Dili to Oecussi - 12 hours of sweat

I had purchased my ferry ticket to Oecussi earlier in the day and had opted for seating only rather than a cabin. Was it going to be a mistake??? Maybe I could just upgrade to a cabin once I got on? I had heard that the cabins were not that great and you ended up out with the 2nd class anyway. My ticket was business class and more expensive than 2nd class so I was hoping that this meant I might get a better section to sit in. Oh how wrong can one be!!!

The ferry was to leave at 5pm and I was advised to be at the port by 4pm. What a waste of time that was. I got there at 4pm only to find 100's of people and their chickens lined up at the gate waiting under the blistering sun. I stood with everyone and was thankful for having my hat. How do these people just stand there with no protection on their heads..and kids too!!! We waited for 35 minutes before they opened up the gates to let us in and make our way to board the ferry.

Once on it was a matter of finding the best spot to sit and having to lug around my pack it was not much fun trying to cover the ferry quickly. I found the business class section but this was tiny and already full (first in best dressed on this ferry not matter what ticket you bought) so I went in search of the ideal seat in 2nd class. I found an area that seemed like it would be good. A window that opened close by, a seat by the wall so I only had people on one side of me, what could be so bad?

I left my pack on my seat and asked one of the local army guys to keep an eye on it for me and I went to see what was happening out on the decks. Outside was jam packed and was obviously the preferred spot for the locals. Was I making a mistake sitting inside??? It was too hard to squash up with everyone outside anyway with my stuff and didn't seem so secure either, no my seat was just fine.

The ferry got away closer to 6pm than 5pm but I wasn't too fussed as I prefer to arrive at daylight than dark. It was going to be a slow 12 hour slug along the coastline and not being able to lay down I was not sure how my stomach would handle it. Fortunately the seas were calm and being so close to land the whole time I had no queasiness at all…thank god for something!!

The area I was sitting in was quite warm and airless and so I went back up on deck to give it time to cool down and get some air moving around now that the ferry was moving. The deck was crowded but I managed to find a space to stand in and start a conversation with a Sudanese guy who lives in France and is working on a project with an NGO for a year. He spoke pretty good English along with 4 other languages. I was the only white person on the ferry and between the two of us the only Malai's (foreigner).

The breeze up on deck was delightful and the temperature just perfect. After half an hour I decided that downstairs must have cooled down by now and I would read my book. Well it wasn't to be….there was no air moving even though there were windows opened on both sides, it was an absolute sauna and as the night progressed it got even hotter. The upside of it though is that I did not have to endure the bathrooms. Because I sweated so much I didn't need to pee at all and yes I drank plenty of fluids to replace what was coming out of my pores.

I went and stood for a bit in the next section that did actually have air moving around it and was cooler but with the seats already taken there was nowhere for me to sit and sleep. I tried sleeping in my seat for a bit but it was impossible. I don't think I had ever been this hot, not even squashed on a bus in the middle of the day without aircon in some really hot country (and yes I have been in this situation plenty of times). As the night rolled on past midnight I was not sure how I would survive but was glad to be reading a really good book to take my mind of it.I spent another hour or so sitting on the floor amongst the sleeping bodies in the cooler section reading to get relief but then sleep overtook me and I had no choice but to see if I could just pass out in my seat and get a couple of hours sleep. Sleep did come but only in spurts and then I was woken by a fellow passenger to let me know we had arrived. I was not happy to be woken as I knew it would be some time before we could get off and sure enough it was a good half hour to 45 minutes before we could disembark. While waiting to disembark I looked out at the water and there before me was a turtle bobbing up and down.

Once outside in the fresh air I took in the surroundings. Mountains, brown sand beaches and a ferry port that was just a wharf out in the middle of nowhere. Great! This meant I would have to get transport into the town centre. I wondered over to where the microlet 's (small mini van) were leaving from. They were all pretty crowded and I was not sure how I would squeeze on to one of these and before I could even do that I had to work out which one was going in my direction. One of the microlet drivers spoke to me and said he could take me to town but the bus was so packed there was no way I could get on and having to put my pack on the roof was not looking like a good idea. Another guy spoke to me (and their English is really limited but at least enough for me to get where I needed to go) and once I got him to understand where I wanted to go he organized an Ojek (motorbike) for me into Oecussi Town for $1. I was waiting for the trip to be just down the road and a distance that I could of easily of walked but it ended up being around 3kms so I was glad I didn't make the attempt. As we drove along we passed microlets stopping to pick up bags that we dropping off the roof and I was glad that I hadn't taken one.

I didn't have a guide book with me for East Timor just a bit of info I had gathered and stored on my netbook. How hard would it be to find a place to stay?? I remembered the name of the hotel/guesthouse that was amongst the information I had but no-one else seemed to know of it so there I am on the back of a bike in what was looking to be like a very one horse town and I had to get out my netbook to look up where I wanted to stay. The info I had stated that the Victoria was near the football ground but had no sign. Well that wasn't much help but at least the football ground would be a starting point and everyone knows where the football ground is and thankfully I got this guy to work it out and soon enough we were at the football ground and still no idea where it was so I asked a guy if he knew of it and he didn't but the guy standing next to him did and it was only 10 metres away.

The Victoria looked like a fairly newish place with more rooms being built. My info said that rooms including breakfast was $10 p/night….hmmm I was a bit surprised when I was told it was $20 p/night but what could I do. I really didn't have the energy to look around and god knows how long it would take for me to find the next guesthouse with no sign. The room was at least very clean with its own bathroom. I thought that I would at least get cable for my $20 but no I didn't even get power until 6pm and my shower was a bucket. Yep my $20 room was real value for money!!!! I was surprised by the evening time to find that all of the rooms but one was full with NGO and UN staff. This must be the preferred place to stay while here or maybe the only decent place by western standards.

I went for a walk while it was still early and not so hot to check out what the town had to offer and to sum it up in one word 'nothing'.It took me about 10 minutes to cover the place and I was wondering how I would fill the day in. Sleep was the answer to that. After my sleepless night I slept a few hours before lunch and a few more hours in the afternoon and read in between. With no power until 6pm and my netbook flat I couldn't even utilize the time to write this blog. The day went quickly though and by the end of the day I was back out walking and enjoying the cool evening air. I found the local shop and the owner had good English so I asked him about places to eat. I checked out one of the restaurants and decided that it wasn't quite time for me to brave that just yet and opted for my coconut butter biscuits

I was looking forward to leaving the following day and heading to Kupang to find a bit of civlisation but when I woke at 6.30am I thought that this place wasn't so bad and that maybe I should give it another day. I mean really if there is nothing to do then you cannot feel guilty about doing nothing.

During my afternoon walk I chatted to a German girl who had just come in from the beach snorkeling and I was inquisitive to whether there was anything to see out there. She said it was great and that she had just seen a turtle and also not to worry about crocodiles as the locals only see one every 3 months or so. Hmmm that's still at least one and how many months has it been since the last sighting??? While we sat chatting we spotted two whales making their way up the coast towards West Timor. I also found out where a good eating spot was. I definitely couldn't go another night of eating my coconut butter biscuits.

The German girl was staying in Oecussi for a month volunteering at the local hospital. She came for 3 days and after a week didn't want to leave but had to make the journey back to Dili to cash up as there are no banks here. I could definitely understand why she wants to be here. My first day I was tired and a bit bewildered by the lack of anything but now that I have had a decent night's sleep and absorbed the warm hospitality of the township I could easily get stuck here for awhile.

For dinner I went and checked out the café that had been recommended. It was simple fare with a choice of either chicken or beef. I sat at the communal table and chatted to the UN staff that frequented there (I saw no locals). Dinner cost me $2 and consisted of chicken (I think it was a very underfed chicken), rice, green stuff (like spinach) and a piece of lettuce and a slice of tomato (which I didn't eat). It was nothing special but at least 24 hours later I was still alive!!!