Dili Things to Do

Given its Portugese historical baggage, there is a smaller statue of Christ (like the one in Brazil) standing on a cliff in the eastern end of Dili. To go to visit the statue, you need to climb up a long flight of stairs (only for the fit and abled). From that point, besides the statue, you can have a scenic view of the bay, Dili and the ridge itself. At the entrance of the parking lot, is a beach, which is a nice place to hangout, which the locals actually do... but its generally not very clean. However its a good place to snorkel and see the bay's marine's life.

It's a small library with lots of information about East Timor. It's named after the Actual President Of East Timor, Xanana Gusmao.
There you have access to books, videos and other sources.
They also have internet access.

Art Moris is a Art School and, at the same time, a kind of orphanage, giving orphans a new chance while improving their artistic skills.
It's located at the former Timor Timur museum, built by the indonesian and ransacked by them in the turmoil that followed the referendum.
Now contains works made by some of the children that live there.
You can buy some of the works...

It's very interesting and even if you don't like art very much, it's allways worth a visit.

Trivia: The name means, in tetum, "Living art"

The place of the Santa Cruz Massacre in November 12, 1991. Here died many timorese that day, victims of the indonesian military's brutality.
Even if the place in itself it's not that interesting, it's significance makes it a place worth the visit...

It's the old residence of the former portuguese governor. It's a nice building that was destroyed in the 1999 violence, but it's now under reconstruction. In the future will be the official residence of the Timorese President.
It has a splendid view over the city and the bay...

This church was built by the portuguese in the colonial period. It was here that started the conflicts that led to the Massacre of Santa Cruz Cemetary, in which an uncertain number of timorese died during a peaceful demonstration against the indonesian occupying forces.

OK,it's not everyones idea of a night out - and I'm not going to pass judgement on the favourite pastime of the men of Timor Leste- but if you're up to it - it is a full-on experience.
The noise,the dust,the smell and the excitement of the crowd is huge.
I spent two afternoons photographing it for a newspaper feature and was welcomed with open arms by the locals who encouraged me to get in the ring with the action for a closer shot.

Any road trip in East Timor is interesting,to say the least.My favourite is from Dili to Baucau.It takes about 3 hours each way , winding around spectacular cliffs dropping down to a crystal clear blue ocean with spectacular white beaches and then flattening out through ricefields and villages.There are a couple of restaurants and hotels if you want to stay overnight.For the more adventurous,the round trip from Dili over the mountains to Suai via Maubissi and then coming back along the border through Maliana has to be one of the best 4WD experiences on this planet.