Darwin, Australia: it's no Asia

So here we are in the north of Aus suffering culture shock at the hands of Darwin City. I have to say Carla and I were quite nervous about leaving Asia. We got quite comfortable there, I mean I can't say that I don't enjoy bathing a million times more now that the showers are hot...and real showers for that matter. I can truly appreciate the western ideal of seperating the toilet and where we clean ourselves. But at the same time, it is soooo expensive here. I want to retreat.

Bali was wonderful, although we spent our last week fighting with Garuda for our flight, we stayed in Sanur a patch of white sand beach just south of the airport. We shopped the markets in Denpasar, sunned on the beach, watched all the kites fly all day (this is a big Bali thing; kite building and flying). We met some nice boys at Jimmy's Bar, including Nyoman the hottest deaf surfer this side of everywhere. Stumbled upon the charms of Mike Sunglasses who drives the hardest bargain on the boardwalk, and told us about all the latest and greatest horror films we'd been missing. Including Hostel, which we still refuse to watch, since we have to stay in one. And of course Scott from the Westcoast of Aus who warned us about the bad mining boys in Darwin(no complaints yet), and let us chill and crash at his Villa, with the spa and pool...we really wanted to stay on in Bali for this one. And who shared with us our alcoholic tendencies in our last couple of days at the Beachside Bar, and didn't let us get sentimental about the loss we were feeling in leaving. Thanx for the fond farewell Scotty.

Asia was great, as a whole, if we could generalize here for a minute. The food, most often delicious, and for give or take a mere 1$ a meal. All I ate for the last month and a half was Nasi Goreng, ie Fried Rice with prawn crackers and sambal of course, my two new obsessions and the only two Asian import foods I managed to smuggle into the country. The two months before that geen curry....i miss you stall lady in Bangkok. Plus, the people are always willing to tell you more than you need to know about every town and city and what there is to do there. Even if we managed to see no further than the beach or beach side bar in 7 days, we still felt like we were touring and enjoying the 'culture' of the various countries. Our only stress when we rolled into a new town was do we pay 5$ for a rat free room or 2$ and risk invasion. ahh the good life....

Then there is Darwin, as soon as we got off the plane with 6$ Aussie between us, I knew there was going to be trouble. We arrived on a Sunday, first mistake, with a holiday monday following, second mistake. Therefore no banks were open. Not even the one at the airport(if you could call it that). All the hostels were full, because of the holiday; The Darwin Cup, and we were considering putting a tent on the Visa and busing it to the nearest campground.

But after about 4 hours of super stress, we found a bed (at 22$ each a night!!!!), and were given meal tickets for 1$ pub grub. Actually this is the best deal in town. We get coupons from the hostel and get to eat real meals like roast beef and mashed potatoes for a dollar. Which is a great help in substituting our new otherwise diet of grilled cheese and instant noodles(with sambal!). So don't worry moms, we're getting our veggies. Things since that first meal have been slowly falling into place.

I secured a job at the hostel to pay for our beds. Carla has three trials this week at various restaurants, pretty much meaning she'll have her pick for jobs. We found the mall, and there's a free shuttle to it! And even better, we found the bottle shop and the cheapest boxed wine they offer (10$ for 2L). And so we're settling back into small town western life slowly but surely and plan to make our mark on this town before we leave.

So things are good. The plan is work our asses off, drink in the down time, and get our buts on the road. We'll be there in no time Jess, i promise.

miss you all, R