On a weekend in Dili, there are no football games (apart from a few local games on dirt), no sailing regattas, no car races, no horse races, no squash courts, no bowls, no rowing, no track meets, no cycling velodromes, no wineries, no relaxing Sunday drives and no tea and scones in the hills.

But every now and then, there is pig racing. For a bit of a hoot, every month or so, the Monkey Bar puts on pig racing. Modelled on the greyhounds with four starting gates and a short 20m track, the four porkers dressed in racing numbers make the dash after a bowl of swill carried by a nimble hare.

Beers are consumed, no money changes hands and it sure is different.