Dili, the young capital of Timor Leste, is a bustling and vibrant city. At least during the day, that is. When night falls then gangs roam around, preying on the unlucky people still outside. Or so we have been told. To me it seemed pretty safe at night. But then, maybe we were lucky?
The whole economy not only of Dili, but of all of East Timor, is fueled by money provided by the UN and all the various NGOs. Everything here, from basics like food to activities like diving, is quite expensive, again because of the UN and NGO personnel, who just write it off as expenses. Which makes me wonder what happens when all of them pull out?
During the day every second car you see is a Toyota Landcruiser with the UN logo on the side. Australian soldiers in full battle gear come by your guest house for a quick beer and everywhere you pay with US dollars, which is, for now at least, the official currency.
I like Dili a lot actually, the people here are really friendly and seem to be hopeful to put all the troubles behind them. The whole place has an atmosphere of departure into a brighter future about it. At the same time, though, there are still many tent camps scattered around town, filled with refugees and, obviously, the UN is still here and needed. For a little taste of Dili, here’s a slideshow:
Tags: Capital, Dili, East Timor, UN
Sam - 16 September 2007 @ 2:55 PM
Damn, that panorama from up by the Jesus statue turned out really well… I took pictures of both of the beaches but not of the mountains in between, so I can’t stitch them together. Crap.
Anthony - 16 September 2007 @ 8:57 PM
I have never seen Australian soldiers drink ‘beer’ in any public places in East Timor. Well maybe once or twice, but not in the context that you have put it which give the reader the impression it is a common sight. For quite some time now Australian soldiers have not been in ‘full battle gear’. If this was the case you would see them with their full kevlar helmets and vests when doing street patrols, of which they stopped wearing about 2 months into their campaign. The kevlar helmets are now replaced with cotton hats, which are commonly known as ‘giggle’ hats in Australia.
traveljunkie - 17 September 2007 @ 5:48 AM
Well, mate, for us it was pretty common, most days we’ve seen aussie soldiers in our guesthouse, sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the evening. They came for a beer and went again. I’m not a soldier, for me they looked pretty battle ready, big guns and all.
J. Patrick Fischer - 17 September 2007 @ 1:20 PM
Hallo! Schöner Bericht aus Dili! Gratulation! Ich war 2002 in Osttimor und seitdem fasziniert mich das Land. Vielleicht hast Du auch Lust Dich bei Artikeln über dieses Land in der Wikipedia zu beteiligen? Du findest die Links dazu unter http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Osttimor
Schönen Gruß,
J. Patrick Fischer
Brandon Watts - 20 September 2007 @ 2:05 AM
Thanks for that enlightening look at Dili, Boris.
Brandon Watts
Criteo Evangelist
dominique - 4 October 2007 @ 4:39 PM
lol…yeah..thats a really good panorama picture up there…i made the same fault as sam did…
lovely… :)
please email me by the way…
Hendrik Thomann - 26 November 2007 @ 2:19 PM
Hello,
I am from Germany and I am beer labels collector. Can you help me to get beer labels from the 2 breweries in East Timor? Do you know somebody who can help me to get this beer labels??? There is a Lion beer and 2 different Buffalo beers. What can I do for you to get this beer labels???
Hendrik
Hendrik Thomann - 26 November 2007 @ 2:20 PM
you can write to HendrikThomann@aol.com
traveljunkie - 27 November 2007 @ 12:01 AM
Hendrik, da kann ich im Moment leider gar nichts machen. Zur Zeit bin ich in Neuseeland und werd da auch fuer ein ganzes Jahr bleiben. Am besten mal selber hinfliegen ;) lohnt sich!