Kupang Indonesia to Dili East Timor

[MarsFossils]

My brother and I will be traveling to Indonesia in February and March
2005. I was considering the possibility that we could fly into
Jakarta, from there fly directly to Kupang in West Timor island, take
some kind of transportation to Dili in East Timor - a different
country - and then make our way back to through Dili, Alor Islands,
Larantuka, Flores, Bali, etc to Jakarta and out.

I was wondering about the Kupang to Dili to Alor Island stretch. Does
anybody reading this newsgroup have any experience or ideas about how
safe it would be? Would there be a problem leaving Indonesia and
coming back in? What is the best way to handle currency? Could we go
from Kupang directly to the Alors -- is there a ferry that goes there.
February and March is the rainy season -- how will that impact
cross-island travel.

The U.S. State department advisory is not tremendously down on the
idea and seems to just give the usual warnings. Any advice or
experience you might have about this stretch would be much
appreciated.

Michael
Mars Fossils, Pseudofossils and Problematica
http://aix1.uottawa.ca/~weinberg/mars

[EAC]

(MarsFossils) wrote in message >...
> My brother and I will be traveling to Indonesia in February and March
> 2005. I was considering the possibility that we could fly into
> Jakarta, from there fly directly to Kupang in West Timor island, take
> some kind of transportation to Dili in East Timor - a different
> country - and then make our way back to through Dili, Alor Islands,
> Larantuka, Flores, Bali, etc to Jakarta and out.

So it would be:

- Air transport from Jakarta to Kupang

- Land transport from Kupang to Dili

- Land and then Sea transport from Dili to Jakarta, stopping at
various places along the way.

> I was wondering about the Kupang to Dili to Alor Island stretch.
> Does anybody reading this newsgroup have any experience
> or ideas about how safe it would be?

'They' now got East Timor, so I'm sure that 'they' will make sure that
tourists travelling there to be as safe as possible, considering that
'they' wished to developed tourism and the fact that 'they' parked a
cruise boat / hotel there.

> Would there be a problem leaving Indonesia and coming back in?

Your Indonesian tourist Visa would be invalid, considering that it
only valid for one entry and one exist, and you will have to wait for
several months until you can get another visa. This is because while
East Timor once part of Indonesia, since now it's technically another
country, you will be effectively leaving Indonesia once you go there.

So... You either might want to stay in East Timor for several months
or visit other countries for several months or just plain go home
after you visited East Timor.

So it's recommended that you visit other places in Indonesia first,
then go to East Timor or other countries.

Either that, or you can apply for a different visa that allowed
multiple entries to Indonesia.

> What is the best way to handle currency?

Indonesian Rupiah, U.S. Dollar (but NOT U.S.A. Dollar), and Portuguese
Peso. Though they might have also accept Euro.

> Could we go from Kupang directly to the Alors --
> is there a ferry that goes there.
> February and March is the rainy season --
> how will that impact cross-island travel.

Don't know much about it, but due the way the visa regulation, it's
much better to make East Timor the last destination after your trek
around the Indonesian islands.

> The U.S. State department advisory is not tremendously down
> on the idea and seems to just give the usual warnings.

Well... Since now 'they' got what 'they' want, 'they' probably ordered
the U.S. State departement to put the usual warnings.

It should be noted 'travel warnings' is an effective way to sabotage a
country's tourism industry.

But of course, 'they' now want to developed the tourism there, 'they'
probably ordered the U.S. State departement to issue a relatively
minor warming.

Lets just hope that 'they' didn't do East Timor the same as just like
what 'they' did to Bali, wreck it with tourism.

> Any advice or experience you might have
> about this stretch would be much appreciated.
>
> Michael
> Mars Fossils, Pseudofossils and Problematica
> http://aix1.uottawa.ca/~weinberg/mars

[Manfred Aigner]

MarsFossils wrote:

> My brother and I will be traveling to Indonesia in February and March
> 2005. I was considering the possibility that we could fly into
> Jakarta, from there fly directly to Kupang in West Timor island, take
> some kind of transportation to Dili in East Timor - a different
> country - and then make our way back to through Dili, Alor Islands,
> Larantuka, Flores, Bali, etc to Jakarta and out.

I'd call the next indonesian embassy and ask rigth there. Usually you
get a visa when entering indonesia that is valid for 60 days. Leaving
and entering again (also the same or next day) is possible without
problem. You get then a new visa also for 60 days from your last entry
(at least it was like this, when I did my trip from manado to philipines
to renew my visa) ...

But in case of east timor I'd check at an embassy (they usually reply to
emails)

According your raining-season concerns: The roads in Flores can get
really bad when it is raining a lot, so the travel from Larantuka to
Labuhanbajo can be really exhaustig and take a while...
Lombok/Bali us usually not a problem during raining season, although
mountaineering can be really annoying (e.g. rinjani during raining
season can be 3 days in rain) ...

If you pass by in lombok (you will) you could give my friend Ohiem a
visit (http://www.lombok-ecoturist.org/)

Regards,

Manfred

--
The real ecoturism in Lombok/Indonesia!
... visit http://www.lombok-ecoturist.org/ ...

[George W. Russell]

(EAC) wrote in message >...
> (MarsFossils) wrote in message >...

>
> > What is the best way to handle currency?
>
> Indonesian Rupiah, U.S. Dollar (but NOT U.S.A. Dollar),

Whatever do you mean? The only legal currency in East Timor (at least
in 2002 when I was there) is the U.S. dollar. They use regular U.S.
banknotes (bills) as well as the standard U.S. 25c, 10c and 5c coins.

>and Portuguese
> Peso.

Portugal is now part of the euro zone; the escudo is no longer used.

Though they might have also accept Euro.
>
Currencies can be changed there. There's at least one ATM in Dili --
ANZ Bank -- that dispenses USD.

Cheers,
George W. Russell
Hanoi