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On moving to Timor-Leste

By Matt Crook

When I started telling people that I was packing in my job at a local newspaper in Phuket, Thailand, to head to Dili, I found myself confronted by the same kind of look as when you tell an Elvis fan that you just don’t dig The King. If eyes could speak, they’d have all asked me, “Why the heck are you going to Dili?”

The shell of a building in Dili

I really didn’t have an answer. I’d spent 22 years in England, three in Thailand and then it was time for something new. Part of the attraction of moving to Timor-Leste is that you rarely meet anyone who has ever been to the country; some people I spoke to had no idea where it even is.

My time in Thailand opened up my eyes to other cultures, so I was confident that I wouldn’t be in for too much of a culture shock. More than anything I wanted to see for myself why so few people make the trip to the world’s newest nation.

With such a rocky past and a climate in which there is always a chance that trouble might flare up again, most people are put off by Dili and Timor-Leste. As soon as I arrived at the airport I could see how stark the place is, but a lot of the appeal of living in Timor-Leste comes from how basic the lifestyle is.

There are no malls, almost no fast food restaurants and many of the conveniences I came to rely on in Thailand are nowhere to be seen. But I like Dili and I’m happy to call it my home. Without having suffered a mass-tourism boom, Dili is a breath of fresh air when compared with my previous homes of Bangkok and Phuket.

One of the most striking sides of life in Dili is the warmth of the people, many of whom have been through things that I can’t even begin to comprehend. With anything up to 30,000 people still displaced in Dili after the violence in 2006, there are broken homes around every corner. Remnants of the past are everywhere and are a stark reminder of problems that Timor-Leste has had to endure over the past 35 years.

While it is a sobering experience being in Dili, the people here make the place what it is. I also get the impression that the East Timorese are excited about the prospect of having visitors to their country other than aid workers and peacekeeping forces. The shiny white vehicles of the UN are everywhere, while tourists are few and far between.

The most exciting element of my being in Dili is the chance to travel to the districts. There is so much to explore around Timor-Leste and it’s a real buzz knowing that very few people have traveled around the country. There are so many stories to be told here.

On the whole I felt safe in Dili, although I still wouldn’t walk around some places at night on my own. There is an issue of security here and things do get stolen, but where in the world can you go and this is not the case?

In coming to Timor-Leste, I now have friends around the world asking me just what the heck this place is like; I tell them it’s an exciting country, it’s easy enough to get to and there’s a lot to see here. Nobody has yet made the commitment to come and visit me, but in time I hope that people will consider Timor-Leste. As a traveler, I would spend very little time in Dili. There isn’t a whole lot to do here, making Dili a great place to live, but perhaps not so exciting for a holiday, which opens up the rest of Timor-Leste as the main draw. I hope to see as much of the country as I can.