July 26, 2025 • 9 mins
Test your knowledge of this fascinating country with this quiz about Timor-Leste
Website - www.exploringtimor.com
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@exploringtimor
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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):
this episode is a quiz aboutTimor Less days.
So I've got 20 questions to testyour knowledge of the country.
See how many you can get, right?
Question one.
When did Timor Lesse become anindependent country answer in
2002, following a transitionalUN administration after the
(00:53):
Indonesian withdrawal in 1999.
Question two.
How many times has the Popevisited Timor Lesse?
Answer twice.
Pope John Paul II visited in1989 and Pope Francis in 2024.
Question three.
(01:13):
Where can you fly to Timor-Lestefrom as of mid 2025?
Answer four places you can flyfrom Bali in Indonesia, from
Darwin in Australia, fromSingapore, or from Kuala Lumper
in Malaysia.
Question four, how many touristsvisit Timor-Leste each year?
(01:38):
Answer about 25,000 incomparison, Bali gets well over
6 million visitors a year.
Question five, what are the mainsources of income for Timor less
estate?
Answer oil and gas primarily itis according to the World Bank,
the most oil and gas dependenteconomy in the world.
(02:02):
In distant second place.
Are coffee, tourism andremittances from Timorese living
overseas.
Question six, what are fivethings that you can't do in
Timor Less estate?
Answer number one, you can'tcatch a train.
Timor Este is one of only 27countries in the world without a
(02:23):
rail network.
And unlike many, it has neverhad one, two golf.
There are no golf courses in thecountry putting it amongst only
37 countries in the world thatdon't have any golf courses.
There is, however, a drivingrange top golf in Dili.
Three skiing as there is no snowdespite the highest point being
close to 3000 meters above sealevel.
Timor-Leste is too close to theequator for snow four.
(02:46):
Timor-Leste doesn't have anyformal botanic gardens, but
there is plenty of beautiful andlush greenery throughout the
country, particularly during thewet season.
And five, you can't visit aUNESCO World Heritage Site as
there are NNT more or less.
They currently, but they havetaken the first steps to prepare
a bid for the Nino Cones,Santana National Park to be
declared one that's to the eastof the country, including loud
(03:09):
term and Jaco Island.
Question seven, what is theaverage C temperature?
Answer, the ocean stays warm allyear round, averaging between 27
and 29 degrees Celsius, or 81 to84 degrees Fahrenheit.
Question eight, what is the mainreligion of Timor Este?
(03:34):
Answer Catholicism with 98% ofthe population Catholic, the
second highest in the worldafter the Vatican City.
Well, The Vatican City has apopulation of about 800 people,
and Timor Lesser has apopulation of about 1.3.
Million people.
Interestingly, despite beingoccupied by Portuguese for about
400 years, it wasn't reallyuntil the Indonesian occupation
(03:56):
that Catholicism became asdominant as it is, similar to
say Poland under Soviet rule thechurch was seen as an important
institution against theIndonesian occupation.
Question nine, how long havepeople lived on the island of
Timor?
Answer at least 44,000 years.
(04:17):
And they found over 30 rock artssites in the Nino Cones, Santana
National Park in la, dated backmany tens of thousands of years.
Question 10.
How many public holidays doesTimor less?
They have answer at least 18,although some fall on weekends.
(04:38):
And they also have things calledtolerance days, which are
effectively ad hoc holidaysrecognized by government
departments sometimes announcedthe day before they take place.
They tend to line up with publicholidays to allow people to
travel to get to themunicipalities, the regions for
the holiday itself.
Question 11, should you bringanti-malarials to Timor?
(05:02):
Answer, probably not.
The only areas where reportedcases are those next to West
Timor, so that's acoustic Boband Valima and they're still
very low risk.
And they're not the places thatlots of tourists tend to visit.
So you do need to be carefulthough for other mosquito-borne
diseases like dengue fever andchicken gya, but you can
probably leave your antimalarias at home.
(05:22):
Question 12, how do you sayhello in tetin, the local
language.
Answer, you can say either BandiOrti.
Which depends on the time ofday, so you can't just say hello
It's very time specific.
Bondi is good morning which isbefore 11:30 AM.
(05:45):
But daddy is the afternoon,which starts at around 1130 and
finishes around 6:00 PM and thenti is in the evening.
Obviously that's influenced bythe Portuguese language as well.
Question 13, how many languagesare spoken in Leste?
Answer at least 30.
(06:06):
Although the two officiallanguages are tein and
Portuguese and Bahasa.
Indonesian is widely spoken,followed by English, and then
there are many local dialectsout in the regions.
Question 14, how do you addressa team of ease?
Answer typically for your peers,you'll use the phrase man or
(06:29):
mana, so that means brother orsister.
So I might say Maun, Antonio orMana Maria.
Or for elders or more formalsituations, you might use UR or
ura.
So sir or madam, question 15,what are foreigners called in
Timor?
Este answer, Malai.
(06:52):
And that is a term you will hearfrequently as a visitor,
particularly from kidsespecially if you're visiting a
more remote area, if they seeyou, they'll get screaming out.
Malay.
Malay is quite an unusual kindasighting.
So the origins of the word dateback to they believe Malaysian
traders from kind of 16thcentury.
But these days, Malay is used torefer to you non timur, question
(07:13):
16, what is the highest point inTimor-Leste answer, Mount Ramala
at 2,986 meters.
And that is in the, pretty muchthe center of the island.
Question 17.
How did communicate with eachother Answer.
(07:36):
Facebook and WhatsApp.
I believe they have some of thehighest rates of Facebook usage
in the world, and pretty mucheverybody is on WhatsApp.
Very few people would haveemail.
WhatsApp and Facebook are freeand once you get a critical
mass, everybody's on it.
And that's the way people stayin touch and understand what's
going on in Timor.
Question 18, what proportion ofTimorese live in urban centers?
(08:04):
Answer only about a quarter ofthe population live in cities or
towns with most people living invillages or hamlets in often
quite rugged and remote areas.
Question 19, how large is TimOreste answer 14,919 square
(08:25):
kilometers.
This is comparable in size toone fifth of the island of
Tasmania in Australia, or it's asimilar size to Hawke's Bay.
Region of New Zealand a similarsize to the state of Connecticut
in America or, a similar size tothe British County of Yorkshire.
Last question.
(08:45):
Question 20.
How many crocodiles live inTimor?
Estee?
Answer, the estimates arebetween three and 4,000
saltwater crocodiles, which isprobably a 10th of the number
that live in in Australia.
As these are salt watercrocodiles who, who need to lay
their eggs in fresh water.
(09:06):
And there's actuallysurprisingly few areas of fresh
water in Timor, less state.
There are some lakes, far fewerthan you'd expect to see.
There's primarily estuaries andcreeks particularly on the south
coast.
That's where most of thecrocodiles live.
They are quite niche questionsand niche answers, but hopefully
that's giving you a bit of aninsight for some unusual facts
about this beautiful country ofTimor-Leste.
(09:28):
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.
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):
this episode is a quiz aboutTimor Less days.
So I've got 20 questions to testyour knowledge of the country.
See how many you can get, right?
Question one.
When did Timor Lesse become anindependent country answer in
2002, following a transitionalUN administration after the
(00:53):
Indonesian withdrawal in 1999.
Question two.
How many times has the Popevisited Timor Lesse?
Answer twice.
Pope John Paul II visited in1989 and Pope Francis in 2024.
Question three.
(01:13):
Where can you fly to Timor-Lestefrom as of mid 2025?
Answer four places you can flyfrom Bali in Indonesia, from
Darwin in Australia, fromSingapore, or from Kuala Lumper
in Malaysia.
Question four, how many touristsvisit Timor-Leste each year?
(01:38):
Answer about 25,000 incomparison, Bali gets well over
6 million visitors a year.
Question five, what are the mainsources of income for Timor less
estate?
Answer oil and gas primarily itis according to the World Bank,
the most oil and gas dependenteconomy in the world.
(02:02):
In distant second place.
Are coffee, tourism andremittances from Timorese living
overseas.
Question six, what are fivethings that you can't do in
Timor Less estate?
Answer number one, you can'tcatch a train.
Timor Este is one of only 27countries in the world without a
(02:23):
rail network.
And unlike many, it has neverhad one, two golf.
There are no golf courses in thecountry putting it amongst only
37 countries in the world thatdon't have any golf courses.
There is, however, a drivingrange top golf in Dili.
Three skiing as there is no snowdespite the highest point being
close to 3000 meters above sealevel.
Timor-Leste is too close to theequator for snow four.
(02:46):
Timor-Leste doesn't have anyformal botanic gardens, but
there is plenty of beautiful andlush greenery throughout the
country, particularly during thewet season.
And five, you can't visit aUNESCO World Heritage Site as
there are NNT more or less.
They currently, but they havetaken the first steps to prepare
a bid for the Nino Cones,Santana National Park to be
declared one that's to the eastof the country, including loud
(03:09):
term and Jaco Island.
Question seven, what is theaverage C temperature?
Answer, the ocean stays warm allyear round, averaging between 27
and 29 degrees Celsius, or 81 to84 degrees Fahrenheit.
Question eight, what is the mainreligion of Timor Este?
(03:34):
Answer Catholicism with 98% ofthe population Catholic, the
second highest in the worldafter the Vatican City.
Well, The Vatican City has apopulation of about 800 people,
and Timor Lesser has apopulation of about 1.3.
Million people.
Interestingly, despite beingoccupied by Portuguese for about
400 years, it wasn't reallyuntil the Indonesian occupation
(03:56):
that Catholicism became asdominant as it is, similar to
say Poland under Soviet rule thechurch was seen as an important
institution against theIndonesian occupation.
Question nine, how long havepeople lived on the island of
Timor?
Answer at least 44,000 years.
(04:17):
And they found over 30 rock artssites in the Nino Cones, Santana
National Park in la, dated backmany tens of thousands of years.
Question 10.
How many public holidays doesTimor less?
They have answer at least 18,although some fall on weekends.
(04:38):
And they also have things calledtolerance days, which are
effectively ad hoc holidaysrecognized by government
departments sometimes announcedthe day before they take place.
They tend to line up with publicholidays to allow people to
travel to get to themunicipalities, the regions for
the holiday itself.
Question 11, should you bringanti-malarials to Timor?
(05:02):
Answer, probably not.
The only areas where reportedcases are those next to West
Timor, so that's acoustic Boband Valima and they're still
very low risk.
And they're not the places thatlots of tourists tend to visit.
So you do need to be carefulthough for other mosquito-borne
diseases like dengue fever andchicken gya, but you can
probably leave your antimalarias at home.
(05:22):
Question 12, how do you sayhello in tetin, the local
language.
Answer, you can say either BandiOrti.
Which depends on the time ofday, so you can't just say hello
It's very time specific.
Bondi is good morning which isbefore 11:30 AM.
(05:45):
But daddy is the afternoon,which starts at around 1130 and
finishes around 6:00 PM and thenti is in the evening.
Obviously that's influenced bythe Portuguese language as well.
Question 13, how many languagesare spoken in Leste?
Answer at least 30.
(06:06):
Although the two officiallanguages are tein and
Portuguese and Bahasa.
Indonesian is widely spoken,followed by English, and then
there are many local dialectsout in the regions.
Question 14, how do you addressa team of ease?
Answer typically for your peers,you'll use the phrase man or
(06:29):
mana, so that means brother orsister.
So I might say Maun, Antonio orMana Maria.
Or for elders or more formalsituations, you might use UR or
ura.
So sir or madam, question 15,what are foreigners called in
Timor?
Este answer, Malai.
(06:52):
And that is a term you will hearfrequently as a visitor,
particularly from kidsespecially if you're visiting a
more remote area, if they seeyou, they'll get screaming out.
Malay.
Malay is quite an unusual kindasighting.
So the origins of the word dateback to they believe Malaysian
traders from kind of 16thcentury.
But these days, Malay is used torefer to you non timur, question
(07:13):
16, what is the highest point inTimor-Leste answer, Mount Ramala
at 2,986 meters.
And that is in the, pretty muchthe center of the island.
Question 17.
How did communicate with eachother Answer.
(07:36):
Facebook and WhatsApp.
I believe they have some of thehighest rates of Facebook usage
in the world, and pretty mucheverybody is on WhatsApp.
Very few people would haveemail.
WhatsApp and Facebook are freeand once you get a critical
mass, everybody's on it.
And that's the way people stayin touch and understand what's
going on in Timor.
Question 18, what proportion ofTimorese live in urban centers?
(08:04):
Answer only about a quarter ofthe population live in cities or
towns with most people living invillages or hamlets in often
quite rugged and remote areas.
Question 19, how large is TimOreste answer 14,919 square
(08:25):
kilometers.
This is comparable in size toone fifth of the island of
Tasmania in Australia, or it's asimilar size to Hawke's Bay.
Region of New Zealand a similarsize to the state of Connecticut
in America or, a similar size tothe British County of Yorkshire.
Last question.
(08:45):
Question 20.
How many crocodiles live inTimor?
Estee?
Answer, the estimates arebetween three and 4,000
saltwater crocodiles, which isprobably a 10th of the number
that live in in Australia.
As these are salt watercrocodiles who, who need to lay
their eggs in fresh water.
(09:06):
And there's actuallysurprisingly few areas of fresh
water in Timor, less state.
There are some lakes, far fewerthan you'd expect to see.
There's primarily estuaries andcreeks particularly on the south
coast.
That's where most of thecrocodiles live.
They are quite niche questionsand niche answers, but hopefully
that's giving you a bit of aninsight for some unusual facts
about this beautiful country ofTimor-Leste.
(09:28):
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.
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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