It’s finally happened. The Dili Club premises on Avenida de Portugal have closed and the site reduced to a blank space within days.

It has been an institution on the esplanade for 5 or so years and while stories from the peak of the UN days suggest the place was a bit rough, a certain gentrification has obviously occurred, although probably little in decor.

Last drinks were on Friday 17 February, after having called last drinks at least 4 times over the last month or two.

Phil should be re-opening as Phil’s Grille by next Saturday directly cross the road from Timor Toyota on Comorro road (ie also across from Leader supermarket).

The last I heard was that Phil was building some fancier premises back on Avenida de Portugal west of the Esplanada Hotel – elevated sea views etc. More later.

A few weeks back, I had my nirvana-like experience. However, for 99.9999% of the world’s population, going into raptures over “Marathon dimsims” is a rather pathetic thing to do.

Roll back a couple of days … I bumped into a fellow Australian who mentioned he was going to the informal Australia Day function organised by the embassy for all OZ passport holders. Initially, I was aggrieved as I knew nothing about it, but it turns out that there are advantages in registering oneself with the embassy. (Later in the day, I did in fact receive an invitation, indirectly.)

I met this guy about 3 hours drive from Dili and he mentioned he was on his way to Dili for the OZ Day BBQ and he was looking forward to some OZ food. I casually mentioned my Marathon dimsim nirvana experience and (saints be praised) not only was he from the State of Victoria (home of the Marathon article) but he too was a Marathon dimsim-eating gastronome.

As soon as I mentioned that Phil (another Marathon gastronome) at the Dili Club was a potential supplier, his eyes lit up and he was on the case. The Dili Club has arguably the best pizzas in town and Phil has a home delivery service, but due to the government wanting to take over his bit of land, he was asked to move. There was a bit of umming and ahhing as Phil decided whether to carry on at all and a couple of weeks ago, the future of the Dili Club was up in the air.

But my new mate has confirmed already that a new Dili Club site has been signed, sealed and delivered. Its now up to Phil to supply. You see, I am not so unique after all.

Living in the hotel is certainly becoming a drag, so any alternative suggestions are met with great glee. On Friday, an invite to after-work drinks seemed a good way to start the night.

So I started off with gin and tonics. The group decided to move onto the Audian Hotel for Chinese food. I switched to beer. The food was variable ranging from as authentic as I know to very average.

The group decided to move onto Carlo’s (?) Bar for more gin and tonic and some beer. At 1am, what was left of the group decided to move onto the Coolspot nightclub. I had passed this place many times but was oblivious to the fact that this place only rages after midnight. As it turns out, I must have been tired and emotional and when I walked in without paying (there was no sign !) was met by a surly security guy who instructed me to pay. When I saw that women went in for free, I complained and standing on my principles refused to go in under such sexist conditions.

I was to later find out that the entry fee was redeemed in beer and was designed to keep out locals who went in for nothing and spent nothing all night. Next time, I hope they don’t remember that surly white man’s face !

Next day, I was going to a hash house harriers run with some military guys. I told them the (incorrect) location. We got to the wrong place and found that none of us had brought a mobile phone, so we rushed back to pick a phone. Fortunately, “Jack Brabham” was driving and even more fortunately, he tailed an ambulance with all sirens going. Lets just say you couldn’t do this in any other part of the world and keep your licence ! And we weren’t late either.

Next day, I had some mail to be sent to Australia. A military acquaintance was spending a 1 week R&R in Darwin, so I asked him to hand-carry my mail and post it there. (The Timorese mail service is said to be woefully slow as mail goes via Portugal, or at least seems to.) So I had to deliver to aforementioned military guy who was having his last drinks at a bar. USD66 of drinks later (3 of us), we left the bar, leaving my mail behind.

Having corrected the mail error, my courier was too drunk to come to dinner later and next day, his military flight was cancelled and delayed for another week. But it’s still the fastest way to deliver my mail !