later by the Indonesians.
So this memorial also honors 32Timorese, who helped him and
other resistance leaders hideduring the Indonesian occupation
(04:53):
and 137 veterans that wereinvolved.
He's also commemorated by Dili'sAirport, being named after him
and the presidential palace.
As you head out of ale to theSouth, it's worth taking a quick
detour to your right toprojector.
Morana ha, which is animpressive local NGO, and it
runs a restaurant, a guesthouse, a handcraft center
(05:13):
woodwork, and even a dentistrycenter.
It has a Brazilian influence andtrains local youth in art and
culinary services, and it's agreat place to get some lunch.
Now before you get to Alejo Townfrom Dili, you can turn to your
right and you can head over toSooy Crack.
The main road through Ale and anarrow is sealed and is a
(05:34):
reasonably decent road when youhead off towards soy.
The road is definitely not ofthe same standard and you can
actually continue from Salothrough to Glen O and Am Mirror.
And that is a bad road from thaton my motorbike.
And that was quite a challenge.
But Sooy crack is a beautifulplace home to a water lily field
lagoon, and it's surrounded byatmospheric rice fields.
(05:55):
It is a very beautiful place tovisit.
You can have on a clear dayviews of Mount Ramlow.
There are camping opportunities.
There's some eco lodging,there's quite a lot to do around
soy crack, and so that isdefinitely worth overnighter
from Dili.
You can go there as a day tripor if you're going up into
Alaya, I definitely recommendspending some time there.
Apart from the detour to soi,there's basically one road
through a Leo.
(06:15):
so if you just keep going upthrough that, you'll go through
a Leo town, you get somebeautiful scenery, some nice
rice fields, and then you'llcome into a narrow, and that's
home to some of the mostdramatic scenery in the country,
including Mount Ramal, which isshared with the municipality of
Amira next door.
But most people access it fromthe a narrow side.
It's also home to dock milewaterfall, which is probably the
(06:36):
most impressive in the country.
Now the main town in Narro isMoisi, which is a popular by
Timor standards.
It's still pretty quiet touristdestination.
So Moisi is a decent sized town,about 1500 meters above sea
level.
It's definitely cooler up therethan it is in Dilly.
It's quite nice to escape theheat, although it can be quite a
lot wetter, it's a really greatplace to relax and enjoy the
(06:58):
mountain air or go for mountainbiking or hiking.
Now when I visited in late 2024,the Prasada DUI was closed, but
it is being renovated, and sohopefully it'll open at some
point in the near future.
And even if it isn't open, thesite is worth visiting.
This was a mountain retreatbuilt for the Portuguese
governor, and it wassubsequently turned into a
(07:19):
hotel, it's got very nicelandscaping and spectacular
views of the landscape, so veryworthwhile.
Taking a quick visit to explorein moi, there's the sizeable
church of Saint Matthew, whichcan't really miss and that's
worth a visit.
And then on Thursdays andSundays, large local markets are
held in the bc which attractpeople from across the region.
Heading through MO a fewkilometers down the road is
(07:42):
quite a beautiful waterfall.
A waterfall, which has quite adeep pool.
It's about a 20 or 30 minutewalk from the road, but there's
quite a range of path that'svery easy to get lost.
So it's best to get a localguide from the local Hama
cooperative.
And they also offer some basicaccommodation and provide other
tours including of coffee.
(08:03):
Heading further along the roadfrom Umi uh, Mount Lau, not lau
Lau is a prominent peak close tothe town and that's been
developed for tourism over thelast kind of 10, 15 years with
the training of locals.
And about three years ago theystarted building some camping
facilities.
It cost a couple of dollars toenter, but if you go to top.
(08:23):
There's a Catholic Shrine siteat the top with a statue of Lady
Mary and incredible views.
When I visited last in late2024, they were building a new
road, which will make access alot easier.
Generally every October theyhold the Lau festival, which has
local cultural events and music.
And it's a pretty popular placefor Team MAs in particular to
(08:44):
visit.
They're heading on from moi toone of my favorite places in two
Leste, which is how to licko.
This is the highest village inthe country, which lies around
1,950 meters above sea level.
It's the base for hiking, so thesummit of Mount Ramlow, but
there's also quite a lot to doin the village itself.
A lot of people will just comeand do the Ramlow Summit and
(09:05):
then head away.
But I would definitely recommendspending a couple of hours to
walk around town.
There's a very large andstrikingly blue church, which
was inaugurated in October,2022.
Like when BC the PortugueseColonial administrates built
quite a nice place in the primelocation in the center of ha bco
opposite it, they hold localmarkets on Wednesdays and
Saturdays.
(09:25):
On the hillside above there's alarge white tomb to an important
local clergyman.
And then going along the valley,there's a beautifully located
cemetery on the hillside andthere's quite a lot of
traditional Timorese thatchbuildings in the village,
including a number of lulisacred houses, and there's lots
of day walks as well around howto BLE coast.
So it's a great place to spendsome time.
I say the main reason for mostpeople visiting is to hike up
(09:46):
Mount Ramala, which I've talkeda bit about in my hiking in
Timor Este podcast.
Heading on further in through anarrow dock.
Marley waterfall, as Imentioned, is probably the most
incredible waterfall in, inTimor-Leste.
Although it's not the easiestplace to reach in Timor.
So if you continue along theroad from obesity for about 45
minutes south, and then pullover from the road, there's a
(10:06):
one and a half kilometer path,which is quite steep, which goes
up to the waterfall and back.
So you need to allow probably atleast an hour.
The path is generally decentwith a number of steps, but
closer to the falls care doesneed to be taken as it can be
very slippery and enterprisingLocal has built a bamboo bridge
to access the waterfall forwhich it's$2 for Malay or
(10:27):
foreigners to, to visit.
So you have to pay to, to getacross the bridge and then get
up and close with thisincredible waterfall.
And the final spot headingfurther into an narrow, is
actually a narrow town, which isquite different to moi in how to
bco as it's much lower elevationbased in the Lush River valley.
It's one of the largest towns inTimor and therefore has a.
Large church, and there's also anumber of memorials and other
(10:49):
things in town to see, but it'snot really a major tourist site.
But I guess if you're headingdown to the South coast, it's
worth stopping in a narrow townand having a look around So
hopefully that's given you a bitof a flavor for some of the
things you can see and do in AOand Ro.
Thank you so much for listening to exploring Timor
Less Day.
If you've enjoyed today'sepisode, please consider leaving
a rating or review.
It really helps more peoplediscover the show.
(11:11):
If you have any questions orfeedback, I'd love to hear from
you.
Drop me an email at exploringTimor lessDay@gmail.com.
Until next time, or Bodo ADEs.
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