I slept in after the late night observing Bali’s night life then picked up my laundry and hat and meandered to the airport, stopping by the Discovery Shopping Mall and Lippo Mall along the way where I picked up a high quality power converter to replace one that blew up in Pai, Thailand (which I replaced with a low quality one in the Solomon Islands). I originally wanted to fly from Australia to Dili in Timor Leste (East Timor) then Bali, but due to price changes, it made more sense to fly east before heading back westward. Upon arriving at Timor Leste, I skipped the ATM because, interestingly, the country uses US Dollars, but it’s own coins, and walk to the main road to catch the bus into town where I was greeted by some of the most unique bus customizations I’ve ever seen! I quick detour via the wrong route and a sudden downpour later, I found my way to a small home advertised as a backpacker hostel. After settled in, I ventured down Avenida Marginal to gather information, stopping by Hotel Timor to use some free wifi then a Vietnamese Pho shop where the Chinese-Australian owner was happy to converse in English with a traveler. As it got dark he offered me a ride back to the hostel, where I spent the rest of the night talking to the family and learned about their positive economic and social outlook for the country and abundant opportunities as well as sight seeing suggestions.

Tip:
It’s essential to carry a backup universal power converter with USB port because electrical wiring quality is poorly standardized meaning every outlet has a chance of blowing a fuse and potentially your electronic devices with it. The power converter protects against that, but it may also die when the fuse blows, so you’ll need a backup or else you won’t be able to power your devices and your problems start compounding.

Published by BE

I write about my travel and money experiences. View all posts by BE