Exploring the remote enclave of Oé-Cusse

Exploring the remote enclave of Oé-Cusse, a little visited but beautiful part of Timor-Leste completely surrounded by Indonesian West-Timor

More information on Atauro Island - https://exploringtimor.com/oecusse/

Website - www.exploringtimor.com

TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@exploringtimor

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@ExploringTimorLeste

Books - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D82D3TBJ

Transcript

Jonty: 0:06

Bondi. Welcome to exploring Tim Este, the podcast that talks about Southeast Asia's best kept travel secret. I'm your host Jte, and I'll share firsthand insights, expert interviews and practical travel tips. Whether you're a traveler, a cultural lover, or just curious about places rarely covered in the mainstream. You're in the right place. Let's explore two more. Less day. Today's episode is about one of the least visited parts of one of the least visited countries in the world, and that is the enclave of a kui. Kui is completely surrounded by Indonesian West Timor. It was actually the first place that the Portuguese established themselves on the island of Timor, and it was the capital of what was then called East Timor. During the 17 hundreds, there was quite a lot of conflict between the Dutch and the Portuguese at that time over control of Timor. And so the Portuguese moved the capital to Dili further away from the border with the Dutch forces. It's now accessible from the rest of Timor ETO by Overnight Ferry Plain and Road. It's little visited, but it is a beautiful place with a number of low key sites, including impressive infrastructure for a relatively small place with a relatively small population thanks to government investment as a special zone of social market economy of Timor-Leste or xms. I visited Kui three times, and it was one of my favorite places to explore in Timor Estate. So it doesn't necessarily have major sites, but it has a very nice atmosphere, a beautiful scenery, and some of the best infrastructure in the country. So today's episode, I'll give you a bit of a flavor for what you can see and do in a kui. It probably wouldn't be on a one week itinerary of Timor less day, but if you were gonna stay longer, I would definitely recommend that you try and visit. The easiest way to reach Kui is by air.

1:50

There are a Dili

Jonty: 1:51

flights from Dili to a Kui on Mondays and Fridays. Making it a great place to spend the weekend. There's only really one town in Kui, which is pate Mara, where you'll be spending most of your time. It is home to one of the best airports in the country. A better airport than Dili, ironically. And to the west of the airport is the AL Monument. So this is where the Portuguese Explorer is first arrived in Timor Este, and there is now quite a large monument to their arrival, including a replica of a caravel and six golden figures reenacting the first encounter. There was once a Portuguese

2:30

fall

Jonty: 2:30

on the site. The first one they built in Timor, but it was destroyed in the mid 17

2:34

hundreds.

Jonty: 2:35

and only an old piece of artillery remains the beach. There can be a popular place to swim and picnic, and there's one of the best walks in the EE starts from there, which is the Via Scra trail. This is a stations of the cross trail, which is quite easy from a navigation perspective'cause you just have to look out for the 14 crosses as they head up the hillside, marking the route to the top of the hill from the summit, by a radio mast are fantastic views of the town. Every year on Good Friday, there was a huge procession with thousands of people who walk up the hillside on this trail. On the two times that I did it, I didn't see a single other person behind the main town is Faba, which is the remains of an old prison, and the residents of the Portuguese Regional administrator. So there's it's ruins, but they're quite atmospheric ruins. And there's a statue of Virgin Mary, which was added during the Indonesian occupation, which makes it a popular pilgrimage site every May. There are a few views of the town, but less than you would expect for the effort to get up the hill. There are much better views from the via SCRA trail, but it is definitely worth a wander to the top. Allow 20 or 30 minutes to walk to the summit. In the town itself, there's some beautiful gardens around the. Don could missionary sisters women's college, and they also have accommodation on site and there's a small cafe with lots of shade and water features, and it's a nice relaxing place to avoid the sum. Heading onto the waterfront, there were a number of memorials. The most recent of which is the Korean memorial. So during the unrest and Tim more Leste, back in 2003, there were a number of peacekeepers in various countries and there were five U un peacekeepers from Korea who died on 6th of March, 2003 when their vehicle was swept away while crossing a flooded river. And this memorial was in the shady and peaceful Korean evergreen force Memorial Park. There are a number of other sites along the waterfront, which at any time of day is quiet. That's one of the main things about Ku CI found. It is a very quiet and peaceful place in comparison to many parts of two more less day The main church is the Church of St. Antonio by the waterfront. During Easter, there's a big procession which follows a lifestyle statue of Jesus' body, which is carried on a special platform from the church. The second most important religious site is the Chapel of St. Anthony of Ne Espero, which is a couple of streets back from the waterfront, and there they celebrate the saint every year on the 13th of June. Kui has some good markets, which are busiest. On Saturday, it's quite labyrinth light to explore, and it's also home to the bus terminal. To the west of town is the Ponte NFI fan, which is the largest bridge in the country, which wouldn't normally be a tourist site, but in Timor there's not that many big pieces of infrastructure. So the three spanned Green Bridge is a bit of a landmark. You get the best views from the Via Saria Trail. I'm not sure it's a tourist attraction, but it's certainly an important piece of infrastructure for Timor Less Day as it provides access to about half of the Kui region, during the wet season. The river is very dangerous to cross, so there's bridges, a real lifeline for the communities living the other side of the river. Now CCI is quite a spread out place for walking around with little shade, but there are frequent TomToms, which are effectively electric tuk-tuks. These cost 50 cents per trip per person, and they basically operate as a shared taxi. So just let the driver away, you want to know, and they'll drop you off. Only takes maybe 15 minutes to get from one side of town to the other on

5:53

Tom

Jonty: 5:53

Tom, but obviously a bit longer if you're on foot. There are a number of hikes in the kui, although you will generally need a local guide because it's very easy to get lost. They tend to go up river systems towards waterfalls, and you'll need to provide money to the local community to access their land, but it's certainly a good way of avoiding the sun and going for some refreshing walks. You can speak to your accommodation about organizing a guide, but getting to and from the starts can be a little bit tricky without your own transport is also worth speaking to your accommodation to see if you can rent a scooter or a motorbike to be able to get around. Again, distances are not vast, but there's not a lot of people living in the EY and the Tom Toms keep to the main town area. The last place to highlight is only really accessible if you can rent a motorbike, and that's about an hour's drive south into kui inland towards the border with Indonesia. This is the Nosa Ura Leo Batan, which is a sister statue of the Virgin Mary to the one that tops Mount Ramal. And this was installed in 2017 and it's on top of mountain. Not quite as hard to reach as Ramal, but you certainly get some very scenic views from the summit. Thank you so much for listening to exploring Timor Less Day. If you've enjoyed today's episode, please consider leaving a rating or review. It really helps more people discover the show. If you have any questions or feedback, I'd love to hear from you. Drop me an email at exploring Timor lessDay@gmail.com. Until next time, or Bodo ADEs.