It's only been a week out of Vanuatu but so much has already happened, so much so that living in a house made of wild cane seems almost like a dream. Straight out of Vanuatu, Mike and I headed for the hot and humid city of Darwin, Australia. We had decided a while ago to move slowly back to Western civilization and Darwin seemed like a good start and it was also cheaper flying through there than from Sydney. While in Darwin we saw the jumping crocodiles which are just that: crocodiles that jump. We took a river boat in croc infested waters while one of the guides held pieces of meat over the side of the like she was fishing for them. The crocodiles then jump up and try to snatch the meat as everyone watches. Not only is it amazing to see in person but these animals are less than 2 meters away when they leap out of the water for the meat. It was definately worth it, especially seeing the 5 meter long croc named Michael Jackson with the missing back right leg, he was huge. The rest of Darwin wasn't as exciting as that but we still managed to see Lichfield park where we swam in some waterfalls, did some hiking and saw huge magnetic termite hills. Our hostel was very good for the money and I swear to God a toddler started asking me questions in Bislama "Yu go wea?" I started to storian with the baby but realized it was an infant and could not storian.

After Darwin we jumped on a plane and zipped over to Singapore, which seemed like an Asian Disneyland compared to Vanuatu. It is impeccably clean, the subways are spotless and everyone seemed to have a working knowledge of the English language, something that can't even be said for the average American. It's a gorgeous city and Mike and I walked everywhere, from China Town to the Colonial District, from the Colonial District to Little India and then back to China Town. Along the way we stumbled into the oldest brewery in Singapore where I got to drink beer brewed with tamarind, orange peel and ginger. Not only was it great but due to a waiter's error we got a free serving of fish, chips, and chicken wings, not to shabby for being stuck in a bar during a rain storm. We ate at the food stalls every day in Little China and I managed to get down to the Night Safari at the Singapore Zoo. Now I love zoo's since I was just about raised at the one in San Diego as well as Sea World so I had a blast, playing games with the otters, watching jaguar cats play and spending a lot of time watching the Binturongs which have to be one of the coolest animals ever. I mean, when was the last time you saw a freaking Bear Cat running through the trees? Unfortunately since we couldn't use the flash most of my photos came out blurry. Afterwards we went to the Museum of Asian Civilizations and while it covered south, southeast and west Asia there was no exhibit on Japan. It's cool though, Japan is so cool it doesn't need to be labelled as an "Asian Civilization." I mentioned this on the suggestion computer as we left the exhibits. We spent just the right amount of time in Singapore, I wanted to leave but hadn't gotten sick of it yet.

We arrived in Bangkok yesterday and got a cheap ticket up to Chiang Mai the same day, finally getting to a hostel last night around 9pm and immediately headed over to the Sunday night market where I ate way too much at all the food stalls. It was incredible how many people were in such a small space. I'm sure it wasn't too much but for me it was a little overwhelming. We spent a while walking around, admiring some bamboo lanterns and painting when Mike decided to get a foot massage. Not thinking much of it, I got one as well and had a very intense hour long session of calf and foot work done while trying to speak to the masseuse who knew about 20 words in English. Chiang Mai seems just busy enough for me without giving me vertigo, I'm very happy we decided to skip Bangkok as I have heard crazy stories about how busy and crowded Bangkok is. Today we started the first of 5 days at the Chiand Mai Thai Cookery School which was an absolute blast. I haven't eaten so much in a long time and it was all so so good, my favorite being the fish in red curry sauce. Mmmmmm, curry. We also met up with Jenneric and should be going to a Muy Thai boxing match with them and Joe and Karen.

So we went to the Muy Thai match and it is freaking brutal! We saw kids from like, 6 and up. The title bout was between two boxers who weighed 140 lbs of pure muscle. I was hoping that the guy in blue shorts would win and he made a great comeback but was ultimately knocked out, sori. Mike and I were betting on matches (just between the two of us) and ended up coming out even at the end of the night. We'll be in Chiang Mai for a while, I'll probably change hostels in a few days and take a trip or two up to the Hill Tribes and see the long neck women.