When I was away in December, one question that kept cropping up was what kind of accommodation I live in. People were surprised to hear that I don’t live in a treehouse, although living in a treehouse would be marvelous.

My house in Dili just a normal house. I say “my house”, but I don’t own it – I just stay there. The house is huge considering only two people live in it, which was unsettling at first but I’m slowly getting used to it. We live about five kilometers from the center of town, which means I can no longer walk everywhere, but I plan to invest in a bicycle this weekend, so all should be well.

I’m going to take you on a virtual tour of my house. I can’t promise it will be exciting, but it may be of interest to some people. This house costs $800 a month to rent, which is very expensive when you consider where I am.

First up, this is my bedroom. There are four bedrooms in this house. Nobody sleeps in two of them, although there's a new girl moving in soon. As you can see, I have a bed and also a window. I don’t need much else. I haven’t invested much time in tidying up since I’ve been back, but rest assured that I know where everything is.

This is the kitchen. None of the stuff you see is mine, except for two packets of instant noodles and two packets of biscuits. This is actually rather a decent kitchen and we even have a microwave. I don’t plan on ever cooking anything in the kitchen, but it’s good to know that it’s there.

Onto the laundry room where, as you may notice, I recently did some laundry. There’s also a large bag of dog food in the corner – more on that later.

This is the second bathroom, which has a hot shower. I was never able to get used to cold showers, so I’m happy to have hot water as and when I need it. There is another bathroom that connects to the master bedroom.

This is what I call the dining room. It has a large table in the middle, perfect for dining, although I've only dined at the table once.

Here is the living room. On this particular day I took it over with my books, papers, computer, T-shirt and a plate of bananas. We have a TV and DVD player, as well as a guitar. The guitar has 12 strings, which blows my mind, but sometimes when nobody is home, I pretend I’m a rock star.

Here’s the front garden. We even have a rose-apple tree. At least, I think they are rose apples. Whatever they are, they fall from the tree and crash onto the roof of the porch day and night. I was thinking about eating one, but haven’t got round to it yet.

Outside we have a pretty little porch, which is where I go to smoke. From the porch, we have magnificent views of the garden.

These are the dogs I live with, Jack and Winston. I don’t know which one is which, but they aren’t mine. I like playing with the dogs, but sometimes I forget that I’m allergic to them. The same thing happened when we had cats in Phuket. They’re just too cute not to poke and prod, and they're also very good at peeing in my room, eating anything smaller than a motorbike, covering the garden with rubbish, barking when I'm asleep and generally getting in the way.

Here’s Jack or Winston looking like a movie star. Bless.

We also have a garden round the back, which looks much the same as the front garden, although it has a strange seating area with several very old couches. Interestingly, there’s also an outdoor shower that still works, but looks as if it hasn’t been used for several years.

So that’s my house in Dili. If anyone would like to come and stay with me, I’m sure I could arrange for a tent to be set up in the garden. I might be moving out soon so you'd better get your skates on.