Tuesday November 25, 2008

It’s raining cats and dogs as I write this entry, sitting on the front veranda area at City Café. Ok so there are no little fur balls named Fido, Rover, Socks and Tabby falling from the sky, just great heavy sheets of water that are cascading off roofs and quickly filling the streets. The wet is not a furious storm such as the ones I have imagined hitting Brisbane of late but rather a steady, determine effort by nature to unload as much water as possible on the little town of Dili. It’s cooled down a lot thankfully, but leaves me stranded here at the café and my plans to take some photos in the interesting light of the sunset postponed. I even went and searched out some places today where I could make full use of such light. I guess it will all have to wait until tomorrow now.

There is nothing much too exciting to report today and I mean it. I have still had no luck trying to find a scooter. Melissa joked, earlier today, that I should buy one and conduct my own Ewan McGregor style ‘Long Way Round’ adventure. I’m taking the idea half seriously at the moment. I fought with MBF back in Oz via very expensive phone calls but think we may have resolved those issues. I chased up my bond from the Darwin scooter hire mob as well which has still not been credited back to my card and was promised it would soon show up. I wrestled with Youtube and the Mytravelblog site trying to upload some videos I have with mixed degrees of success. I did some net surfing, wrote some emails, read some of my book, took several long walks, listened to music, ate a lot, visited my friend at Suga Café, balanced my bank accounts and generally bludged around again. Bludging is good but I’m getting pretty stale in my little routine. I promise tomorrow will be better people, even if it means biting the bullet and paying bloody $50US to get wheels.

As the rain currently eases slightly, the thunder is kicking in and I am staring at my screen at a complete loss for what to waffle on about. I feel good and have had some small wins today but I just keep hearing my visa ticking away, rapidly expiring on me and thinking “Come on sarn! Let go see some more stuff”. I think I will shoot for a quiet night and an early start in the morning to rectify my situation. Well at least shut up those silly, nagging voices that are in my head. “Keep moving Monsta!” they insistently urge me, “There is too much to see and not enough time.” If I’m not careful I’ll find myself doing a very good impersonation of the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. Racing around Dili in my remaining days singing “I’m late, I’m late for a very important date. No time to say hello, goodbye, I’m late, I’m late, I’m LATE!”

So that’s it… all you get for this Tuesday anyway unless something spectacular should drop out of the sky with the rain or I find myself in some unforseen ridiculous situation, cheating another near death experience or in a disturbing state of undress, I’ll be talking to you tomorrow.

Wednesday November 26, 2008

I was supposed to be up early. I’ve been dying to get some more sight seeing done but just could not get out of bed this morning. Partly because Tav and Meags arrived last night just after I signed off to you all and we stayed up way too late ending up way to intoxicated to facilitate such an early start and partly just because I am a lazy bugger. I love this bed at my hotel. If I could think of a way, I would package it up and ship it home to be waiting on my return. The girls in the domestic staff here forced me out of bed in the end, walking in twice as I lay there. Has word spread after the other day and everyone wants a show? I would have thought my loud “YO!!” answering their knocks would have been enough to keep them at bay. In the end I put a chair up against my door and hit the shower to wash the sleep from my eyes and the fog off my brain.

I didn’t dawdle too much over breakfast, just punching down my coffee, toast and ciggie. I sorted my bill and gathered my stuff to make my way around to my Chinese mate ‘Hiro’ (I still can’t understand his real name) to meet his friend Jeffrey and grab a scooter (how many Jeffs have I met on this trip now.. freaky!) They of course, being residents of East Timor, were not even there as we had arranged. The whole shop was closed and locked up tight. Hmmm stuff it all I’m going to go to Tiger Fuel. I know I can get a bike there and to hell with what it costs.

As I made my way up our street I encountered a large policed roadblock. WTF? The local traffic had all ground to a halt and there was a huge anxious crowd gathering beyond the barrier exactly where I was due to head. I thought for a moment about turning around before realising I’m much bigger than these guys and there are enough official looking blokes standing around with fire-arms and night sticks, if it comes down to it I can hold my own or run like a hare. Besides if it was dangerous I have no doubt they would not even let me past the barricade but nobody even blinked as I slipped through the crowd toward Timor Telecom. Man I didn’t even realise there were this many people in Timor and they all seem to be in a queue for the bank. I didn’t understand what was happening to be honest and the crowd became thicker than a front rower so I decided to slip into Timor Telecom and hit the net for a half hour or so and reassess these strange goings on. I needed a few phone numbers and to check on sites to hit today anyway.

After stuffing around for a while and hearing the bulk of the protest or parade pass us by I decided to keep going. I had tried to get back out and check on what was happening when the parade passed us by but the crush of small, brown bodies prevented me from going anywhere. The security guard gave me a look as if to say “Your on ya own buddy” as I exited so I quickly retreated back to my computer to let things settle. It was a whole world better now though and utilising all my big crowd experience from back home I slipped, weaved, ducked and dived through the remaining masses to a road that was open and caught a cab. All those years of trying to keep up with Tez as we searched for front row spots at Big Day Out or Good Vibes meant that the crowd hardly noticed my passing. I was soon being dropped off at a large secure compound housing Tiger Fuel and a few associated businesses on the western side of Dili and found Tony within the first minute of arrival. Tony was my contact and is another expat Aussie boy who has been here around eight years. We exchanged a few stories about who we are and what we have been up to and he took me outside for a quick rundown on my bike. It’s the Red Devils twin sister I swear! Nearly identical to the scooter I had in Darwin and at just $20US a day it was nowhere near as much as I had prepared myself to pay. What a guy! I took it for three days so that gives me until Saturday arvo to explore.

I didn’t waste anytime at all and spent the rest of the morning cracking laps of Dili. I’d like to say by design, and even though it was great fun and very interesting I was in fact having some difficulty navigating the maze of one-way streets that today were made even more complicated by several road closures still in place from this mornings event (whatever it was). I noticed as I cruised around that there were mad, crazy, long line-ups at all the banks. Could it be the Timor Leste version of dole day? I’m going to have to find out at some stage. I’ll keep asking and report back to you. Eventually I found my self on the road I was actually after, the traffic dissolved away and I was hooning along on my way out to visit Jesus. Jesus and I have not spoken a great deal in my life. I respect what he supposedly stood for and a lot of what he got up to, but we don’t really see eye to eye on the legacy he has left on this earth. I doubt he likes me very much to be honest but I saw the large statue of him on the point as we sailed in and have heard good things about the beaches and scenery in the area so I decided it was time I visited and said howdy.

The ride out left me with a goofy grin splitting my face and a few bugs doubling as dental floss between my teeth. Jesus I enjoy riding on two wheels though (you might have noticed I enjoy trying to piss the big fella off… it’s a character fault I enjoy about myself and refuse to modify. My apologies if it offends but I mean no harm.. swear to god! haha). I bobbed and weaved the little devil through some quite lovely narrow roads and tried to concentrate on potential oncoming traffic and not the ocean to my left or the hilly landscape to my right. I finally pulled up at the foothills of Jesus’ place of honour here in Dili. One look at all the stairs and considering my inherent laziness combined with our strained relationship meant there was no way in hell I was going to sweat my ass off to make the pilgrimage to the base of his effigy. Good old J is just going to have to be content with my wave and “Sup Bruv?” from the bottom of the hill. He has never been much of a conversationalist in my opinion anyway. I doubt we’d have a lot to talk about, so it was probably the best outcome for the both of us.

I stuffed around at the bottom of Jesus Hill and made small talk with some locals out there wetting a line. I took some photos and thought maybe I should do a video on my way home. The results of my dodgy video with commentary can be seen at this web address Red Devil II, Bike ride in Dili

I ended up stopping at one of the timber constructions along the waterline, complete with thatched roof, for a Thai meal and a beer as my lunch. The view was postcard perfect, the beer icy cold, the weather amazing and I said as much in a little text I sent to a few people. My old man was one of those people and damned if he didn’t make me snort noodles out my nose when I read his short reply. It read “Ass hoLe x” and the caps error only made it funnier I reckon so I made sure to replicate it here perfectly. Yes that is a prime example of the classy bloodline that I share with my family. You may all now have a slightly better idea of why I am the way I am. God I love him! The great silver haired, beetroot complexioned boofhead is easily one of the best people to walk this earth. Yes I am biased but I don’t reckon I’m wrong either. The guy has nearly ruined himself in order to provide for his family the very enjoyable life we now are privileged to have. You’d be hard pressed to find a harder worker or a more generous, understanding and supportive dude on the earth and one day I hope to be half as great a man as he has been the whole time I have known him.

I’m going to tell you a quick story about my dad. One that may in fact be half legend or may be actual fact, I cannot tell because I was so young and it has been told over and over so many times that there is no doubt in my mind it has suffered at least slightly from the ‘Chinese Whispers’ effect. I just know that it summarises his determination and self-sacrificing qualities that I adore so much. You see Dad was a builder and built ‘spec homes’. Basically homes that the builder outlays all the costs for, speculating that someone will like it and buy it at the end… hence the spec home title. He was framing up a house one day with the 3 inch nailing gun. Putting in battens to stiffen the frame of the walls and he found after a few hours that his shoulders and arms were tiring as any normal humans would. Without thought he rested the end of the gun against his knee. I remember this gun it was freaking huge. We’re talking late 70’s here peeps and the new, compact, cordless versions found today were as much of a pipe dream as mobile phones and large screen TV’s. Now the story goes that Dad used to get frustrated with the pressure safety feature that prevented the gun from firing unless it was perfectly pressed up against a solid structure, so he removed or modified it. Turning his gun into a ‘Hot Rod’ version sounds just like the old fella so I believe it. Anyway as he rested the gun on his knee and it fired unexpectedly and drove a three-inch construction nail through the ball end of his femur, knee joint and into the shinbone effectively eliminating the bend ability of his right leg. Despite his injury he gathered me up (I think I was there wasn’t I Dad) drove himself home, had a shower to freshen up, after all you can’t go to hospital all dirty haha. I can remember him taking the time after his shower to pull the skin apart and show us the shiny head of the nail in his leg before driving off to hospital to have it removed. I could have completely freaked out but Dads casual “There it is son. Yaw see the little buggar” and totally cavalier attitude meant that us kids didn’t worry a bit. That is how determined my old man is and what a character! Much love Dad!

Anyway I digress. After lunch I went in search of the Indo Embassy to pick-up our passports with our new visas. I rode the whole way with crossed fingers believing I had found a way to get more than the maximum 30 days to travel through the country. Alas my visa is totally normal. Clearly stating 30 days. I swore under my breath as I left the embassy and fantasised how I could turn around and Jackie Chan styles, beat the staff into allowing me 60. I guess it won’t matter in the end. It is what it is after all and no amount of wishing otherwise will change the fact I’m going to have to see what I can in the time allowed and bugger off to the next country on my long list. I also saw the Australian Embassy for a letter I needed to show MBF. I nearly fell over when they quoted me $100US to have it issued. I told them they could stick their hundred where the sun doesn’t shine and vowed to win my MBF battle without it. As I stormed out I swear the guard at the door was trying to stifle a chuckle. Ahhh fuck em!! Probably the least helpful embassy I have dealt with and I won’t be back to Timor for a while so I let them have the full force of my frustration stopping just short of turning on my heal at the door and issuing a one fingered salute in the same style as I had waved goodbye to my sailing captain.

Despite the Indo’s being relatively quick and my temper tantrum cutting short my time at the Australian Embassy I had still wasted a fair chunk of my arvo and I felt like a beer so apart from stopping for the odd photo I made my way directly to One More Bar. Upon arrival here I discovered you could get wireless net! I settled in to surf, eat and drink… whooohooo so I hope to have this entry, associated video and pics up for you soon. Tomorrow I’m going further afield and should have some very interesting material for you to peruse. Until then…. Poice.

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