Woohooooo!! Welcoming new country, East Timor, to my collection. With this, I am very near to getting a card from every country in Asia – the first continent to be struck from my list! Super-huge gigantoid bear hug and around-the-world high five to friend Nancy, who arranged to have a family member send this to me! Muito obrigado and 謝謝!
There was no info about the picture, so I assumed it was of Dili harbour, but was able to discern that this is, in fact, Central Maritime Hotel, indeed in capital, Dili. The hotel was previously a cruise ship that was converted into a hotel!
Stamp depicts José Ramos Horta, the second President of East Timor and a founder the FRETILIN party that struggled against the Indonesia occupation of the country. He was co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 for "sustained efforts to hinder the oppression of a small people", hoping that the award would spur efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the East Timor conflict. Independence was finally restored in 2002.
