There are a couple of travel services that run shuttle busses between
Kupang and Dili. The cost is 17 to 18 USD.
You pay in rupiah if leaving
from Kupang and you pay in USD if leaving from Dili. The one I use is
Timor Travel.
They are professional services and have pretty new buses with air
con and everything and carry 11 passengers.
The bus will pick you up from
your home or hotel and drop you off where you want when you arrive,
usually at a late hour.
It is kind of an easy but all day bus trip.
A few stops are made along the way for food and to give everyone a chance to stretch
their legs and use the restroom. They can also stop the bus alongside
the road if you need emergency relief.
The bus stops in Atambua where a few packages are to be delivered and
they take your passports to prepare for crossing the border.
The road
between Atambua and the border is a little beat up but not too bad.
At the border you take care of passport formalities and the military
have a look through your luggage. If going to East Timor you purchase
your 30 day visa at the border for 30.00USD.
I travel light and the
immigration only wanted to give me 20 days because they felt I could
not afford to stay in East Timor because I was not weighted down with
loads of crap. Eventually they relented and gave me the 30 days. It is
quite easy to get extensions in Dili.
It is not easy to get extensions in Indonesia. You have to get them
ahead of time when you apply for your visa. Even if you are married to
an Indonesian the immigration in Indonesia is pretty strict.
If you go to the Indonesian embassy in Dili the fee for a visa is 35.00
USD. If you are flying into Indonesia a visa on arrival costs
25.00 USD. If going by land you must have your visa secured before
hand.
For those of us without connections at the embassy the wait will
be 5 working days or 7 actual days before your visa is issued.
If you
know the right people it can be issued in one day. This is especially
handy for people just making a visa run.
They can issue 60 day,
working, and social visas at the embassy but you won't get one unless
you know the ropes. They give out 30 day visas with no hassle, just
have to wait.
I was especially impressed with Timor Travel even though they forgot to
pick me up when I was on my way back to Kupang. Rita, the manager of
Henry's backpacker guesthouse, called up her cousin to blast them for
not picking me up.
I was waiting from 6:30 til 10:30 AM. They landed up
sending out a bus that took me all the way to the border as the only
passenger. (about 3 hours from Dili)
We had to wait for someone to show up and stamp my passport. It
appeared that I might have to spend the night in Atambua.
Timor Travel
gave me 2.00 to get an ojek (or motorcycle ride) of a half hour. We
caught up to the Indonesian bus in Atambua and I hoped on that one to
Kupang.
I think they closed down the border the next day so I might have been
the last one out.
It would have been interesting to witness the
developments had I stayed but I had to get to Bali to take care of
some business.
I hope to be back there later in June. To me East Timor
is a fascinating country and I hope to get the opportunity to explore
it further.
The diving in particular is a big draw. You pretty much have the whole
country to yourself. The fishermen there do not use dynamite like they
do in so many areas so the coral is superb. The sponges are amazing as
well.
There is lots of macro and other good stuff too. I also find the
Timorese people for the most part to be really great. There is just a
lot of political struggle for power going on there right now.
Timor Travel:
Atambua office Tel. 0389-22292
Kupang office Tel. 0380-881543
Dili office Tel 670-723-322095
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