About one week into my stay in Dili and I’ve found out some things:
- It’s very hot and dry
- People are generally friendly
- Food is surprisingly good and varied (i.e. Indonesian, Thai, Turkish, Chinese, Western)
- You need a car to go just about anywhere
- You don’t want to be walking on the streets between 10am – 4pm
- Expats tend to spend their weekends on or near the beach
- God rested on Sunday… so does the East Timorese… its basically a ghost town on Sunday afternoon
I’ve been talking to the locals and been reading up about the not-so-clear historical facts of Timor-Leste and it’s a bit shocking. From what locals tell me, what the media writes about, to what writers such as Noam Chomsky says, it’s a mix bag of opinions ranging from goodwill to visitors to suspicion of foreigners (i.e. UN, the oil industry) in Timor.
Here are a few stories about Timor that you might not know about.
East Timor, horror and amnesia – by Noam Chomsky
Australia in graves hunt – The Age
interesting…
Comment by Muriel Lauvige — October 20, 2008 @ 3:08 pm
So, is the reason you don’t want to be walking on the streets between 10am-4pm because it is so hot and dry? Hopefully so, and nothing more sinster…?!
Comment by chris — October 22, 2008 @ 12:18 pm