Since I've been in Timor, I've become about as addicted to smoking as I've ever been. I haven't smoked for more than 72 hours now. I'm unsure if I'm quitting or just taking a break. Either way, I am feeling extremely edgy and jittery. Supposedly the nicotine is out of my system and all that's left is in my mind.

I went out on Saturday night with some of my Timorese friends. It was the first time I’d been in a car with my local friends. In general, people in Timor are terrible drivers. I’m not just referring to the Timorese – everyone drives like a fool.

While we out on Saturday, I saw the vehicles of three well-known organizations
(complete with acronyms for all to see) being driven recklessly around Dili. These are people who should know better, who should be setting an example to others, you might argue.

UNPOL and the PNTL have supposedly started setting up nighttime checkpoints to catch drink drivers. This initiative, I gather, is a knee-jerk reaction to a UN vehicle crashing into a lamppost and the driver fleeing the scene.

In a country with so many bad drivers and so many drunk people, it would make sense to inform people about the dangers of drink driving. I haven’t seen evidence of any such initiative, although I’m sure one of the NGOs will have at least touched on the subject before.

UNPOL’s response, more a warning to its own staff than an attempt to curb drink driving in Timor, won’t have an impact. Down at the Atlantic nightclub on Saturday night, there were about 400 drunk people with their vehicles, including my friends.

We nearly crashed a few times and I made a mental note never to get in a car with my Timorese buddies again. At some points they will possibly kill themselves or someone else.

Perhaps it’s asking too much for a drink-driving campaign to be launched in a developing country, but now is as good a time as any to think about teaching the locals good habits. However, if international organizations can’t even be relied on for keeping the roads safe, there probably isn’t much hope for the rest of us.

Do those big white 4×4s have to drive so fast? Do they need to overtake on blind corners? Are the obligated to rip through quiet residential areas? ‘Tis all a mystery.

I must admit, I've lost track of what is going on in Thailand. I've been paying more attention to events in Timor-Leste. There are far more interesting things going on than the colors of people's shirts. I was surprised — actually bemused — to read this on the Bangkok Post website:

Supporters of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) flocked into Udon Thani province Saturday, amassing at the airport to intercept the arrival of People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) leaders who planned join a PAD gathering in the province.

So the PAD is still protesting. The group was originally set up to protest against Thaksin. After the coup of 2006, the group disbanded. It then got back together to protest against Samak being prime minister. Samak quit after being found guilty of hosting a television cooking show. Our beloved Sondhi had at one point said that Somchai would be a suitable prime minister, but then Sondhi changed his mind and the PAD protested against Somchai.

A lot of madness ensued and now Abhisit is prime minister, but the protests continue. The UDD was set up to protest against the PAD and the PAD spends at least some of its time counter-protesting against the UDD's protests.

I'm lost.

I was at a friend’s house the other day and I was listening to a conversation between a couple of people at our table. One of these guys was preparing to leave Timor to go to Thailand, while the other had been on an exchange and, I think, spent about a year in LOS, so he was offering some general advice with regards to places to party.

I kept my mouth shut during the exchange because I hadn’t been asked my opinion and I didn’t want to steal this chap’s thunder. I listened with interest as he depicted Bangkok as some kind of “playground for adults”. One of his pieces of advice was, “Don’t always go for the prettiest girl because she gets around a lot,” or something to that effect.

Bear in mind that both of these guys were about my age. The establishment this one fella recommended for a good party was Hollywood at Ratchada Soi 4, which is coyote club if I’m not mistaken. It was clear that this person’s Bangkok was slightly different to mine.

After the person giving the advice left, I turned to my friend and told him not to go to any of the places he had been recommended. He was looking for places that play decent electronic music so I rattled off a few names and all was well.

It was intriguing to hear how another guy my age sees Bangkok. I’m not saying that the Bangkok I’d recommend to someone is better or worse, but to live in the city for a prolonged period and not get much more out of it than taking home a few pretty Thai girls is such a waste of the experience.

Of course, I’m basing my judgment on one conversation. I don’t know the ins and outs of this man’s year in Bangkok. Perhaps he was just beefing up his advice for the all-male crowd.

I think Bangkok is a great city. I miss it. I miss the late-night food, the crowds, the parks, the party circuit and the people I saw it with, the Skytrain, the concerts at protests, the cheap T-shirts, the food courts, the kids breakdancing and the kids dressed as anime characters outside MBK, the music, culture, and the sounds of the city day and night.

I don’t want to go and live there again other than when I have to take my exams, but you really can’t get Bangkok out of your system.

I experienced my first earthquake recently. Well, it was actually my second in the same week. However, I wouldn’t have known the first one happened had my housemate not told me she thought the house was shaking. The second one I definitely felt though.

It was during the afternoon of Wedneday, January 26, and I was at the IOM offices doing an interview. All of a sudden the building began shaking. I thought nothing of it until we were all told to go outside. It was only a small tremor, but it was very exciting. The quake was apparently record as 6.0 on the Richter scale over in West Timor.

I had never experienced an earthquake before. All right, I know earthquake aren’t good and that they can cause buildings to fall down, people to die and things like tsunamis to happen, but I felt a sense of achievement and was able to cross off an item from my list of things to do before I die.

Other items on that list include seeing David Bowie in concert, interviewing Bjork and living in Japan.