• 001 - the logo.jpg
  • 002 - Hiroshima sunset.jpg
  • 003 - Auschwitz-Birkenau ramp.jpg
  • 004 - Chernobyl contamination.jpg
  • 005 - Darvaza flaming gas crater.jpg
  • 006 - Berlin Wall madness.jpg
  • 007 - Bulgaria - monument at the bottom of Buzludzhy park hill.jpg
  • 008 - Ijen crater.jpg
  • 009 - Aralsk, Kazakhstan.jpg
  • 010 - Paris catacombs.jpg
  • 011 - Krakatoa.jpg
  • 012 - Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, Hanoi.jpg
  • 013 - Uyuni.jpg
  • 014 - DMZ Vietnam.jpg
  • 015 - Colditz Kopie.jpg
  • 016 - Glasgow Necropolis.jpg
  • 017 - Hashima ghost island.jpg
  • 018 - Kazakhstan.jpg
  • 019 - Arlington.jpg
  • 020 - Karosta prison.jpg
  • 021 - Kamikaze.jpg
  • 022 - Chacabuco ghost town.jpg
  • 023 - Eagle's Nest, Obersalzberg, Berchtesgaden.jpg
  • 024 - Kursk.jpg
  • 025 - Bran castle, Carpathia, Romania.jpg
  • 026 - Bestattungsmuseum Wien.jpg
  • 027 - Pripyat near Chernobyl.jpg
  • 028 - Sedlec ossuary, Czech Republic.jpg
  • 029 - Pyramida Lenin.jpg
  • 030 - Falklands.jpg
  • 031 - Majdanek.jpg
  • 032 - Soufriere volcano, Montserrat.jpg
  • 033 - moai on Easter Island.jpg
  • 034 - Sidoarjo.jpg
  • 035 - Hötensleben.jpg
  • 036 - Natzweiler.jpg
  • 037 - Polygon, Semipalatinsk test site, Kazakhstan.jpg
  • 038 - Srebrenica.jpg
  • 039 - Liepaja, Latvia.jpg
  • 040 - Vemork hydroelectric power plant building, Norway.jpg
  • 041 - Enola Gay.jpg
  • 042 - Pentagon 9-11 memorial.jpg
  • 043 - Robben Island prison, South Africa.jpg
  • 044 - Tollund man.jpg
  • 045 - Marienthal tunnel.jpg
  • 046 - Aso, Japan.jpg
  • 047 - Labrador battery Singapore.jpg
  • 048 - Artyom island, Absheron, Azerbaijan.jpg
  • 049 - Treblinka.jpg
  • 050 - Titan II silo.jpg
  • 051 - dosemetering doll, Chernobyl.jpg
  • 052 - Holocaust memorial, Berlin.jpg
  • 053 - Komodo dragon.jpg
  • 054 - cemeterio general, Santiago de Chile.jpg
  • 055 - Tuol Sleng, Phnom Phen, Cambodia.jpg
  • 056 - West Virginia penitentiary.jpg
  • 057 - ovens, Dachau.jpg
  • 058 - Derry, Northern Ireland.jpg
  • 059 - Bulgaria - Buzludzha - workers of all countries unite.jpg
  • 060 - Sachsenhausen.jpg
  • 061 - Tiraspol dom sovietov.jpg
  • 062 - modern-day Pompeii - Plymouth, Montserrat.jpg
  • 063 - Pico de Fogo.jpg
  • 064 - Trinity Day.jpg
  • 065 - Zwentendorf control room.jpg
  • 066 - Wolfschanze.jpg
  • 067 - Hiroshima by night.jpg
  • 068 - mass games, North Korea.jpg
  • 069 - Harrisburg.jpg
  • 070 - Nuremberg.jpg
  • 071 - Mostar.jpg
  • 072 - Tu-22, Riga aviation museum.jpg
  • 073 - Gallipoli, Lone Pine.jpg
  • 074 - Auschwitz-Birkenau - fence.jpg
  • 075 - Darvaza flaming gas crater.jpg
  • 076 - Atatürk Mausoleum, Ankara.jpg
  • 077 - Banda Aceh boats.jpg
  • 078 - AMARG.jpg
  • 079 - Chacabuco ruins.jpg
  • 080 - Bucharest.jpg
  • 081 - Bernauer Straße.jpg
  • 082 - Death Railway, Thailand.jpg
  • 083 - Mandor killing fields.jpg
  • 084 - Kozloduy.jpg
  • 085 - Jerusalem.jpg
  • 086 - Latin Bridge, Sarajevo.jpg
  • 087 - Panmunjom, DMZ, Korea.jpg
  • 088 - Ijen blue flames.jpg
  • 089 - Derry reconsilliation monument.jpg
  • 090 - Ebensee.jpg
  • 091 - Mödlareuth barbed wire.jpg
  • 092 - skull heaps in Sedlec ossuary, Czech Republic.jpg
  • 093 - Nikel.jpg
  • 094 - Fukushima-Daiichi NPP.jpg
  • 095 - Tital launch control centre.jpg
  • 096 - Dallas Dealy Plaza and Sixth Floor Museum.jpg
  • 097 - Auschwitz I.jpg
  • 098 - Stalin and Lenin, Tirana, Albania.jpg
  • 099 - Malta, Fort St Elmo.jpg
  • 100 - Peenemünde.jpg
  • 101 - Tarrafal.jpg
  • 102 - Kilmainham prison, Dublin.jpg
  • 103 - North Korea.jpg
  • 104 - Mittelbau-Dora.jpg
  • 105 - St Helena.jpg
  • 106 - Stutthof, Poland.jpg
  • 107 - Merapi destruction.jpg
  • 108 - Chueung Ek killing fields, Cambodia.jpg
  • 109 - Marienborn former GDR border.jpg
  • 110 - Mig and star, Kazakhstan.jpg
  • 111 - Nagasaki WWII tunnels.jpg
  • 112 - Hellfire Pass, Thailand.jpg
  • 113 - Kiev.jpg
  • 114 - Grutas Park, Lithuania.jpg
  • 115 - Zwentendorf reactor core.jpg
  • 116 - two occupations, Tallinn.jpg
  • 117 - Trunyan burial site.jpg
  • 118 - Ushuaia prison.jpg
  • 119 - Buchenwald.jpg
  • 120 - Marienthal with ghost.jpg
  • 121 - Murmansk harbour - with an aircraft carrier.jpg
  • 122 - Berlin Olympiastadion.JPG
  • 123 - Bastille Day, Paris.jpg
  • 124 - Spassk.jpg
  • 125 - Theresienstadt.jpg
  • 126 - B-52s.jpg
  • 127 - Bledug Kuwu.jpg
  • 128 - Friedhof der Namenlosen, Vienna.jpg
  • 129 - Auschwitz-Birkenau barracks.jpg
  • 130 - mummies, Bolivia.jpg
  • 131 - Barringer meteor crater.jpg
  • 132 - Murambi, Rwanda.jpg
  • 133 - NTS.jpg
  • 134 - Mauthausen Soviet monument.jpg
  • 135 - pullution, Kazakhstan.JPG
  • 136 - palm oil madness.jpg
  • 137 - Berlin socialist realism.jpg
  • 138 - Okawa school building ruin.jpg
  • 139 - Pawiak, Warsaw.jpg
  • 140 - flying death, military museum Dresden.JPG
  • 141 - KGB gear.JPG
  • 142 - KZ jacket.JPG
  • 143 - ex-USSR.JPG
  • 144 - Indonesia fruit bats.JPG
  • 145 - Alcatraz.JPG
  • 146 - Chernobyl Museum, Kiev, Ukraine.JPG
  • 147 - Halemaumau lava lake glow, Hawaii.JPG
  • 148 - Rosinenbomber at Tempelhof, Berlin.jpg
  • 149 - Verdun, France.JPG
  • 150 - hospital, Vukovar, Croatia.JPG
  • 151 - the original tomb of Napoleon, St Helena.JPG
  • 152 - Buchenwald, Germany.JPG
  • 153 - Bhopal.JPG
  • 154 - Groß-Rosen, Poland.jpg
  • 155 - at Monino, Russia.jpg
  • 156 - blinking Komodo.jpg
  • 157 - inside Chernobyl NPP.JPG
  • 158 - Mount St Helens, USA.JPG
  • 159 - Maly Trostenec, Minsk, Belarus.jpg
  • 160 - Vucedol skulls, Croatia.JPG
  • 161 - colourful WW1 shells.JPG
  • 162 - Zeljava airbase in Croatia.JPG
  • 163 - rusting wrecks, Chernobyl.JPG
  • 164 - San Bernadine alle Ossa, Milan, Italy.jpg
  • 165 - USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.JPG
  • 166 - Brest Fortress, Belarus.JPG
  • 167 - thousands of bats, Dom Rep.JPG
  • 168 - Hohenschönhausen, Berlin.JPG
  • 169 - Perm-36 gulag site.JPG
  • 170 - Jasenovac, Croatia.JPG
  • 171 - Beelitz Heilstätten.JPG
  • 172 - Kremlin, Moscow.jpg
  • 173 - old arms factory, Dubnica.JPG
  • 174 - Pervomaisc ICBM base, more  missiles, including an SS-18 Satan.jpg
  • 175 - Cellular Jail, Port Blair.jpg
  • 177 - control room, Chernobyl NPP.JPG
  • 178 - Podgorica, Montenegro, small arms and light weapons sculpture.jpg
  • 179 - Vught.jpg
  • 180 - Japanese cave East Timor.jpg
  • 181 - Ani.jpg
  • 182 - Indonesia wildfire.jpg
  • 183 - Chacabuco big sky.jpg
  • 184 - Bunker Valentin, Germany.JPG
  • 185 - Lest we Forget, Ypres.JPG
  • 186 - the logo again.jpg

Baucau & north-east East Timor  

  
   - darkometer rating:  3 -
  
This area was actually the first one I headed for on my 8-day round trip of East Timor in August 2014. Baucau, as the second-largest town in the country, was the natural base for excursions in the north-east of the island.
 
   --- jump to photos --- 
  
The original plan had been to go south from Baucau to some places closely associated with Fretilin/Falintil activity during the occupation by Indonesia, as this had been a stronghold of resistance (see history chapter).
  
We were to see Quelicai, a place heavily bombarded by Indonesia's air force during the occupation, and where a “resettlement” camp for captured Timorese used to be. Furthermore we were to travel to a waterfall in the foothills of Timor's “holy mountain” Mt Matebian, whose slopes were also a last-stand battlefield against the Fretilin/Falintil command in 1977. Apparently you can still see secret hideouts they had dug into the mountainside here. 
  
However, as it turned out, we were not able to do any of this – mainly because my guide was informed that there was some sort of “unrest” or “trouble” going on in the relevant areas that we would have had to drive through. Apparently police enforcements had been sent to restore order. 
  
So it was decided we had better stay away from this area. My guide instead took us on a road trip along the northern coast all the way to the end of the road at Com. It was very scenic but had far less dark-tourism relevance, of course. Such changes to planned itineraries, however, have to be reckoned with in a country such as East Timor, which still hasn't fully settled down after its rather recent turbulent history. 
  
One of the places I stayed at, the Pousada de Baucau, had originally had its own association with that recent history, namely in that part of the back wing had been used as a prison by the Indonesians. However, instead of preserving this cell block for its historic heritage value it was instead decided to demolish it. When I was there it had already gone and a new modern wing was under construction that was to replace the ageing 1960s-style guest rooms of the Pousada (guest house) next to the main building. This older main building, however, still oozed a lot of colonial atmosphere and charm and this will (hopefully) remain so in the future too.  
  
One relic of a different period of dark history that I did see, on the other hand, was a system of caves dug by the occupying forces from Japan during WWII
   
Despite the changes of plan, the trip to this part of the country was an excellent introduction to East Timor – and provided insights into how varied the scenery on this island can be. What I saw later along the coast around Liquica west of Dili or in the mountain territories south from there, was very different in look, vegetation and general atmosphere. So I'm glad I made it out east after all. 
    
The Pousada de Baucau was also without doubt one of the most characterful places I stayed at during my time in East Timor, and as such is worth the trip alone, despite its loss of historical heritage and even though the old rooms do indeed need some refurbishment (but they were still well above average for outside Dili). 
  
The restaurant at the Pousada was charming too. OK, their menu was largely a work of fiction, with only a fraction of the advertised dishes actually available, but it was still a chance to sample some genuine Timorese cooking … and get a bottle of top-quality Portuguese wine with it. No wonder many of the Australian aid workers stationed in the country use this place for a bit of respite from the much rougher village life in rural Timor. 
  
The place is also popular with higher-ranking officials, though – and when I got there our reservation for the first of our two nights was not honoured, allegedly, so it was rumoured, because some top army official was visiting. So a simpler (but decent) guest house down the road had to step in for the first night, but for the second the Pousada was available again. 
  
Associated with the Pousada is also East Timor's only public swimming pool – though I did not get a chance to use it. But it was a very unusual sight to behold in this corner of the (Third) world. 
  
Location(s): Baucau itself is only about 60-70 miles (100 km) east of East Timor's capital city Dili, but that's as the crow flies. The winding coastal road, though good by East Timor standards, takes about two hours to drive. The Pousada is in the upper part of town.
   
  
The Japanese caves are to be found by the road south towards Fatulia, ca. 15 miles (25 km) south of Baucau itself.
  
    
  
 
  • 01 - Baucau01 - Baucau
  • 02 - Pousada de Baucau02 - Pousada de Baucau
  • 03 - new wing under construction where the prison cells were03 - new wing under construction where the prison cells were
  • 04 - very 1960s04 - very 1960s
  • 05 - only public swimming pool in the country05 - only public swimming pool in the country
  • 06 - amazement06 - amazement
  • 07 - East Timorese colours07 - East Timorese colours
  • 08 - Japanese caves08 - Japanese caves
  • 09 - Japanese tunnels09 - Japanese tunnels
  • 10 - tunnel entrance by the road10 - tunnel entrance by the road
  • 11 - kids playing on a wreck of a truck11 - kids playing on a wreck of a truck
  • 12 - fallen12 - fallen
  • 13 - ruins13 - ruins
  • 14 - ruin and flowers14 - ruin and flowers
  • 15 - coastal village in the north15 - coastal village in the north
  • 16 - bay of Com16 - bay of Com
  • 17 - Venilale school17 - Venilale school
  • 18 - north coast18 - north coast
  • 19 - coastal road19 - coastal road
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

© dark-tourism.com, Peter Hohenhaus 2009-2023

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