I’ve met a fair number of other overland travelers in Dili. Anyone that’s going from Indonesia to Australia, or vice versa, is bound to spend a bit of time in Dili, as that’s where the main route for shipping cars or bikes goes through.

There were a few groups of people that were traveling by truck from Australia up to Europe, and two guys on bikes traveling from Australia to the UK…and they weren’t on the typical bikes you’d see people taking on this trip.

I met Jono when I first arrived…he’s making the trip on a 1969 Royal Enfield 350. By the time he’d gone from Sydney to Dili, he’d had 17 breakdowns, including 2 gearbox rebuilds and a piston replacement. Hopefully now that his bike has had most everything replaced, it’ll make it the rest of the way with no problems!

 
If you want to follow along on his trip, check out www.theanswerisalwaysyes.co

Towards the end of my time in Dili, I met Harley. He making the trip to the UK on a Suzuki DR650.

It’s a great bike for the job…a bit more common than an old Enfield, that’s for sure, but his luggage setup is what made this bike a bit more unique. He’s planning to get in as much surfing as possible along the way, which of course requires a surfboard.

As a white guy on a big bike, I definitely felt like I stood out in a lot of places in Asia…can’t imagine how many more confused stares Harley will get with that strapped to his bike.

This is Bosie, the guard dog at the hostel. Even though he’s probably never left Dili, surely he’s seen quite a bit more than your average dog (or person even), including surviving being shot during a bout of violence in the early 2000s.

That’s all for East Timor. Today, I turned 31, and tomorrow I head to Darwin, Australia…hopefully I’ll be able to get my bike through customs soon!