East Timor offers best shopping options for tourists. Dili, the capital city of East Timor, has the best shops as well as street stalls and two large market areas -Taibessi market which is near the hills behind the city and Comoro market that is near to airport.
Coffee beans and colorful Tais are the two items that should be included in your must-buy list while shopping in East Timor. East Timor is widely known for its excellent coffee beans and beautiful hand-woven cloth called Tais. The most popular things to buy in East Timor are locally produced dark coffee, jewelry and traditional cloths.
Coffee Beans
The coffee sold in East Timor is grown organically and hence, dark and good to taste. It can be found in all convenience stores and even some roadside stalls at reasonable prices. Coffee was introduced in East Timor by the Portuguese. It is the local way of making coffee in East Timor to roast coffee beans till they turn black and let out a great fragrance. Low bitterness levels give an excellent taste to Timorese coffee. Only Robusta-like few coffee varieties have very high levels of caffeine.
Tais
Tais is a local product that represents the Timorese identity. Tais (Traditional Cloth) are the local hand-woven fabrics, normally woven with fine cotton by hand in many different designs on simple wooden looms. Tais come in different designs, colors, styles and patterns, depending on the region they are from. The designs of Tais vary from region to region distinctively and an expert can tell which family they are made from. Like Scottish kilts, Tais made for a family should be worn by that family only. In Dili, Tais market is the best place to buy Tais, where you can also buy local silver jewelry made by local artisans. Tais can be brought from street sellers. The stalls on Maubara’s roads offer excellent Tais.
Markets
The markets in East Timor help you to learn about the local produce or the region. They can be found in every main town on the island. Though there is no huge array of shops is East Timor, these markets cater amply to local needs.
Dili Waterfront
Along with Dili waterfront, there are many fruit stalls stocked with delicious local fruits. These stalls are mostly run by women. The mangoes, bananas and papayas are some local fruits of East Timor.
Apart from these shopping attractions, East Timor also offers many handicraft shops lining the beach roads or city streets. There are also some convenience stores that sell wine and groceries in big cities of East Timor.
