An old man, a dead cock and some puns on the board

As mentioned previously I’m on a path to win the battle against my feathered friends; Roosters United. Well, in unexpected and slightly traumatic news I’ve a few more runs to report.

Not a member of Roosters United.

  M.Hero (4) Vs Roosters United (2,453)

View over the Los Palos town from the water tower. Completely unrelated to the current conversation.

Some background. I moved into a new house about 3 weeks ago and have been slowly coming to terms with life on a normal sleeping pattern. You see, I spent the past 10 months living in a house with 3 roosters perched about 3 metres from my bedroom window. This meant I’d be woken up by a chorus of ‘doodling' from anytime between 10.30PM and 6.00AM.

3 roosters X 10 months - Quality sleeping from dengue fever = 2,762

Times were tough back then; I was starting to have nasty dreams about killing all the roosters, I wasn’t happy with the world, I needed something to change. So I started to get my own back at them, something which I am determined to do until I beat their score count and claim ultimate victory. I admit that it has been a fairly slow start, but I’m getting there…

One day I went to the Los Palos Water Treatment Plant and the operator (pictured in one of the best government uniforms around) gave me a tour. It was another happy day for me in Los Palos. 

1; I heard a thud

One day I came screaming around the corner on my way out of Baucau to see a white feathered flash out of the corner of my eye. That’s all I saw. Nothing more. I felt a thud as something went under my back tyre and the gentle caress of some feathers against the exposed areas of my feet (my rubber safety shoes, i.e. thongs/flipfloopers/jandals, don’t provide much protection against grazes from renegade rooster feathers). While I can’t guarantee that it was a rooster, or even that it’s time has ended, a smile crept across my face as I finally had a run on the board…

2; they don’t taste nice.

A while ago I had the pleasant dining experience in Bobanaro of eating the stringy, grey flesh of a rooster killed specifically for our meal. It wasn’t tasty, but it was enjoyed in the company of Ice Man and Goose (see the following post) and the presence of the drumstick on my plate meant that the world was one rooster closer to being brought back into the harmonious balance that we all so dearly want…

The road outside the office which I work at. Also unrelated.

 3; don’t ride one handed

So yesterday was my latest encounter with my feathered frenemies. It was closer then I wanted. I’m going to call it a near death experience (for me). As I was slowing down to a sleepy 30km/h coming into a village, with one hand resting on the accelerator while the other tapped on the petrol tank when a rooster darted out. I’m sure it was premeditated. It dove into my front tyre. My heart leapt through my mouth (as it seems to like doing during most of my motor trips around these parts when animals come to say hello) as my front tyre was kicked to the side and I wobbled but managed to not die. I didn’t even flinch on the outside, preferring to pretend instead that the event didn’t happen. I was going to stop but then the thought of being swamped by people demanding compensation for the honor of their cock nearly killing me made the evil voice dominate and I kept going. 

I do feel bad, I don’t like leaving the scene of an animal being injured but sometimes it has to be done. So maybe I’ll tell a nice story about a rooster now. 

Ouso Saturday market in District Viqueqe. 

4; Roosters have bad hearts

The nephew of my Timorese friend died a few months ago and as he was quite young and was the second child to die in the community over a short period of time the families needed some resolution through cultural discussions (Note: this isn’t the happy part of the story). I was invited along for the day and watched as the elders in the group first talked about what they needed to do to resolve the cultural rift (a strong belief in spirits/ancestors exists in the village) that had caused the deaths. As is the common practice for this community the heart of a goat and a pig that had been killed for the day’s events were examined to see if there was anything bad/upset with their hearts.

After looking at the hearts the men decided that ‘yes’, something was wrong which meant that a rooster had to be sacrificed and it's heart examined. This made me happy as one less rooster in the world means everyone is happier and I was confident that the men had made the right choice in which heart the problem lay. So the roosters heart was removed and it wasn't good either (I wasn’t surprised at this outcome and i don't think the men were either!) which meant that there was to be another event in a few weeks to continue the discussion. 

The kitchen where the food for the day is being prepared. This photo is related.

Once the cultural discussions were finished for the day we moved onto the highlight of eating pig over a fire and drinking local whiskey. BBQ pig stomach is very moreish when a kilogram of salt has been added and the food was great. Soon enough the sun was setting, a warm glow had filled my cheeks and it was time to ride the 2 hours home along the beautiful coast line that is Lautem.

Not long into the ride I saw an old man hitchhiking on the side of the road (Note: start happy story now). He had just finished taking his pride and joy, his feathered cock, to the local cockfighting session. The old man seemed perplexed at the idea that a grinning malae (foreigner) on a motorbike was offering him a lift, but he wasn’t one to be shy, so with the agility of a 21 year old gymnast he sprung onto the back of my bike and nestled his rooster on his lap. We smiled at each other as only two men can when the sun is setting and there is a cock between them, and we started on our journey. 

The colors in the sky were amazing and the atmosphere was completely beautiful; honestly, I was in a happy place. It was a moment. I never knew the happiness that I could experience with a warm cock pressed against the base of my spine and an old man’s hands on my hips while riding a motorbike away from the setting sun in a whiskey haze. 

It was bliss… everyone should have a go. It was a good day in Timor-Leste. 

Site of aforementioned moment. He didn’t even know my name… 

A lady came to visit once...

I'm not overly active at this blog business. I came across to TL with the idea that i would be keeping this updated with lots of interesting tid-bits about me being involved in all kinds of activities. It turns out that i play guitar a lot... but i've a new wind and a refreshed idea about things so maybe that means i'll be better at communication with the outside world. 

Fun fact; it takes me 6.5 hours to ride between Los Palos and Dili. It's a beautiful ride but can be quite challenging to conditions suitable for life with all limbs, but i'm still in one piece and hope to remain so for some time yet.

Lovely on left; M.Hero on right.

The lovely came to visit a long time ago. There was a bike, some bags, some bad roads, some beaches, some beautiful places. A return trip from Dili – Baucau – Los Palos – Tutuala – Jaco Island took about a week with time showing the lovely around Los Palos. She agreed that i should kill all the roosters that have made the choice of becoming my enemy. That was about 3 month ago and i haven’t progressed the idea in much action yet. I did hit one on a bike once. Well i hit something with feathers. That was enough to get one run on the board; M.Hero (1) Vs Roosters United (2453). Slowly slowly... it made me smile.

View from road between Baucau and Dili. Lovely.

Yep.

 Jaco is pretty special. No one lives there. A tiny island at the far eastern tip of Timor-Leste.  I have a spear for fishing but i’m not overly good at it. But yep, Jaco, my closest beach. Not the worst of times really...

Over 3 years in the tropics, evident by the amazing tan...

Last time i was at Jaco I cut up a small perch that i had caught for bait when i was miles off shore swimming alone.  Soon after I cut up the fish a small white tip reef shark turned up; harmless I found out later. It probably shouldn't have come as a surprise since i just spilled alot of blood into the water. Yep. Smarts. Another 5 minutes later when a school of perch/snapper were getting used to me being there a larger shark came in (possibly a grey reef shark), with his pectoral fins lowered and zig sagging around (which I later learned was a sign of aggression and that they are feeling threatened and that they like biting divers!). It started swimming up to me and cutting back and forward about 5-10 m away. Close enough to scare me out of the water for a bit; unfortunately I was a long way off shore by myself in poor visibility water. Freaky. I swam backwards pointing my spear into the darkness with my heart racing for about 20 minutes (really not the most efficient way to swim!). I had the ingenious idea at the time that if i hold my spear against my leg and swim backwards that the shark won't like the sensation of metal on his teeth and will let go of my leg when it bites me. Yep. Survival instincts where happening. All i could think was that "sheeeeet, i'm 300m from the shoreline, on a remote island, with no way of getting back to the main land, with an 45min ride up a terrible road and then 7hrs to the nearest emergency ward!"It I haven’t been out to that corner of the island again as i heard apparently there are lots of sharks there... bummer. The next morning a scorpion bit my head. It was a very exciting weekend... 

The lovely; does like boat rides.

Demonstrating that a) helmets are appropriate attire at the beach b) scarves are required when riding motorbikes in the tropics and c) racing stripes on helmets are hot. Fact

Helmet courtesy of Sam and Kitty Speer; they aren't bad folk. 

Rice paddies at the bottom of the Baucau hill on the Manatutu side. Pretty

Road, power pole, clouds, rice paddie.

Somewhere with a nice view. Actually, most times i ride to Dili this tends to be my toilet break. I've got a whole series of photos from peeing at amazing views. Peeing with a view is a very relaxing experience.

Haan diak moos!!!

My language teacher, Mestri Aurelis spends most lessons telling me what animals he has eaten and how amazing they taste. Toke (big gecko) is one of his favourites even though it’s considered luluik (bad spelling – but a sacred item in some areas). He used to pay the kids 25 cents to go and find them in the palm trees. I think he still says naan asu with some tua sabu is his favourite (dog meat washed down with local whiskey). I told him that i have dogs that are my friends and that my friends wouldn't like me eating their friends. But i have offered Mestri free access to any of the 8 dogs that live at my place and any roosters while he is here...

Looking down at Manatutu, a larger town between Dili and Baucau

Fretlin election campaigning in Los Palos

The ministerial elections are pretty close and all the parties are touring the districts drumming up support. Fretlin is one of the bigger parties in Timor-Leste and they draw heavily on their association with the resistance movement, especially the armed wing of Fretlin ‘Falintil’.  

Hence the use of a 50cal machine gun perched on a Hilux as the mascot!

People are bussed, trucked and driven in to town from all of the outlying areas and the events are huge. The warm up party for the Los Palos campaign lasted all night. I drifted off to sleep at about 2am (the grounds are close to my house) and when i woke at 6.00am (i hate roosters) the music was still going... wild.

I’m not a fan of the rallying technique here and am happy to admit it. Huge crowds of young males screaming and chanting together immediately overrides any possible discussion on policy or merit of different parties and the feeling of the mob movement is ever present. In saying that it would be a blast to be hanging off the back of the truck tearing into a town painted head to toe and screaming songs with 3,000 friends...

Marching girls and birthday cake

Timor-Leste turned 10 on the 20th May 2012. It’s had a rough start for a country and has many hurdles ahead but that doesn't mean it's not full of beautiful and happy people. Most of us don’t appreciate the modern history of Timor-Leste and the impact that it has had which seems unfortunate considering it’s one Australia’s closest neighbours. I recommend reading this for anyone interested; A Dirty Little War

I wish I had marching school girls in knee high white stilettos at my 10^th birthday party. I wish I had marching school girls in knee high white stilettos at my 11^th birthday party. I wish I had marching school girls in knee high white stilettos at my 12^th birthday party. I wish I had marching school girls in knee high white stilettos at my 13^th birthday party. I wish I had marching school girls in knee high white stilettos at my 14^th birthday party. I wish I had marching school girls in knee high white stilettos at my...

This is a collection of the family who own the house I live in. I rent two rooms off the back of their guest house (directly behind this Kiosk). Amaa is the ghostly figure behind the counter... both Amaa and Apaa have made me part of the family.

I’ve got no idea who this is. I should find out. It’s a great photo; piecing look into the camera with no forced smile. Handsome man...

This is Apaa. Friendly and jolly man...

Cockfight shootout

No razor blades this time...

 

Servisu, Servisu. Sempre servisu...

But work huh? Well it’s interesting. It’s great to be away from the corporate engineering role and i’m finding that extremely refreshing. I won’t be going back anytime soon. It took 10 years of mind numbing work to get to be outdoors doing interesting stuff so i intend to make it last!! Feeling useful? Hmm, yeah, i am. I think i’m lucky with the role that i managed to get into. I was pretty strategic about looking for a role in Timor-Leste and one that supported by a larger INGO. The plan was to slip into a role that had significance to my local region so that it makes it more likely that I’ll keep being involved post 2012; so it doesn’t just become a sabbatical.  Being a recent convert to the Northern Territory means that ‘home’ is pretty close; a short 1hr flight from Dili! Plus it means that I should start to have some skills in both Tetum and Bahasa Indonesian languages by the end of the year!

Mauvedara - excellent location for a site office, ka?

Plan International are a child’s rights based organisation who have been active in Timor-Leste for over 10 years (as PlanTL). The program that I am involved with is part of a 5 year grant from the European Commission (EC) to run Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programs in two districts in Timor-Leste (there are about 12 districts in total); Lautem and Aileu. PlanTL don’t implement the programs directly instead using local NGO’s to undertake the ground work.

Add them on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/Plan.TimorLeste

I am working predominately in Lautem which is the district at the very eastern tip of Timor-Leste. The district capital and my new home town is Los Palos which has a population of around 16,000 with around 60,000 in the whole district. It’s a bumpy but stunning coastal ride of 6-7 hours ride back into Dili from home, so it’s pretty remote...

PlanTL implement their WASH program in Lautem through NGO Fraterna who are undertaking community lead sanitation programs, rehabilitating existing water supply systems, constructing new wells and new gravity/pressure water supply systems. My role through Engineers Without Borders Australia (EWB) is to work as a member of PlanTL (Lautem) and provide technical support to NGO Fraterna to boost the technical capacity of the Technical Officers (TO) in relation to the water supply component of their work. 

This translates into accompanying the Fraterna TO’s during the site inspections to the Aldeia’s (village in Tetun), reviewing hydraulic designs, running training sessions where gaps are noticed in the skills, reviewing the organisational systems to run construction programs and acting as a general conduit to the larger PlanTL program.

Riding to site crossing 1 of 3 rivers. My bike skills are on the up but the condition of my bike is on the down!

The guys from Fraterna are really motivated, enthusiastic and great at community mobilisation. They have completed a similar construction program but their technical design ability is minimal and as it is the community who provide the construction labour (PlanTL provide materials and NGO Fraterna guidance/superintendent type roles) the quality of the construction works can vary. This will likely the biggest challenge; how to improve the quality of the works so that the systems can be easily managed by the community and provide adequate water for the 10 year design life...

Fraterna undertaking a technical survey in aldeia Moro (using measuring tape and an abney level)

It’s early days yet. The program only really started up in January therefore NGO Fraterna are still undertaking site inspections and documenting the designs. Construction works won’t be occurring until the end of this dry season... that’s when it will really kick into gear.

Mauvedara; well in the foho

The terrible place that is Tutuala beach

Coastline looking down from the Tutuala town lookout.... 

Out towards Los Palos (my home) is a town called Tutuala, about an hours ride from home. Another 45min (about 10km) is the access point to Jaco Island and the Tutuala main beach. Fish, turtles, no people... lovely.

General niceties...

Looking over from Tutuala Beach towards Jaco Island

Terrible place

Horrible

The hero of this story

Ai ho be'e. Kontenti.

Baucau; heart attack and vine

Crocodiles riding bikes. One of the many things to be concerned about when using roads in Timor...

Baucau street gangs. To be feared...

In the middle of Old Town in Baucau is the large market that is no longer used. It's an impressive building that's almost in ruins with a spring in the gardens for kids to swim in. Graffitti on the walls and plants in the cracks, roving gangs, crocodiles on bikes and no mangoes for sale.

Old. fact.

Spring in the middle of the market feeding the fountain.

Front steps overlooking the gardens...

I heart Baucau

Ai...

Baucau is the second main city in Timor-Leste and is built into the side of a hill with numerous springs popping out everywhere. Hence the Porto's built a pool which is completely spring fed, get's drained twice a week and makes up for the lack of postal service, rail or road infrastructure. The Porto's aren't all bad...

Baucau pool. 25cents well spent.

I went for a quick splash at the beach on the ride back from Baucau. I only went thigh deep and was on high alert the whole time as everyone talks about being eaten by crocodiles. When i got out I noticed an object bobbing up and down. I watched it for a while and thought it may have been a dolphin or a dugon. But i slowly started to think it was a crocodile. By the time i got back on my bike to leave i looked back down to where i was swimming/splashing and there were 3 salt water croco's cutting laps about 30-50m from where i had been. Cheaky croco's...

This is where i nearly wrestled 3 crazy croco's at once. And it looks so peaceful.

Crocodiles are a totem animal in Timor-Leste, with locals believing that the island itself is an old crocodile. Therefore if you get taken by a crocodile it is because you did something bad. Only bad people get eaten. The Indonesians used to shoot them so the numbers were down, but now they are creeping back up and moving around a lot more so beaches that were once free of the toothy critters are now kind of dodgy. Very upsetting. Cheaky croco's...