I used to work and run a farm at Timor, NSW, and it sure as hell doesn't look like these great pics !

Keep em coming !

Incredible thread this is!! Mozambique just went to the top of my must-see list! Your posts are beautiful...your pics are beautiful...your family is beautiful. This has been such an inspiration to read.

Holly

Holly,

Thanks very much for your kind words. You have inspired me to post some more photos and write some more.

Cheers,

BBC

For nearly 25yrs, the people of Timor were occupied by the Indonesian Military (ARBRI). The ARBRI turned Timor into a business venture, and the Timorese were expendable. It has been estimated a quarter of their population was killed in the 25yrs of occupation.

By custom and culture, the Timorese worship their dead through their base ancestral worship, and their worship via the Catholic Church.

You cannot drive anywhere and not see gravesites:







Generally, amongst the people, they were happy with their lot but, I could sense a lot of grief. Particularly with their music, it always seemed so sorrowful and soulful. My observation.

Getting toward the end of my Timor Photos, so they are all getting lumped here together; randomly:

Driving along a track on the southern side of the island:





This is the unfinished Suai Cathedral....300 people were massacred here in 1999. The church was not a sanctuary.



This Portuguese fort was in a small village on the road heading directly south to the coast from Los Palos. This is my friend Stu, who wanted his photo taken in the arch. There he was standing on that wooden fence...and there was a good reason for the fence...just as I took the photo...a pig charged the fence. I had never seen anyone move so quickly. The locals were using the fort in the best way possible...it was their pig sty.





The RAINF Memorial at Balibo:



This was the opening of the Timorese National War Memorial:







Opened by Mari Alkatiri, the then Prime Minister, before he was ousted.







The Portuguese Fort at Balibo:



Suai International Airport:



Local housing:





Timorese roads:



Kids fighting to get photo'd:



The base at Moleana...can also be spelt as Maliana:

great thread!

Pity it took so many pages to find a landy!!

finally a disco near the graveyard above!

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Echidna! Yes YOU! Pay attention in class!!!!

Your failure to observe the other Land Rovers requires you to go back and view the other Land Rovers!!! Commencing on page 8!!!

A few years ago there was a commercial cashew nut plantation started near Fogg Dam area, lots of photos with smiling polies in it and releases how it would supply the market etc... Have not heard a beep about it since, hmm might have to look up what it is now doing.

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BBC
I cannot thank you enough for this thread, the insights and images you have shared.

Mozambique was fantastic - and fuels my fascination with Africa. Reminding me of the countryside and people in two films I never tire of, however tragic, Hotel Rwanda and Sometimes in April documenting the evil that occurred there.

Don't suppose you came across any Shetani while in Africa??

Similarly, with East Timor - I've read a few books on the Balibo 5, "Cover Up" by Jill Joliffe and "Death In Balibo, Lies In Canberra" by Hamish MacDonald and Des Ball. To see this country in your photos is deeply evocative.

While to many it will sound gauche and simpering, you live a life I always wished I had, and now, as I find myself at a crossroads, I wonder if there's the chance fo me to have a little of that too, if I only knew how.

Respect, BBC, keep it coming as long you want. We'll be waiting!
Mike

still it is a sad indictment that not so long ago it would have been spot the tojo...

Wish I could say I've had the breadth of your experience, but so far I've seen most of Asia at least! (not timor thus far though...)

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