Earlier this evening, as the Dili day moved leisurely from dusk to dark, and the mosquitoes cruised for some action; I walked out of my ‘new’ house, on a mission to get another 20 litres of drinking water. Many of my neighbours were out in the street, with children in tow, walking and talking with each other. Orlando called out to me to go to a shop barely 30m away in someone’s courtyard.

For the price of US$1 I had my water and also 3 Timorese bread rolls @ 10cents each.

So, what has happened in the last week?

My early morning flights to (departing Christchurch 06:00) and from Melbourne (departing 01:45) avoided the crowds & in Melbourne’s case, a large power cut about 7 hours later à http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/7300972/Melbourne-airport-plunged-into-darkness

My visit to Melbourne included some great hosting from Gaye and Andrew and the chance to experience the metro and city trams (pedestrians really DO need to look both ways when crossing the streets, because a tram ‘argument’ can be rather conclusive and not require an ambulance)

Another highlight was an exhibition of Napoleon era artifacts followed by a tour of classic computer games (all free to play, I am still lousy at playing 'Asteroids') 

My evaluation of the displayed games is that the current creators of games no longer have the daringness of the 1980’s – now they are nearly all about shooting/destroying. Two exceptions were 'The Sims' & 'Machinarium', for about $5 it has to be excellent value for money and it works on the PC, iPad and Android platforms à http://machinarium.net/demo/

Darwin airport wasn’t too bad and I found a handy plug for my laptop. Like Melbourne, Darwin had a wireless network; unlike Melbourne, this one was free. Dili has free wireless in front of the Parliament area, just off the beach (so I am told). This is a recently developed area and has new awnings over the tables & alcoves. New signs have also been erected nearby, saying ‘Visit Timor Leste in 2012’

My house doesn’t have a number, so the address (not for mail) is:

Succo Palapasu, Farol, Dili,  Timor Leste.

(Travelling on Comorro Road towards the airport, take the first Right turn past the Tiger Fuel station. Turn second right down a small lane, head to the end of the lane and before the junction, the house is on the right (opposite a 2 story house) ß There, how could you go wrong?

Since I have bought a GPS with me, I can say I am also located:

S 08.553 and E 125.546

Everybody travels at about 30-35kmph and no one appears to have a problem with letting others come in off the side roads to join the daily ‘rush’.

While I don’t have a motor vehicle, I have found a bike shop and will be getting a purchase sorted out pretty quick, since my 50kg of unaccompanied luggage arrived today and I now have bike tools, tyres, carrier, panniers, lights, reflective gear and bar-ends for the handle bars.

Karen, the country manager has been briefing me on the politics (there is still some activity going on – a legacy from the elections on July 7^th) and my schedule for the next few weeks: meeting my partner organisation and taking 2-3 weeks of Tetun lessons.

NB: I have found my old blog from 5-6 years ago: http://present-events.blogspot.com/

In case you were wondering, I used two different email accounts and confused myself, thought I’d lost the first blog, created a 2^nd and then found the 1^st one again

I had a good sleep last night, as the night was cooler than in summer and the fan made conditions ideal for me - just another 731 to go.