East Timor Has Beaches Like Bali's but Few Tourists Seth Mydans for The New York Times Boys play on the nearly deserted beach in Dili, the capital of East Timor. STORM of fine, white sand blew across the half-deserted beach as a group of teenagers kicked a soccer ball by the surf; nearby, other youngsters whooped as they raced bicycles along a beachfront road. It was the end of a lazy afternoon one recent Sunday on the outskirts of Dili, the listless little town that is the capital of East Timor, a poor, almost completely undeveloped nation in the Indian Ocean. Slightly larger than Connecticut, this nation shares roughly half of a narrow island with West Timor, which is part of Indonesia. The two-story town becomes an oven in the midday sun, with mostly jobless men and women strolling slowly past near-empty shops. Though the weather was perfect and the water crystal clear, this prime beachfront lined with palm trees had an off-season feel to it. Only the low-key Ca...
Travel to Santo Domingo