{"id":3861,"date":"2012-09-21T07:28:43","date_gmt":"2012-09-21T05:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/?p=3861"},"modified":"2019-12-30T04:15:29","modified_gmt":"2019-12-30T09:15:29","slug":"tour-de-timor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/2012\/09\/tour-de-timor\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour de Timor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Despite dire warnings (You\u2019ll sink!\u00a0 You\u2019ll be crushed by the crowds!\u00a0 You\u2019ll catch a nasty disease!), we\u2019d survived half a dozen Indonesian ferries.<\/p>\n<p>The trip to Timor was to be our last.\u00a0\u00a0 The journey was slated for a mere 18 hours.\u00a0\u00a0 Wanting to stake out a good spot on deck, we arrived at the harbor 3 hours in advance.<\/p>\n<p>Pedaling up the port at Laruntuka, it became clear that a mere 3 hours lead time relegated us to the status of late-comers.\u00a0 The place was buzzing with activity.<\/p>\n<p>We fought our away aboard into the sea of humanity. Passengers were squeezed up next to each other wrestling for space.\u00a0\u00a0 More and more determined travelers pushed their way onto the ship.\u00a0 Families were camped out atop mountains of luggage and young men crammed into truck beds.\u00a0 Babies howled, music blared and the male population puffed away on their clove cigarettes.<\/p>\n<h4>I will survive!<\/h4>\n<p>And how did we cope?\u00a0 Quite nicely.<\/p>\n<p>As soon as the crew invited us up to their quarters!\u00a0 (I know, I know\u2026 it\u2019s not fair, but Indonesians offer the most extraordinary hospitality to foreign visitors and who are we to turn it down?)<\/p>\n<p>Ah, the simple luxury of space to stretch your legs.\u00a0 \u00a0The lavishness of a steady supply of oxygen.\u00a0 The sheer extravagance of silence.\u00a0 Amazing how little it takes to bask in contentedness when the alternative is truly appalling conditions.<\/p>\n<p>West Timor was to be our final stretch though Indonesia.\u00a0 Our minds were already focused on Australia.\u00a0 What a joy it would be to raid a well-stocked supermarket, blend into the crowd, wander into tidy public restrooms and reach for a roll of toilet paper.\u00a0 We were worn out from Third World travel.\u00a0 Could hardly cope with all the attention we garnered and wanted nothing more than to luxuriate in anonymity.<\/p>\n<p>Meaning we probably didn\u2019t fully appreciate the charms of Timor.\u00a0\u00a0 A lovely little island filled with friendly locals who seldom see visitors on bicycles.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 4px solid black;\" title=\"Cycling West TImor Indonesia\" src=\"http:\/\/worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/7968876228_82c771ca1a_z.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"576\" height=\"384\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<figure style=\"width: 576px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" \" title=\"Biking West Timor Indonesia\" src=\"http:\/\/worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/7987923950_3dae67f278_z.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"576\" height=\"384\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Beautiful cycling in West Timor on the road from Kupang to the border with East Timor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>At least not in the West of Timor.\u00a0 East Timor sees a surge of two-wheeled travelers during the Tour de Timor.\u00a0 Our own tour just happened to coincide with this yearly event.\u00a0\u00a0 More than 300 cyclists were expected to take part in this year\u2019s bike race.\u00a0\u00a0 A lot of Australians but more and more Timorese saddling up for the race.<\/p>\n<p>Bike fervor filled the air!\u00a0 Our flight to Darwin on 11 September meant we just missed being able to join in all the fun.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<figure style=\"width: 576px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" \" title=\"Bicycle Touring on East Timor\" src=\"http:\/\/worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/7968804630_47b69c1571_z.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"576\" height=\"384\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The amazing coastal road leading to Dili, East Timor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<figure style=\"width: 576px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" \" title=\"Village Life in East Timor\" src=\"http:\/\/worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/7987937147_fe5aa141be_z.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"576\" height=\"384\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">East Timor still has a lot of economic catching up to do&#8211;village life is far from easy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As I write now &#8211;from the air-conditioned luxury of the home of our latest Australian couchsurfing host&#8211; Timor seems a world away.\u00a0\u00a0 It took but a scant few days to re- accustom ourselves to the ease of the Western world.\u00a0 To flush toilets and real showers, smooth roads and orderly traffic.<\/p>\n<p>Our photos of the Timorese people remind me of their determination and fortitude, their beauty and kindness.\u00a0 The images of the landscape bring back the stark splendor of the sea pushed up against the barren interior.<\/p>\n<p>Timor definitely deserves a return trip.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 4px solid black;\" title=\"West Timor- Girl Fetching Water\" src=\"http:\/\/worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/7960079934_7d36441257_z.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"576\" height=\"241\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<figure style=\"width: 576px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" \" title=\"chasing the cyclist in West Timor\" src=\"http:\/\/worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/7987926104_a2b66abfcc_z.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"576\" height=\"384\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">We&#8217;ll be back for another round of the Tour de Timor!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite dire warnings (You\u2019ll sink!\u00a0 You\u2019ll be crushed by the crowds!\u00a0 You\u2019ll catch a nasty disease!), we\u2019d survived half a dozen Indonesian ferries. The trip to Timor was to be our last.\u00a0\u00a0 The journey was slated for a mere 18<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[102,148,49],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.10 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Tour de Timor - Worldbiking.info<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/2012\/09\/tour-de-timor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tour de Timor - Worldbiking.info\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite dire warnings (You\u2019ll sink!\u00a0 You\u2019ll be crushed by the crowds!\u00a0 You\u2019ll catch a nasty disease!), we\u2019d survived half a dozen Indonesian ferries. 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