ComputerJoe

Timor Leste!

I finally made it to Timor Leste (East Timor)! I took a 13 hour mini bus ride from Kupang in West Timor to the capitol city of Dili… This sure is a strange place, but look past the burntout buildings and U.N. camps and there are lots of interesting people to talk to and beautiful things to see…. On the way from the border I saw a pickup truck labeld “Task Force” carrying about 8 Timorese holding shotguns! It’s hard to imagine a country that is only six years old and it lacks a lot of things that I have taken for granted in Indonesia and the rest of asia (not a 7 eleven in sight!) I will upload pictures the next time I don’t have to pay 6 USD an hour for internet!!!!!

Fucking Kuta!

So I went surfing today and when I went to return the board they inspected it for damage and pointed out a few scratches, dents and one missing fin. They told me that I had to pay extra for the damage and I refused…. I told them that it was an old board, and it had been repaired in the past (They confirmed that it had been repaired before) and would have broken if anyone else had used it….. Eventually I was encircled by about 8 surfer “dudes” and they told me that if I didn’t pay there “would be trouble”. Then the “owner” of the surf board came over and held his board over my head and told me “Are you really not going to pay!?” and I asked him “Why, are you going to hit me?” when he told me yes I gave in and told them to call the cops, but stopped them in the middle thinking that they would take the locals side and I bargained him down to $20USD… The FUCKERS!

-Joe Tabas