So there we were.

Living our best life.

A gentle breeze, shady trees, children laughing. Relaxing with good books and drinks in hand sitting on those ubiquitous green plastic outdoor chairs. Well. more like balancing than sitting as the chair legs kept disappearing down into the soft sand! We are on the picture-perfect Areia Branca beach, just a stone's throw from the water one way, and to our accommodation the other. Three days into our Timor trip and we were right back into our travel vibe of being inquisitive and learning about a new place and its people but also catching up on some relaxed reading time.

"Éxcuse us. May we interview you?"

In front of us three shy, beautiful, fresh faced excited students, inquisitive about US!

As part of their tourism course, they needed to find people like us to interview. People like us are in short supply in Timor even though it is the dry season, and the weather is perfect. There are (thankfully) no tourist buses disgorging grumpy seniors or groups of badly behaved Aussies. Most of the people we have made conversation with have been expats, Aid workers, or, Australian Army personnel (current and ex) who wanted to come back and see what has changed since they were stationed here during Timor's troubled past.

Tourism is really in its infancy. After decades of fighting, independence was not theirs until 2002, and even after that there were further hiccups to peace. There have been way more important problems to solve than working out how to embrace tourism as an industry.

Now though, it seems it is time. Time for the young ones who have not lived through the terror of war to study tourism, and for the country to welcome the money and changes that tourism can bring.

So what did we talk with these students about? Firstly, to embrace their English studies. Proximity to Australia may soon bring the disillusioned and "bored- with- Bali" types to their shores. With it's coral reefs amazing dive spots, perfect unspoiled islands and just 1&1/2 hours by plane from Darwin, it will appeal. Portuguese and Tetun are the languages spoken in Timor but to develop tourism, unfortuntely vistors often won't try to communicate in Tetun, and so English would be beneficial.

We also said that we had found it hard to find places of interest due to there being no tourism maps or street signs pointing the direction to museums etc. like there is in most cities. As soon as we said it though, we realized for these students, in their late teens, they would be thinking "but everyone has google maps!" So true. It is only old dinosaur travellers like us who love a city map and don't like paying roaming charges.

How lovely it was to spend some time with these enthusiastic kids.

Our first 3 days were spent exploring the capital Dili and staying at the iconic Hotel Timor. We walked and walked and, also, thanks to fellow Aussies Shane and Bridget, who had access to a car, saw some sights a bit further out. Then it was to Beachside Hotel for 3 nights where we met the students. Managed by an Australian, Mel, it boasts the best food for miles around and the most friendly, happy staff. Whilst staying here we caught the local mini buses called microlets, a fun experience in itself.

The last night was a wonderful finale to our trip. Firstly, we met a lovely lady from Bangladesh who is very widely travelled and we compared travel stories, then, as the sun began to go down, a great big movie screen was set up in the shallows of the sea, and as our evening meal was served on the beach under the stars, we settled in the watch "A Man called Otto" starring Tom Hanks. Perfect.

A quick and enjoyable trip to regain our travel legs. More adventures coming up in the next three months as we add to our experiences and learn about countries weve never travelled in before.