Tag: Travel
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My landmarks in learning Tetun
A couple of weeks ago, my friend Laura and I signed up for Indonesian language classes. This surprised a couple of people, who asked us, fairly, why. We replied that we thought it would be fun; that we thought the language would be useful for us, and it’s got hundreds of thousands of speakers here…
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Practical tips for living in Dili
Over the two-ish years I’ve been writing on this blog, I’ve covered topics from anxiety and anorexia to Dili market shopping, catching microlets, and what to do when work forgets to invite you to the workshop. As I’ve mentioned several times, I started this blog partly to record my new life abroad for friends and…
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A Dili packing list
Are you about to move to Timor-Leste? Have no idea what you can get here and what you must devote your precious checked-bag kilograms to? Here’s a short list from my experience of what you need when you arrive in Dili. Read more: Your first weekend in Dili First-day stuff Chuck this in your carry-on.…
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5 (more) things that are better in Timor-Leste
A couple of months ago, I wrote a blog post about the things that made living in Timor-Leste–a tiny, newly independent, post-conflict, drought-stricken country–better and easier than living in Australia. Since then, I’ve seen a few more. 1. A small city flattens formal hierarchies Dili’s relatively small population and its smaller still bunch of foreigners…
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3 things I’ve learned in Timor-Leste
Three small but significant lessons living in this place has taught me. 1. Be nicer to foreigners As a teenager, I worked behind the counter at a busy shopping centre bakery. We had a fair few customers who spoke English as a second or third or fourth language, and I remember always feeling so…
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Travelling to Maubisse, Timor-Leste
The town of Maubisse in cloud-wreathed Ainaro municipality is one of my favourite places to visit in Timor-Leste. It’s an easy couple of hours’ drive from Dili, a welcome break from the often-oppressive beachside heat, and a chance to see a different part of Timor-Leste without forcing yourself into a madcap epic adventure you’re not…
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A Dili survival guide
I’ve had a few friends visit me since I moved to Timor-Leste, I’m hoping for more (hint), and I thought it’d be useful to both my prospective visitors and perhaps you to put together a short survival guide for a first few days in Dili. Can you drink the water? How do you get a…
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Travelling to Oecusse, Timor-Leste
I’ve just returned to Dili from a long weekend away in Oecusse, the western enclave of Timor-Leste completely encased within the island of West Timor, Indonesia. To be honest, I had low expectations of the trip — all I’d heard previously of Oecusse was from Oxfam fundraising emails (drought and despair; can you help now, Sophie?)…
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Where I find friends
Last week, I asked on Instagram what people would like to know about the delicate details of my everyday life in Dili. I answered a few of them in this post, but saved a couple for separate answers — including a question about how I made friends in a new place and managed without my…
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To be a tourist in Dili
A short guide to being a tourist for two days in Dili, Timor-Leste. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been lucky to have both my mother and my sister visit me here in Timor-Leste. Neither could stay for very long, which in one sense was a very good thing: like the way I…
Sophie Rai Liur 