Return of Ramos – East Timor 1st May 2008

I’ve been playing international jet setter; well, Indonesia and Singapore! I took a well needed holiday in Bali and really pampered myself. I’d received a wonderful birthday present of a massage in Bali at one of the top reputed spas which was wonderful. Then through a friend I met a lady called Jenny who runs a spa school in Bali and she asked Camilla and me if we would like to be guinea pigs for her graduates. Of course Camilla and I jumped at the chance and had an aromatherapy massage one day and a full body scrub another day which was a bit strange because they scrub you with a turmeric mixture then plaster you with yoghurt. I felt like an Indian takeaway.

Meanwhile, back in East Timor, Ramos Horta returned home from his hospital stint in Darwin to a reception of thousands of teary eyed supporters on the streets. The road to his house (outside which he was shot) was completely repaired and resurfaced in a matter of days prior to his arrival. This is a pretty amazing feat in East Timor given the state of most of the roads in the city, and the road was renamed April the 17th Avenue, marking the day of his return.

The coverage from Australia Network showed Ramos Horta visiting the medical facility that acted so quickly evacuating him when he was shot. Ramos Horta thanked some of the Australian troops that were on duty that day, they shook his hand and said ‘That’s ok Sir’, whereas when Ramos thanked the Timorese staff, there were hugs all round and not a dry eye in the house.

A few days after his return the curfew was lifted except in one area where Salsinha was still in hiding. He has since given himself up, exactly two years since the crisis started in April 2006.

Meanwhile, I flew to Singapore to attend the Asia Dive Expo. The East Timorese Government had a stand there and I was representing one of the dive companies. The show wasn’t huge but the number of people that attended kept you busy all day. It’s been a long time since I’ve done an exhibition and forgotten how much your back and feet kill you, that and the fact you feel like a parrot saying the same thing a thousand times over. Still, if it boosts the tourism industry in East Timor it will be great.

I haven’t been to Singapore for years, even the airport is impressive. The hall for immigration alone is bigger than Dili International airport. Within half an hour we had got through customs, changed money, bought a SIM card, booked a hotel and got our luggage. In contrast to Dili International which in fairness, has seen the return of the little café, so at least you can now buy water. Upon entry to the airport terminal you are faced with a sign that reads ‘All weapons are to be inspected and cleared with the magazine removed prior to entering this terminal’, there is even a diagram with a picture of a machine gun and the correct way to unload the magazine! At check in the luggage is moved by hand, the waiting room is hot and sticky with ineffectual air conditioning units and you walk to the plane in the blazing sun. But with two flights a day, you hardly need the Singaporean efficiency.

The other thing I got used to was having the loo flushed for me. As soon as your derriere leaves the seat in Singapore, the automatic flush kicks in, I got back to Bali and was waiting for the toilet to flush itself. Similarly with the taps, I stood with my hand under the tap in Bali and realized I had to turn the tap on myself! How soon we get used to things.

Taxis were another source of fascination to me, smart, leather upholstered cars with Sat Nav, credit card swipe facilities and the automatic printing of receipts. A far cry from Dili taxis. However, I have seen some smart new yellow taxis on the streets of Dili and after the recent removal of the blackened windows from taxis, the absence of just a two inch strip for vision is more reassuring. A few adventurous taxis have replaced their windscreen slogans with slightly smaller ones that don’t obscure half the windscreen, so my driving amusement is starting to come back again. However a couple of new ones make me wonder if they ever want any business, there is ‘Broken’ and La Diak (which means ‘No Good’ in Tetum). Would you get in a taxi that’s advertising itself in this way? And last but not least there is a microlet sporting the banner ‘Lottery’!