East Timor is one of the most underrated and forgotten places in South East Asia. Heck, even I didn’t know it was in South East Asia until recently. It was also fairly recent that it has gained its independence from Indonesia and has since been struggling to find a foothold in the league of ASEAN nations.

Locally called Timor Leste, this island nation east of Indonesia has much to share in terms of beaches and diverse marine life. Much of the country, including its capital, is still underdeveloped, attracting not much tourists. It is, however, perfect for those looking for places where malls and high-rise CBD’s hasn’t ruled much of the city and people still go out to parks and, in East Timor, beaches, for leisure.

We allotted a whole week to see East Timor, knowing full well that our stay was a tad too long. A trip to Dili can actually be accomplished in three full days, which most people do as a side trip from Bali, but we wanted to see it on a more relaxed pace.

►SEE: BALI ONE WEEK ITINERARY

It took several days for us to finally hit the beaches of Dili. One of the main reasons why was due to its location. While it is right within the city limits—heck, we can even see it from the boulevard in front of the Palacio Governo—getting there by foot, which was our main mode of exploring Dili, was out of the question. So we asked around, not wanting to flag a taxi to go there, and eventually found it was possible to get there using East Timor’s public transport, the microlet.

THE BEACHES OF DILI, BORDERED BY MOUNTAINS

EAST TIMORESE KIDS PLAYING ON A WEEKEND

THE BEACHES OF DILI ARE WITHIN THE CAPITAL CITY

The beaches of Dili, East Timor’s capital city, is located on its eastern part. There are a couple of beaches right at the center of Dili, but these have course brown sand and almost no one swims there. To get to Dili’s white sand beaches, we took a white, number 11, microlet which passes along Largo de Lecidere, and alighted at the corner of Bidau Street. We then took a blue microlet that went straight to the Dili Cristo Rei jump-off where the Jesus Beach is located. En route, we also passed the Areia Branca Beach and an unnamed small pocket-sized beach along the road.

►CHECK FOR AFFORDABLE HOTELS IN DILI

Our main predicament when we were in Dili was how to get to the iconic Cristo Rei statue. It was perched atop a low mountain on the eastern side of the city and was too far to get to on foot. Well, we can certainly hire a taxi to get us there, but we deemed it to be a tad too expensive for our budget since we still have a long way to go for our two-month SEA2Africa2018 trip. Plus, we’d have to ask the cab to wait for us to go back, which would double the fare.

DILI’S ICONIC CRISTO REI STATUE

We scanned the interweb and found that we can actually ride a microlet to get there, it would only cost us a quarter of a US dollar each but it really doesn’t go all the way to the starting point of the hike up, we’d still have a ways walk. And we read further that there aren’t any microlets going back. Darn.

►FIND THE CHEAPEST FLIGHT TO EAST TIMOR

It was a Sunday and the plaza near the Palacio de Governo at the center of Dili, Timor Leste’s capital, was teeming with families hanging out at the park. Afternoon mass has just commenced and everyone was at their Sunday’s best. Kids were playing along the grounds while parents watched, sipping on hot bowls of bakso soup from a nearby street vendor as they do. We were watching everything with joy. Delighted at the seemingly simple way the Timorese people enjoy life.

As sundown commenced, we went past a thin clump of trees from the park and wandered into the coast. The beach, though rugged, was very clean. Which was surprising, Dili being a capital city. Well, I guess it’s really not a city city. There’s no CBD, the skyline is devoid of any skyscrapers, there are no malls, and traffic jams are virtually unknown to this place. Everything feels very provincial. And in a good way.

►SEE: DILI TRAVEL GUIDE