Atauro Island

Mainland Dili waterfront

Mainland Dili Waterfront from ferry

Since I am still waiting for Fred I thought I might as well head over to the nearby Island of Atauro. So a few of us from Timor hopped on to the morning ferry with the locals to head on over to the island.

Now the Island is only 26km away, but the ferry is the slowest thing in the world. It takes between 2.5-3 hours to get there. My farts come out are faster than that damn ferry. 

So once you get there you have about three hours to spend on the island before catching the slow ferry back to Dili.

The Asia influence in the boats has become apparent. They start to take on the Chines Junk shape that is so famous.

Once you arrive you can visit the market along the beach or just chill out and go for a swim in the blue water. You really do not have enough time to do a bigger explore of the island unless you choose to stay overnight. The challenge is the ferry only runs every Saturday. So unless you want to come back on the very expensive water taxis you are there for a week.

Fresh catch of the day! Squid and Octopus curing in the sun at the market.

My lunch for the day was trying fresh caught Octopus on a stick along with rice steamed in coconut leaves. Plus two donuts for dessert and all for the price of $1.20. Oh how I love eating at the local markets and street vendors. They always seem to have the most interesting food.

Here again is why I love developing countries, as there is never a dull moment. I stepped back to take this picture of my friends that I came over with. Here they are talking to a very drunk military person who befriended us on the way back. Please take note of the assault rifle just sitting in his lap as he talks to us. Even though there were other military personal on the ship that we met. He seemed to be the only one carrying a rifle and he was completely shit faced.

He has now passed the rifle off to his friend Michael. Who I sat and talked with and found out that he was a police officer. 

Yup, just your average every day ferry ride!