East Timor's Second City, Baucau

A friend has gone to East Timor.
He wrote to me:
"No data on most of the island. I am using a friend's mobile as a hotspot to send emails."

Having no signal when you are trekking is really annoying. You think, what will happen if I hurt my ankle and I need help?

He got a signal in Timor's second city, Baucau. He was staying in a pousada hotel.

He didn't tell me which one but I looked it up. Most cities have only one. I typed into the internet Baucau and pousada and bingo.

I stayed in Pousadas all over Portugal. Pousadas are converted historic buildings such as castles and convents which had fallen into repair or got run down. The state repairs them and updates them to fit fire regulations and finds a chef to make local specialities and promote the history and cooking of the region to tourists. (The Spanish equivalent is Paradores.)

My correspondent says: "East Timor is very different from the Indonesian West of the island and Indonesia. 'Only one million people. Quite poor. Deplorable roads.

"But plentiful Portuguese vinho!"

I asked, "Send me a photo. Do they have Portuguese foods I would know, such as cod and custard tart? Do they speak Portuguese?"

He replied, "Not enough bandwidth for photos.

"Yes, schooling is in Portuguese but Bahasa and English also heard and used on the street.

"Portuguese food is in tourist restaurants and bacalhau (cod) in supermarkets. But otherwise, it's local food."

What to do

1 Swim in Pousada Swimming Pool
Visit Pousada

2 Coconut Beach

3 Visit convent. Look at artificts for sale

4 See Old town of city

Dripfeeding me the news.
Portuguese - English
Vinho  wine
kota baru - new town

Indonesian - English
kota - city
baru - new

English - Portuguese
Wine - vinho
new - novo
town - cidade

Useful websites
To learn Portuguese
Duolingo.com

Safety
gov.uk/foreign-travel
http://www.timorleste.tl/destinations/municipalities/baucau/

Travel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Timor 
http://www.osolemedia.com/easttimor/dili.html

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.