August 9, 2025 • 15 mins
Excellent conversation with Helen Reynolds, a New Zealander volunteer and artist who has lived in Timor-Leste on / off for a decade. She shares why she loves Balibó and Baucau, and her favourite places to eat in Dili.
Her website - www.helenreynolds.co.nz
Website - www.exploringtimor.com
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@exploringtimor
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Helen (00:00):
I've heard it described as being like Bali in the 1960s.
(00:03):
But I didn't go to Bali in the1960s.
I don't really know.
It's a wild, beautiful, quietisland full of exciting places
to discover.
It's really an adventure to bethere.
when you're in tenor less day,there's a real feeling that it's
not the job in getting thingsdone that are most important.
It's the people that are mostimportant and spending time with
(00:25):
people that you love and carefor and enjoy their company.
It's like there's almost amantle of happiness that you can
enter into because of thiswarmth that people have for
other people in their lives.
Jonty (00:43):
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.
(01:09):
It's my pleasure today towelcome Helen Reynolds to the
podcast.
Hello Helen.
Hi,
Helen (01:15):
JTE.
Nice to be here.
Jonty (01:16):
Thank you for joining us today.
So what took you to Timor Lessday and what did you do there?
Helen (01:21):
Oh our first trip to Timor Less day, me and my
husband Alistair, was in 2016when we were doing VSA volunteer
service abroad.
And so that was a three yearcontract, although I think we
ended up only doing two years.
Jonty (01:34):
And then you returned?
Helen (01:36):
We returned many times, yes.
And we would've returned manytimes more if COVID hadn't come
in between 2016 and now.
Yeah, it's a wonderful place.
It's really, it's a reallyspecial place to go to.
Jonty (01:46):
And I guess you've had the experience'cause you've
visited over a period of times,you've been able to see how it's
gonna change over the lastdecade or so.
Helen (01:53):
Yeah, it has been a decade and it hasn't actually
changed super much, which isnice if you're visiting
somewhere to, to feel thatyou're in a place that's not
just swept away by Russiandevelopment.
Jonty (02:07):
Yeah.
There's a sense of familiarityand Yeah.
Continuity.
So how would you describe TimOreste to somebody who's never
been?
Helen (02:13):
I've heard it described as being like Bali in the 1960s.
But I didn't go to Bali in the1960s.
I don't really know.
It's a wild, beautiful, quietisland full of exciting places
to discover.
It's really an adventure to bethere.
Jonty (02:27):
If you can remember back to when you first arrived, what
your first impressions were?
Helen (02:32):
Yeah, our first impressions coming into the
Dilly Airport.
You've really stepped intoanother world, so you're
circling over this tiny littleairport and coming down into the
middle of palm trees and walkingout, there's definitely nothing
like any sort of air bridge oranything.
And it's just a very smallbuilding in the middle of a
field.
And you've come somewhere reallydifferent.
(02:52):
It got a little bit of a wildfeeling about it.
And you've got these scatteringsof Chinese hardware stores all
around and a few building storesand the old Portuguese colonial
buildings and the old Indonesiancolonial buildings and there's
still ruins from the war.
Still burnt out buildings, eventhough that was 25 years ago.
Jonty (03:12):
It's an interesting combination of things I've
visited quite a few places and Ihaven't come across anywhere
that's got that, quite unusualcombination of things in terms
of being Southeast Asia andbeing Catholic and having the
kinda turbulent history and thePortuguese colonial side of
things.
It's yeah quite different.
Helen (03:27):
It does.
It's, yeah, it is likeinteresting how different the
history shapes the differentislands and so it's quite a
special place like that'causeits history is so unique in
terms of the Portugueseinfluence and the Indonesian
side too.
That's something that you canfeel in Leste is that sort of
connection to the Pacificpeoples.
That's something you don't feelso much in Indonesia.
(03:48):
Because it's, I guess it's justthat bit further away.
Jonty (03:50):
So what are some of your favorite places in Timor Este?
Helen (03:54):
Our favorite place, of course, Athara Island is always
wonderful and everyone willprobably say it's a good place
to go because it is.
But our next favorite place togo is Babo.
We love going to Babo and welove going to BAU too.
Jonty (04:09):
What about bbo?
What makes it special?
Helen (04:12):
Partly it's the journey down there because from Dili you
drive down the coast and it's.
A spectacularly beautiful drive.
And there's an old forts andthen you get deeper and deeper
down into the country and youare starting to pass traditional
houses passing some of thesacred houses people have there.
And then the road gets rougherand rougher.
(04:33):
And then finally you get to bboand you get to this amazing fort
I think it's the best view inthe world, to be honest.
And so you've passed throughreally rough roads.
You've passed through beautifulseaside scenery.
And as you're getting deeper anddeeper into the mountains and
the roads are getting rougherand rougher, you think, oh I'm
experiencing quite a lot ofleste in this, one journey.
(04:56):
And finally you get to A luxuryhotel built in the old
Portuguese for, and theexperience of the contrasts that
you get in this one journey isamazing and once you get to BBO
of course, there's all thehistory from the BBO five and
how critical that was to makingthe world aware of Tim Oreste
problems me as a New Zealanderwith, one of the bbo five being
(05:19):
a New Zealander.
Jonty (05:20):
The BBO five, just for reference, they were a mixture
of British, Australian and Kiwijournalists who were based in
bbo in, in 1975 when theIndonesian army invaded, they
were executed by the Army.
So there's quite a tragichistory there.
there's a good film, I believethat tells the story.
Helen (05:35):
Yeah.
A really good film and goodbooks too.
A really dramatic story.
So having all those layers ofhistory that you can dig into a
bit in your trip to BBO issomething very special too.
Jonty (05:45):
How did yourself and Alice get to Bbo?
Like, how would you suggest thatpeople travel around Timor?
Helen (05:50):
Yeah.
Traveling around Timor is noteasy.
Is maybe a theme in a number ofyour podcasts.
It's adventure travel.
And Alistair and I are a littlebit older and we've got sore
hips and sore shoulders and sorebacks.
So we have hired cars to getthere.
But the problem with hiring carsin Timor less day is it's really
expensive.
You're well advised to get adriver because.
The roads are weird and scary.
(06:12):
it costs you about 150 US a dayat least, and maybe up to 200
depending on your luck.
So that makes it really quiteexpensive.
So Alistair and I go by Scooter,and so Alistair drives the
scooter and I'm on the bag.
Um, so the best way to getaround is really to hire a
motorbike of some sort.
And you can do it on scooter ifyou're not going too far into
(06:33):
the real mountains.
Jonty (06:35):
It's amazing where they can get to on a scooter.
The road to Bacal is good.
The road to BBO is good untilyou go in land and then it's
pretty bad.
It's, half an hour, I think intothe bad sections.
If you want to head further intothe mountains, then motorbike or
a vehicle is probably the bestway to get up there.
Are there any particular travelexperiences that really stand
out to you looking back on yourtime in Timor?
Helen (06:56):
The other place I love to go, as I mentioned before, is
Bal which is comparatively closeto Dilly, so it's easier to get
to.
And the thing that.
I always loved about BAU too, isagain, this sort of weird
contrast is that in theseventies, the Portuguese had
decided that BAU would make awonderful honeymoon destination.
And so there used to be anairport in Bau that was the
(07:17):
airport for Tim Leste.
In the middle of all this sortof lush, tropical jungle, you
will come across a giant luxuryswimming pool built for
Honeymooners in the 1970s by thePortuguese it doesn't have the
sort of typical water systembecause that would be impossible
with the Timoreseinfrastructure.
So it's fed by mountain streams,so just fresh mountain stream
(07:38):
water filling up the pool andthey empty it every other day or
something and just get morefresh mountain water.
So Timor can be really hot andsticky and quite hard to swim in
because of the number ofcrocodiles, which you may have
mentioned before on yourpodcast.
But does make swimming in thesea a bit problematic in most
places.
So to finally be cool andrefreshed in this sort of rather
(08:03):
bizarre pool that looks as ifit's been flown in by aliens
from a 1970s movie set.
It's so much fun.
I love it.
And you can stay at the, posepresided to Baal, which was
built by a soap company, thesort of a Portuguese guy who was
made as money from making soap.
And so again, it's that sort ofspecial, strange.
Clash of cultures that makesthat makes it a really
(08:26):
interesting and different place.
Tim Leste,
Jonty (08:28):
I do like the color scheme.
So the Posada is quite a strongpastel pink kind of color.
And then the swimming pool weararea is greens and blues and
everything's painted.
It's a beautiful place as yousay to take a break from the
heat and relax.
What are some of your favoritedishes that you, or places you
ate at in Timor?
Helen (08:46):
The best dish in Timote.
They have the best chili saucesin the world.
I think I can say that'sdefinitely true.
That's a fermented chili pasteand that's fermented with lemons
as well.
So it's got the flavor of thosepickled, those middle and
pickled lemons combined with avery fresh tasting chili
ferment.
It's delicious.
You can get really nice fish atquite a few restaurants.
(09:09):
Me and Alistair always enjoyedthe Portuguese restaurants.
Not everyone loves it becausethe Portuguese food is quite a
heavy, meaty style of cuisine.
A lot of pork chops and steaksand chips.
But to be honest, we loved it
Jonty (09:22):
do you have any recommendations for restaurants
or places to eat?
Maybe in Dihi?
Helen (09:26):
One of our favorite restaurants was Uma Val, which
is one of the few places you canget actual Timorese food.
'Cause a lot of the food thatyou get there is based on
Indonesian ONGs rather than thetraditional Timorese food.
So Val, and they're really into,using local produce and having
(09:46):
interesting recipes.
For example, the Timorese wouldeat a lot of rice porridge.
So rice cooked with corn andbeans into a porridge.
So that's one of the places thatyou can get the traditional
Timorese food.
For Portuguese food, the HotelTimor is quite a good place for
a fancy night out.
We had a Christmas dinner thereone year and ate the traditional
(10:09):
Portuguese salt, cod and olivesthat they have for Christmas.
And that was a lot of fun.
And there's another great, thereally probably the tastiest
Portuguese restaurant wasRestaurante tci.
That's really popular with allthe Portuguese people.
And right next to it is aBrazilian bakery, actually
powder to Brazil.
And you'll see the Timoreselining up to get the Portuguese
(10:30):
bread fresh outta the bakeryevery bakery they know when it
comes out.
And so it comes out freshseveral times a day.
So that's rather delicious too.
And the other really good placeto eat, of course, is to go out
to the beach and sit in the sunand watch the waves go by and
drink coconuts and eat thetypical sort of.
(10:52):
Pancakes and pizza and verytypical food.
But the setting is so delightful
Jonty (10:57):
If you had friends to visit you when you were living
in Dilly, where would you takethem?
Helen (11:00):
The best start to, get an idea of dili is to go out to
Christo ray and climb up toJesus and take a look at the
view.
It's a stunning statue on aprominent tree.
And so you're passing tropicalbeaches and this is where you
can stop and get your coconutand your burgers.
The next place we always go toand.
Everyone finds it very moving isthe Resistance Museum, which is
(11:24):
the museum that tells thehistory of the Timorese
resistance, strangely enoughfrom the name.
And tells the story really well.
They don't have a lot of museumsand things like that and Dili
and Leste.
But this is really worth goingto.
The other place that we.
Always take anyone visiting iswe take them to the Santa Cruz
(11:45):
Cemetery.
That was a site of one of themajor massacres.
And so it's a crazy beautifulplace anyway, as well as being
this very important historicalsite Right next to it too is the
Indonesian cemetery and wealways go there.
It shows something reallyspecial about Timor-Leste is
this is the cemetery where allthe Indonesian soldiers who
(12:06):
fought and killed people inTimor-Leste are buried.
And yet it's a beautifullymaintained.
Site and you can see that thepeople there still really in a
sense care for and look afterthe Indonesians there, they say
as part of the reconciliationprocess, they, saying there is
that the Indonesians were ourbrothers and they suffered as
much from the Indonesian brainAnd so we are together in our
(12:30):
suffering from that.
To see the graveyard, you canactually feel like physically
see this reconciliation processthey've gone through and how
special that is.
Jonty (12:38):
Excellent.
Those are really good.
Suggestion, you've got a bit ofmixture of the more relaxing
side, but also, Timor has hadquite a tragic history and it
would be a miss to visit thecountry and not to try and
understand that better.
Are there any popularmisconceptions about Timor Este?
That you might be able to clearup.
Helen (12:53):
Everyone asks you, is it a dangerous country?
Because it came into the newswhen it was going through, a
very violent phase.
And I've gotta say it's one ofthe least dangerous places in my
opinion that I've visited,people are very caring and very
nice to you in almost everycase.
So that seems to be the majormisconception.
I say the other thing thatpeople don't consider about
(13:14):
Timor Lutte very much is howmany crocodiles there are,
Jonty (13:18):
not some at is fine.
At
Helen (13:22):
it's fine.
dilly is fine, although I haveactually seen a crocodile in
Dilly, but I still swim there.
There's one other beach down thecoast
Jonty (13:28):
oh, towards Laa kind of way.
Yes.
Helen (13:30):
The Lsar Beach is pretty safe too
Jonty (13:32):
I would say anywhere between UBA and$1 Beach.
You're pretty much fine.
But everywhere else,particularly around the south
coast and out to east, down atWaterbury Beach, I saw a pretty
big crocodile down there
Helen (13:42):
yes.
It's a shame when you're in anice tropical island to not be
able to just jump in the waterwithout having to think
carefully about am I in acrocodile zone or not.
Jonty (13:50):
But then there is the beautiful swimming pool in Baal,
so that's a substitute forheading into the water there.
Helen (13:55):
That's, yeah.
That's great there.
Jonty (13:57):
Just to finish up so when you leave Timor, which you've
done a few times'cause you'vecome and gone.
What do you miss about Timoronce you've left the country?
Helen (14:05):
What I miss most about Tim Leste, it's, this is quite
hard to explain, so I might wrapit on a little bit, when I live
in New Zealand it seems to bequite easy to get depressed.
People are worried and anxiousand do I have enough time to do
all this?
And I've got too many things todo.
But when you're in tenor lessday, there's a real feeling that
(14:26):
it's not the job in gettingthings done that are most
important.
It's the people that are mostimportant and spending time with
people that you love and carefor and enjoy their company.
It's like there's almost amantle of happiness that you can
enter into because of thiswarmth that people have for
other people in their lives.
Jonty (14:45):
that's a great answer.
It is very easy, especiallyWestern media.
It can be quite negative a lotof the time.
And in Timor there's a kind of ayoung population, and even
though it's a hard place andit's a poor place.
You're right, there's a morekind of positive kinda mindset.
Helen (14:59):
Yeah.
And, i'm not a Catholic or aChristian in any way, but I
sometimes wonder if there's thefocus on the spirituality that
is a result of everyone beingpretty steady worshipers and
instead of worrying about, thehere and now.
Puts you on a slightly differentplane.
I don't know.
Jonty (15:14):
Wonderful.
Thank you so much for your timetoday, Helen.
Really appreciate you joining uson the podcast.
Helen (15:19):
Ah, my pleasure, JTE and hope it all goes well for the
future.
Jonty (15:22):
Thank you.
Thank you so much for listeningto exploring Timor Less Day.
If you've enjoyed today'sepisode, please consider leaving
a rating or review.
It really helps more peoplediscover the show.
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.
I've heard it described as being like Bali in the 1960s.
(00:03):
But I didn't go to Bali in the1960s.
I don't really know.
It's a wild, beautiful, quietisland full of exciting places
to discover.
It's really an adventure to bethere.
when you're in tenor less day,there's a real feeling that it's
not the job in getting thingsdone that are most important.
It's the people that are mostimportant and spending time with
(00:25):
people that you love and carefor and enjoy their company.
It's like there's almost amantle of happiness that you can
enter into because of thiswarmth that people have for
other people in their lives.
Jonty (00:43):
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.
(01:09):
It's my pleasure today towelcome Helen Reynolds to the
podcast.
Hello Helen.
Hi,
Helen (01:15):
JTE.
Nice to be here.
Jonty (01:16):
Thank you for joining us today.
So what took you to Timor Lessday and what did you do there?
Helen (01:21):
Oh our first trip to Timor Less day, me and my
husband Alistair, was in 2016when we were doing VSA volunteer
service abroad.
And so that was a three yearcontract, although I think we
ended up only doing two years.
Jonty (01:34):
And then you returned?
Helen (01:36):
We returned many times, yes.
And we would've returned manytimes more if COVID hadn't come
in between 2016 and now.
Yeah, it's a wonderful place.
It's really, it's a reallyspecial place to go to.
Jonty (01:46):
And I guess you've had the experience'cause you've
visited over a period of times,you've been able to see how it's
gonna change over the lastdecade or so.
Helen (01:53):
Yeah, it has been a decade and it hasn't actually
changed super much, which isnice if you're visiting
somewhere to, to feel thatyou're in a place that's not
just swept away by Russiandevelopment.
Jonty (02:07):
Yeah.
There's a sense of familiarityand Yeah.
Continuity.
So how would you describe TimOreste to somebody who's never
been?
Helen (02:13):
I've heard it described as being like Bali in the 1960s.
But I didn't go to Bali in the1960s.
I don't really know.
It's a wild, beautiful, quietisland full of exciting places
to discover.
It's really an adventure to bethere.
Jonty (02:27):
If you can remember back to when you first arrived, what
your first impressions were?
Helen (02:32):
Yeah, our first impressions coming into the
Dilly Airport.
You've really stepped intoanother world, so you're
circling over this tiny littleairport and coming down into the
middle of palm trees and walkingout, there's definitely nothing
like any sort of air bridge oranything.
And it's just a very smallbuilding in the middle of a
field.
And you've come somewhere reallydifferent.
(02:52):
It got a little bit of a wildfeeling about it.
And you've got these scatteringsof Chinese hardware stores all
around and a few building storesand the old Portuguese colonial
buildings and the old Indonesiancolonial buildings and there's
still ruins from the war.
Still burnt out buildings, eventhough that was 25 years ago.
Jonty (03:12):
It's an interesting combination of things I've
visited quite a few places and Ihaven't come across anywhere
that's got that, quite unusualcombination of things in terms
of being Southeast Asia andbeing Catholic and having the
kinda turbulent history and thePortuguese colonial side of
things.
It's yeah quite different.
Helen (03:27):
It does.
It's, yeah, it is likeinteresting how different the
history shapes the differentislands and so it's quite a
special place like that'causeits history is so unique in
terms of the Portugueseinfluence and the Indonesian
side too.
That's something that you canfeel in Leste is that sort of
connection to the Pacificpeoples.
That's something you don't feelso much in Indonesia.
(03:48):
Because it's, I guess it's justthat bit further away.
Jonty (03:50):
So what are some of your favorite places in Timor Este?
Helen (03:54):
Our favorite place, of course, Athara Island is always
wonderful and everyone willprobably say it's a good place
to go because it is.
But our next favorite place togo is Babo.
We love going to Babo and welove going to BAU too.
Jonty (04:09):
What about bbo?
What makes it special?
Helen (04:12):
Partly it's the journey down there because from Dili you
drive down the coast and it's.
A spectacularly beautiful drive.
And there's an old forts andthen you get deeper and deeper
down into the country and youare starting to pass traditional
houses passing some of thesacred houses people have there.
And then the road gets rougherand rougher.
(04:33):
And then finally you get to bboand you get to this amazing fort
I think it's the best view inthe world, to be honest.
And so you've passed throughreally rough roads.
You've passed through beautifulseaside scenery.
And as you're getting deeper anddeeper into the mountains and
the roads are getting rougherand rougher, you think, oh I'm
experiencing quite a lot ofleste in this, one journey.
(04:56):
And finally you get to A luxuryhotel built in the old
Portuguese for, and theexperience of the contrasts that
you get in this one journey isamazing and once you get to BBO
of course, there's all thehistory from the BBO five and
how critical that was to makingthe world aware of Tim Oreste
problems me as a New Zealanderwith, one of the bbo five being
(05:19):
a New Zealander.
Jonty (05:20):
The BBO five, just for reference, they were a mixture
of British, Australian and Kiwijournalists who were based in
bbo in, in 1975 when theIndonesian army invaded, they
were executed by the Army.
So there's quite a tragichistory there.
there's a good film, I believethat tells the story.
Helen (05:35):
Yeah.
A really good film and goodbooks too.
A really dramatic story.
So having all those layers ofhistory that you can dig into a
bit in your trip to BBO issomething very special too.
Jonty (05:45):
How did yourself and Alice get to Bbo?
Like, how would you suggest thatpeople travel around Timor?
Helen (05:50):
Yeah.
Traveling around Timor is noteasy.
Is maybe a theme in a number ofyour podcasts.
It's adventure travel.
And Alistair and I are a littlebit older and we've got sore
hips and sore shoulders and sorebacks.
So we have hired cars to getthere.
But the problem with hiring carsin Timor less day is it's really
expensive.
You're well advised to get adriver because.
The roads are weird and scary.
(06:12):
it costs you about 150 US a dayat least, and maybe up to 200
depending on your luck.
So that makes it really quiteexpensive.
So Alistair and I go by Scooter,and so Alistair drives the
scooter and I'm on the bag.
Um, so the best way to getaround is really to hire a
motorbike of some sort.
And you can do it on scooter ifyou're not going too far into
(06:33):
the real mountains.
Jonty (06:35):
It's amazing where they can get to on a scooter.
The road to Bacal is good.
The road to BBO is good untilyou go in land and then it's
pretty bad.
It's, half an hour, I think intothe bad sections.
If you want to head further intothe mountains, then motorbike or
a vehicle is probably the bestway to get up there.
Are there any particular travelexperiences that really stand
out to you looking back on yourtime in Timor?
Helen (06:56):
The other place I love to go, as I mentioned before, is
Bal which is comparatively closeto Dilly, so it's easier to get
to.
And the thing that.
I always loved about BAU too, isagain, this sort of weird
contrast is that in theseventies, the Portuguese had
decided that BAU would make awonderful honeymoon destination.
And so there used to be anairport in Bau that was the
(07:17):
airport for Tim Leste.
In the middle of all this sortof lush, tropical jungle, you
will come across a giant luxuryswimming pool built for
Honeymooners in the 1970s by thePortuguese it doesn't have the
sort of typical water systembecause that would be impossible
with the Timoreseinfrastructure.
So it's fed by mountain streams,so just fresh mountain stream
(07:38):
water filling up the pool andthey empty it every other day or
something and just get morefresh mountain water.
So Timor can be really hot andsticky and quite hard to swim in
because of the number ofcrocodiles, which you may have
mentioned before on yourpodcast.
But does make swimming in thesea a bit problematic in most
places.
So to finally be cool andrefreshed in this sort of rather
(08:03):
bizarre pool that looks as ifit's been flown in by aliens
from a 1970s movie set.
It's so much fun.
I love it.
And you can stay at the, posepresided to Baal, which was
built by a soap company, thesort of a Portuguese guy who was
made as money from making soap.
And so again, it's that sort ofspecial, strange.
Clash of cultures that makesthat makes it a really
(08:26):
interesting and different place.
Tim Leste,
Jonty (08:28):
I do like the color scheme.
So the Posada is quite a strongpastel pink kind of color.
And then the swimming pool weararea is greens and blues and
everything's painted.
It's a beautiful place as yousay to take a break from the
heat and relax.
What are some of your favoritedishes that you, or places you
ate at in Timor?
Helen (08:46):
The best dish in Timote.
They have the best chili saucesin the world.
I think I can say that'sdefinitely true.
That's a fermented chili pasteand that's fermented with lemons
as well.
So it's got the flavor of thosepickled, those middle and
pickled lemons combined with avery fresh tasting chili
ferment.
It's delicious.
You can get really nice fish atquite a few restaurants.
(09:09):
Me and Alistair always enjoyedthe Portuguese restaurants.
Not everyone loves it becausethe Portuguese food is quite a
heavy, meaty style of cuisine.
A lot of pork chops and steaksand chips.
But to be honest, we loved it
Jonty (09:22):
do you have any recommendations for restaurants
or places to eat?
Maybe in Dihi?
Helen (09:26):
One of our favorite restaurants was Uma Val, which
is one of the few places you canget actual Timorese food.
'Cause a lot of the food thatyou get there is based on
Indonesian ONGs rather than thetraditional Timorese food.
So Val, and they're really into,using local produce and having
(09:46):
interesting recipes.
For example, the Timorese wouldeat a lot of rice porridge.
So rice cooked with corn andbeans into a porridge.
So that's one of the places thatyou can get the traditional
Timorese food.
For Portuguese food, the HotelTimor is quite a good place for
a fancy night out.
We had a Christmas dinner thereone year and ate the traditional
(10:09):
Portuguese salt, cod and olivesthat they have for Christmas.
And that was a lot of fun.
And there's another great, thereally probably the tastiest
Portuguese restaurant wasRestaurante tci.
That's really popular with allthe Portuguese people.
And right next to it is aBrazilian bakery, actually
powder to Brazil.
And you'll see the Timoreselining up to get the Portuguese
(10:30):
bread fresh outta the bakeryevery bakery they know when it
comes out.
And so it comes out freshseveral times a day.
So that's rather delicious too.
And the other really good placeto eat, of course, is to go out
to the beach and sit in the sunand watch the waves go by and
drink coconuts and eat thetypical sort of.
(10:52):
Pancakes and pizza and verytypical food.
But the setting is so delightful
Jonty (10:57):
If you had friends to visit you when you were living
in Dilly, where would you takethem?
Helen (11:00):
The best start to, get an idea of dili is to go out to
Christo ray and climb up toJesus and take a look at the
view.
It's a stunning statue on aprominent tree.
And so you're passing tropicalbeaches and this is where you
can stop and get your coconutand your burgers.
The next place we always go toand.
Everyone finds it very moving isthe Resistance Museum, which is
(11:24):
the museum that tells thehistory of the Timorese
resistance, strangely enoughfrom the name.
And tells the story really well.
They don't have a lot of museumsand things like that and Dili
and Leste.
But this is really worth goingto.
The other place that we.
Always take anyone visiting iswe take them to the Santa Cruz
(11:45):
Cemetery.
That was a site of one of themajor massacres.
And so it's a crazy beautifulplace anyway, as well as being
this very important historicalsite Right next to it too is the
Indonesian cemetery and wealways go there.
It shows something reallyspecial about Timor-Leste is
this is the cemetery where allthe Indonesian soldiers who
(12:06):
fought and killed people inTimor-Leste are buried.
And yet it's a beautifullymaintained.
Site and you can see that thepeople there still really in a
sense care for and look afterthe Indonesians there, they say
as part of the reconciliationprocess, they, saying there is
that the Indonesians were ourbrothers and they suffered as
much from the Indonesian brainAnd so we are together in our
(12:30):
suffering from that.
To see the graveyard, you canactually feel like physically
see this reconciliation processthey've gone through and how
special that is.
Jonty (12:38):
Excellent.
Those are really good.
Suggestion, you've got a bit ofmixture of the more relaxing
side, but also, Timor has hadquite a tragic history and it
would be a miss to visit thecountry and not to try and
understand that better.
Are there any popularmisconceptions about Timor Este?
That you might be able to clearup.
Helen (12:53):
Everyone asks you, is it a dangerous country?
Because it came into the newswhen it was going through, a
very violent phase.
And I've gotta say it's one ofthe least dangerous places in my
opinion that I've visited,people are very caring and very
nice to you in almost everycase.
So that seems to be the majormisconception.
I say the other thing thatpeople don't consider about
(13:14):
Timor Lutte very much is howmany crocodiles there are,
Jonty (13:18):
not some at is fine.
At
Helen (13:22):
it's fine.
dilly is fine, although I haveactually seen a crocodile in
Dilly, but I still swim there.
There's one other beach down thecoast
Jonty (13:28):
oh, towards Laa kind of way.
Yes.
Helen (13:30):
The Lsar Beach is pretty safe too
Jonty (13:32):
I would say anywhere between UBA and$1 Beach.
You're pretty much fine.
But everywhere else,particularly around the south
coast and out to east, down atWaterbury Beach, I saw a pretty
big crocodile down there
Helen (13:42):
yes.
It's a shame when you're in anice tropical island to not be
able to just jump in the waterwithout having to think
carefully about am I in acrocodile zone or not.
Jonty (13:50):
But then there is the beautiful swimming pool in Baal,
so that's a substitute forheading into the water there.
Helen (13:55):
That's, yeah.
That's great there.
Jonty (13:57):
Just to finish up so when you leave Timor, which you've
done a few times'cause you'vecome and gone.
What do you miss about Timoronce you've left the country?
Helen (14:05):
What I miss most about Tim Leste, it's, this is quite
hard to explain, so I might wrapit on a little bit, when I live
in New Zealand it seems to bequite easy to get depressed.
People are worried and anxiousand do I have enough time to do
all this?
And I've got too many things todo.
But when you're in tenor lessday, there's a real feeling that
(14:26):
it's not the job in gettingthings done that are most
important.
It's the people that are mostimportant and spending time with
people that you love and carefor and enjoy their company.
It's like there's almost amantle of happiness that you can
enter into because of thiswarmth that people have for
other people in their lives.
Jonty (14:45):
that's a great answer.
It is very easy, especiallyWestern media.
It can be quite negative a lotof the time.
And in Timor there's a kind of ayoung population, and even
though it's a hard place andit's a poor place.
You're right, there's a morekind of positive kinda mindset.
Helen (14:59):
Yeah.
And, i'm not a Catholic or aChristian in any way, but I
sometimes wonder if there's thefocus on the spirituality that
is a result of everyone beingpretty steady worshipers and
instead of worrying about, thehere and now.
Puts you on a slightly differentplane.
I don't know.
Jonty (15:14):
Wonderful.
Thank you so much for your timetoday, Helen.
Really appreciate you joining uson the podcast.
Helen (15:19):
Ah, my pleasure, JTE and hope it all goes well for the
future.
Jonty (15:22):
Thank you.
Thank you so much for listeningto exploring Timor Less Day.
If you've enjoyed today'sepisode, please consider leaving
a rating or review.
It really helps more peoplediscover the show.
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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