culture shock

I am back in Australia and I have been hit with the biggest wave of culture shock since my journey began. I was so looking forward to coming back to Australia, being able to brush my teeth without bottled water, having everyone speak english, and having an "easy" time again. While all the above things are true, I was still in culture shock coming back to Oz. I think I purposefully forgot how expensive it is here, and how it sucks to be in a room with 5 other strangers and making an effort to make zero noise. Not to mention how absolutely picturesque Asia was and even though Darwin is beautiful it just does not compare.

Let me backtrack to the rest of my time in SE Asia.

I got to Phuket and stayed there only for one night. Phuket, much like Bangkok, is a big city, not all that beautiful, lots of cars, traffic, noise, etc. Glad i only stayed for one night. My flight to Singapore was easy, and like the last 2 weeks of my trip in Thailand it rained. Luckily enough, It stopped long enough for myself and this english couple to head out to little india for some food, and to go to the night safari. The night safari was brilliant. The animals were really close to us, and not caged, there was lots of diversity among them, and it was most likely my favorite zoo experience. Singapore, was just as most people say, clean and expensive. The people were friendly, and it was truly a melting pot of cultures.

After only one night in Singapore I headed to Bali. Bali was HOT. It was gorgeous, and although I didn't know what I expected, it wasn't what I had in mind. It was incredibly touristy. I am sure this has to do with the fact that I stayed in Kuta Beach. I was only in Bali for 3 days, and I definitely could have used at least one week. My last day in Bali I found a man who would drive me around the island for the entire day for $25 American dollars. He took me to a traditional Balinese dance, the monkey forest, a volcano, rice terraces, a few temples, and a couple of beaches near dusk to watch some surfing. Bali was gorgeous, and there was so much more than Kuta beach, the touristy shops and whatnot.  I would definitely like to go back.

My flight to Darwin from Bali was at 10:30 at night, meaning I didnt land in Australia until 2:30 am. Oh and by the way it costs $15 just to leave Indonesia. It only costs $10 to get in, and $15 to leave. Bizarre. Also I forgot to mention the intensity of Indonesia and the anti-drug policy there. When you land at the airport there are signs all over the place saying "the penalty for drug trafficking is death".  They had drug sniffing dogs that smelled all of our belongings, as well as scanning everything and rubbing that odd cotton piece of paper along our bags. I still dont know what that does or what it detects. Anyhow- it was a pretty intense process. As far as a I know there is currently an Australian girl who claims someone planted drugs in her boogy board bag and has been charged with the death penalty. Who knows if they were really planted there, or if she tried to smuggle them in, but regardless death for drugs is a pretty severe penalty if you ask me.

By the time I got to my hostel in Darwin it was 4 am, and I got little sleep that night. I managed to be fairly productive the next day and booked a 3 day camping trip to the Kakadu National Park. This area is home to several different aboriginal tribes, and was absolutely stunning. For three days we did a few short treks, saw a few different art sights where the rock art the aboriginals did has been persevered, went on a billabong cruise to go croc spotting, (we saw 2), swam in several water holes, (which by the way all had fresh water crocs in them, but apparently its only the salt water crocs you need to watch out for) and hiked to a few waterfalls. At one of the waterfalls, this german girl on the trip started screaming in german and swimming away from me really fast. I had no idea what was going on, but in my experience, any time someone screams and starts swimming away from one general direction I think it is a good thing to follow. Luckily I did, because directly behind me on the rock wall was what the tour guide later told us was the most deadly snake in the world. Great! Thank god for screaming German girl. While on the trip we did traditional bush camping.  That means we slept under the stars in swags.  No tents, no protection from the elements, just us, the earth, and the stars.  Oh, and lots, and lots of mozzies.  I HATE MOZZIES!!! It was pretty great to camp under the stars though, even if I do have lots of mosquito bites.

It is just now the start of the dry season in Darwin and the surrounding area, so not everything is open up here. However, because it was just the wet season, everything in Kakadu was so so green. It was amazing how green it was. By far the most green I have seen anywhere in Australia.

Now, I am trying to figure out where to go next. I would like to be in Adelaide by May 1 to settle down for a bit, stay for a few months to work and save some cash. So I have about 10 days to get there, not positive where I will go in the next week and a half, but wherever I go I hope my Australian culture shock goes away.