So'E: exploration in Central Timor

Stuck between Indonesian West Timor and independent Timor Leste, the territory around So'E only sees a few foreign tourists per year. Excluding a few tiny islets, this is about as far east as you can go in Indonesia without ending up in Australian waters (and getting eaten by sharks). Traveling here feels a lot like falling through a temporal wormhole into the age of explorers. In roadside barter markets, where money is merely the second option, old ladies sell for dimes hand-carved boxes that wouldn't be out of place in any major European museum of anthropology, tribal kings rule "countries" 3 sq. km across, and most people live in traditional huts that look more than anything like giant haystacks. Central Timor isn't merely off the beaten track - it's a place where the idea of beating a track has yet to arrive. The place for true exploration. 

Oehala waterfall and Noinbila canyon

This is a full day hike, and a nice warm-up exercise for longer jaunts. Oehala waterfall is well-known, and in fact quite beautiful - multi-tiered, with the soft, flowing cascades typical for limestone bedrock. Noinbila canyon, on the other hand, is barely mentioned on Google Maps, and pretty much nowhere else. The canyon is deep and narrow; the vegetation above merges in places into a ceiling, making it look like a green-roofed cave. But most of the fun is getting there and between the two points - passing through tribal villages and plantations, traversing patches of jungle, watching farmers and shepherds in the fields. There are trails everywhere, but none of them are marked on any existing map, so be prepared to guess and occasionally crash through tropical rainforest without a path.

Tribal markets

Little hamlets, crossroads, and sometimes, locally selected patches of essentially nothing along motorable roads serve as regular - usually weekly - marketplaces. This practice is typical for tribal lands all over the world, but the authenticity - or backwardness, if you prefer to see it this way - of So'E area is hard to match. Barter is more common here than monetary trade, extraterrestrial-looking creatures from the jungle are on offer next to the more common chickens and cows, and dog meat is a common snack. Treasure hunters will be happy to browse through hand-carved betel nut boxes, woven bead bracelets, and other tribal artifacts sold for a few cents. More valuable items of potential interest to a traveler include homemade ikat textile - most households here have a loom. Photographers will be even happier - old ladies with toothless maws and wiry farmers pulling reluctant buffaloes make perfect ethnic portraits. Ask locally for the market schedule; most of them will convene on Sundays, since Christianity is very popular in Timor. Oinlasi market is the most famous, and the only one occasionally visited by foreign tourists.

Boti Kingdom and None village

The village of Boti is unique enough to earn a couple of pages' worth of description in the Lonely Planet guide to Indonesia. The reason is, it's not just a ramshackle tribal village in the middle of nowhere - it's a kingdom. The monarch rules his subjects from a simplified semblance of a colonial landlord’s house in the center, and everything in Boti, including your right to enter the settlement, depends on his good will. He's usually benevolent to foreign guests, however. His late father used to express vivid interest in foreigners, and even picked some passable English for this purpose, but the current king is somewhat indifferent, although generally hospitable. If you approach him with proper ceremony and respect, you may be invited to share a cup of coffee and ask a few questions - but you'll need to speak Bahasa Indonesia for that. It may be possible to stay overnight with the one of the villagers, but not in the royal residence, of course. Nowadays, Boti is the last fully functional village kingdom in West Timor; None (Noh-neh), halfway between Boti and So'E, used to be a kingdom too, but today the royal hovels stand disused, preserved as a memorial to the old way of life. The lopo - traditional huts resembling a large haystack - comprising most of None village are in fact more interesting.

Practicalities

So'E town has about a dozen crashpads, none of them anywhere near luxurious. Only three can be reserved online: Dena Hotel, Puri Dewata Hotel, and Hotel Gajah Mada. That is, you can book them, but this absolutely doesn't mean anyone on the ground will receive your reservation. Worry not, even Timorese themselves seldom visit So'E, and rooms are always available. There are enough rusty buses and minivans connecting So'E with Kupang to the west, but to explore Central Timor, a motorbike or sufficient endurance to cover tens of km on foot are your only practical options. Hitchhiking works perfectly - every driver stops out of sheer curiosity - but on most roads only a couple of cars and perhaps 20-30 bikes pass daily. No official homestays exist between So'E and Kefamenanu further east, but most villagers will happily invite you to stay if you let them know you want to. The chances are 10 years later it will still be the talk of the village.