There is not much we know about Timor Leste, or also known as East Timor, in society in general, so I was jumping into the world of Timor Leste as a budget backpacker. So in this article it will be only about hitchhiking in Timor Leste, find out how it is working!
Some information about Timor Leste
Timor Leste is a little country in Southeast Asia. They are sharing the island Timor with Indonesia with one exclave as well. There are only 220.000 inhabitants living in the capital Dili and they are using the US-Dollar as their currency.
Timor Leste is one of the newest countries in the world, in 2002 they received independence from Indonesia. Interesting to know, all people who are born before the independence day are able to get Portuguese citizenship. Portugal was seeing Timor Leste as part of them until the real independence that’s why.
People from the Schengen Region don’t need a visa there and can enter the country 30 days for free, also others have to, but better check.
Master Card payments in Timor Leste are impossible. It is not accepted in the whole country.
Timor Leste is quite a cash country and they are using the US Dollar.
It is not a touristic country, keep that in mind when wanting to visit, but you will be having a lot of fun, when leaving the capital.
How is hitchhiking working in Timor Leste?
Let’s say it like that, the real concept of hitchhiking isn’t known the way we know it. On the other hand the locals are really caring and helpful, at least in my experience.
We were standing on the road and people were stopping usually quite quickly, even when it was dark.
Timor Leste is quite a good country for having a hitchhiking trip, but there are different regions, three of them I will highlight in this article.
Hitchhiking in Dili
Dili, the capital of Timor Leste, is the biggest city of the country. Usually hitchhiking in cities is not working well. In Dili it felt different, at least when being on the mainroad along the coast.
We were trying it twice to try it out and it worked both times very quickly.
People will be of course looking weird at you, because they don’t really know what you will be doing, but just ignore it.
Stand on a good spot, away from bus stops and put your thumb out. In our case, one pick up truck stopped and drove us to the harbor. We jumped in the back and just relaxed during the sunrise.
The other time a soldier was helping us, who spoke English and she wasn’t sure what we wanted, but dropped us anyway on her way to almost where we wanted to go.
So for a capital city hitchhiking in Dili is working out quite well, but it is of course depending where you are standing and where you want to go.
Hitchhiking in Atauro Island
Hitchhiking in Atauro Island is different to Dili. The locals are using trucks for public transportation and they are stopping the truck by hand as well.
It is quite cheap for a fun experience. We tried to avoid paying for it, once it worked and once the driver asked us after and we were with locals as well, so basically no chance to get around, but basically it will be working out somehow.
In Atauro Island everything is a little bit more basic and not the best infrastructure is existing there
Hitchhiking in the Mountains of Timor Leste
Hitchhiking in the mountains of Timor Leste is again quite different, but it will be working.
First getting out of the city might be quite tricky, but there are four options, walk, bus, taxi or hitchhiking. We did a combination of bus and walking, because hitchhiking wasn’t going so well there.
We ended up driving with a construction worker a bit into the mountains and were dropped at his working place.
The locals we were meeting in the mountains were very helpful and gave us someplace to wait while they were trying to stop the cars for us, without understanding the concept. They were searching for shared rides, which is common in Timor Leste, in order to get cheap places.
At this point it wasn’t the idea to do it, in order to save money, it was more for the experience.
We ended up driving with 60 or more woman and kids in the back of a truck for 2-3 hours and it was such a hell ride, but the conclusion hitchhiking in the mountains of Timor Leste is working, it can just take some time due to not many cars who drive there in the first place.
Language in Timor Leste
Most people who you will meet while hitchhiking and in Timor Leste in general, will not speak and understand English, they will try to help you.
The older generation might understand some portuguese, so with spanish you might have some chances, but it is really dependent.
So it isn’t easy to communicate with the locals while hitchhiking if you only speak English and none of their languages. It will still work, but won’t be easy. Try to have all you need somewhere saved on the phone in order to show them or learn some words which could help to make your journey a little bit more enjoyable.
Summary
Timor Leste is a good country for hitchhiking. There are language barriers for sure when speaking English, but even though they don’t understand the concept of hitchhiking they are always there to help you on your journey.
And always keep in mind the most important thing about hitchhiking: There will always be someone stopping, it’s just a matter of time!
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