So, here is the bike all ready to be unfolded for the ride. It unfolds in 15 sec and by sunrise last Sunday I was on the road. I had selected the route from Dili to Liquica for my initial exploration trip out of town. Of course nowadays with Google earth I can almost preview the route before I embark on the journey. Seeing on the computer screen is one thing but nothing can beat the trip by bicycle. With a bicycle I can SEE, SMELL, LISTEN and FEEL the Timorese !
With the sun behind me it was a very pleasant ride when I started off.
After a few km the road became deserted. I almost had the whole road for myself. This gate here is the limits of Dili town. Passing this gate leads on to the countryside.
Generally the road is very good for cycling but very bad when one is in a car as there are a lot of pot holes and is generally narrow. Of course ther are hills and going up these hills can be quite a strain on my leg muscles especially on this bike where I have to work on only a 3 speed hub gear.
BUT what is there to complain when there are beautiful unspoilt views like this along the way. I am not in a racing mode but rather in a EYE FEASTING and PHOTOGRAPHY MODE. It is absolutely amazing when I get to see unspoilt nature.
Every few km there would be a small settlement. These houses are built from the leaves and stems of the palm trees.
This man told me the palm leaves last more than five years so every five years or so he has to build a new house.
A communal well is the place to get drinking water. There are also "shared" tube wells in some places. A few families would share a common water point.
In this part of the world water buffaloes are stilla symbol of wealth. I was told if you want to get married to a girl you will have to give a dowry of 10 buffaloes to the girl's family. These are then shared between the girl's relatives. So you can see plenty of "Living Wealth" in this mud pool!
I definitely think the dowry is worth it as the womenfolks here have to work very hard. How many of our wives are willing to collect firewood for cooking? Don't even think about it!
Maybe it is easier for the mothers to look after their children here. Most of the kids I see here run around on their own and play noisly with the other kids. Never mind that their football is half flat but most important they are living like the way kids should be. CAREFREE without much worries for tutions and homework.
There is a big lagoon just before the halfway point. The locals named it TASIK TALO. I was told that there are some very good dive sites in the vicinity of the lagoon. I hope all these will not be spoilt by tourism.
These boats are not traditional fishing boats but I believe it must be from some government aids to the fishermen.
On weekends even the fishermen take a rest.
On my left it is mostly rolling hills and I have the Bonda Sea on my right.
Don't this picture reminds you of some scenery from Monte Carlo? The road here is just by the side of the cliff . This makes a trip by bicycle so unique and interesting.
There is already some developments in this area. Very nice hotel/lodge is seen on the slope of the mountain overlooking the sea.
BUT if I am on HOLIDAY MODE, this would be my choice of accommodation! Cheap, close to nature and natural.
And this would be my mode of transportation on roads! Cheap and relaible and the credits from the peddling goes to my health account.
Another well fed wedding dowry grazing happily by the beach.
Being a mischievous guy, I challenged this man for a race. I could see a hill about a km ahead. This man willingly accepted the challenge! Of course it was not fair for him for he is carrying a big box behind. After a couple of minutes I reached the top of the hill and expected him to be pushing his bicycle but no, he peddled all the way to the top.
We became friends and started chatting . He stays in Liquicia and bakes bread to sell to the villagers . I examined the contents of the box behind and it was empty meaning he had had a good day. These home mede bread sells for USD 5 cents and the bigger one USD 10 cents. On a typical day he gets about USD 17.00 and he gets to cycle about 10 km selling the bread .On the outbound trip the villagers collects the bread from him and when he rings his battery operated horn on the return leg they come out to pay him. I don't know if he has any bad debts.
Here is another home made log cart. Every home seems to have one.
While I waited for the bread man to reach the top I taught a boy how to take pictures with a camera and this is the result. Notice the steep slope behind me.
On nearing Luquica this "house" caught my attention. Seeing the courses they offered I went in and was suprised that a Malaysian lady by the name of Jenny is running the place. I did not get to meet her as she had gone to the village church.I managed to have a chat with the students here . They spoke suprisingly good English. SOL means Seeds Of Life, a NGO trying to improve the lives of the people through education.
These boys were excited about my Dahon and a few of them had a joy ride with my bicycle.
I headed for the only reataurant in Liquica and this lady owner told me they are closed on Sundays. Luckily I had prepared a packet of fried rice for this trip otherwise I would have been very hungry.
On the way back I met this lady selling fruits by the roadside. I purchsed these two sour sops for USD 2 and she offered me some home grwon bitter gourds free. I did not bargain but people here are good.
So the journey home I had to carry these two fruits in my back pack and it must have weighed a few kilos! It was a good weekend ride and I only managed to spend USD2 for the trip. Even the restaurant do not want to make money from me. The total distance covered is 60 km and I was at home just before noon. Not bad........anyone wants to make this trip? I can assist......
I had been pretty "busy" travelling the last few months and also partly because of the wet monsoon in Terengganu my Gypsy catamaran had been delayed. In fact since this picture was taken in Oct 2009 nothing much had been done. I had just gone back from an interesting assignment in East Timor and have a good 4 weeks Off. I made full use of this period to continue my boat building.
I arrived home on Chinese New Year's day. After some brief visiting I decided to do the difficult part of the cuddy. One of my brother in law's worker, Fauzi is around. Sensing that he had no work during this festive season, I roped him in to help with my boat building. I had known him for some time...he is ever willing to learn and is a good worker.
I had tried to make the roof of the cuddy before. Trying to be smart, I did it all wrong. In future I will following strictly to what is written in the plans. Plan called for "Cut oversized wood". I did not. I cut almost exactly the size required and by the time the wood was "bent" it was an inch under sized!. 
For future Gypsy builders, this was the amount of "oversize" that I made. Try not to be stingy for eventually it will cost you more when it does not suit after fitting!
Now the over sized panels had to be trimmed off. Another time consuming affair .
I began to fear the word "bevel" in the plans. It means hard work trying to shape pieces of 2" by wood at angles to accept the next piece. It takes time and patience to get it right. The two small upper side panels looks easy to build but in realty it took us about 2 daysto get it right.
All the gaps are filled with an epxoy filler so that it looks even. Sort of like hiding small imperfections. At this stage the curvatures can be seen and I get a great sense of satisfaction.
It looks nice....
Looking from the rear,,,,,,
Fitting the top took me another day. Again the time consuming process was to trim off the oversized wood panel. The cuddy had to be sanded and more fillers applied. those pesky epoxy gum that had flowed down had to be removed with a grinder and then finally sanded.
A day after the glassing the extra bits of cloth are triimed off.
The joints between each sheet of glass cloth must be "hidden"..sanded down and "levelled" so that it looks like one big piece of cloth covering the wood
And along with his wife and 
