This is my last full day in Dili and I don’t have much to do so I thought I’d rattle off a few of the things I’ve found out and some of the places I’ve been. It’s been a great stay and, allowing for the peace holding out here, I definitely recommend it as a [...]

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Well, I made it this time. The bike I collected from the Tiger garage was a “proper” motorcycle with gears and a clutch and everything. I’ve never ridden one of these before. After a little fun trying to get the thing moving from a standstill, I got the hang of it and rode off east. [...]

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Due to Andy’s work schedule he won’t be able to take us diving until Friday – and both Katherine and I are effectively out of Dili by then. So it looks like today’s two dives with the Australian family will be my last in East Timor. Unless I change my plans. At least they were [...]

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Andy did get back to us last night and unfortunately diving wasn’t an option due to his work commitments. We’ve pencilled in Thursday as an alternative. Instead, after a quick breakfast (tea and toast – $1) I walked to the Tiger garage along the street and rented an automatic bike for $20. My plan was [...]

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After sorting out the visa palaver, I legged it back to the hostel but had already missed Andy. I’d promised I’d help with three first-time divers and wasn’t going to let him down. Fortunately, I knew where the dive was to be so I jumped in a taxi and $3 later I was back at [...]

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The procedure for getting an Indonesian visa in Dili has sped up somewhat, but is still an administrative ballache. Before I came here I was told that I could expect to wait 7-10 days unless I “knew someone” who could speed up the process. As such, I was looking at flying out directly to Bali [...]

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Dinner last night was at an indiginous burger restaurant called Brothers Hamburgers. It was pretty decent, actually, and not too expensive. $3.50 is still cheaper than home for a regular meal and the chicken and beef burgers were decent. I went with Catherine (again, apologies for being crap with names etc), the American girl I’m [...]

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I found a local bakery doing brightly-coloured cakes and picked up a couple for breakfast. Maybe not healthy, but I’m on holiday so I don’t care. Andrew was waiting for me when I got back and we had a short chat then jumped into the car with Krystal and Catherine (I think – apologies as [...]

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I ended up getting out of bed at 1am to put earplugs in as the dogs over the road decided to have a conversation with everyone on the damn island. Other than that, I slept fine and was stood by the gate for my pickup. They took me to the Timor Tour and Travel office [...]

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The flight was pleasant enough with a small meal provided and we landed more or less on time in Kupang on the island of Timor. I got talking to a Fin and a couple of Aussies and ended up sharing a cab with them into town which saved a bit of cash. The Lavalon hostel [...]

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