And we leave Australia...

BY JOHN:
Arrived in Darwin on Virgin Blue at about midnight. Unfortunately for me, the Foxtel in the back of the seat was not working, my mp3 player was flat and I didnt bring a book. There was a bloke from Katherine, NT sitting next to us who was a dapper young chap with all kinds of insights on cricket, rugby league and beer. Was quite tired after not sleeping all day so thought I would have a nightcap on the 4 hour flight across the desert. Together we chatted all things sport, women and liquor, and proceeded to down a fair cart of booze. After 4 G&Ts and a Bundy, the stewardess informed myself and Bruno that we would now be :SLOWED DOWN: We then managed a bit of a kip before being woken by a different stewardess asking if we were right for booze.
Stepped off the plane in Darwin. Got punched in the face by intense heat. Then I started sweating, and I realized the humidity was at gay %. I am not sure of which way humidity goes, but it was the most humid weather I have ever experienced.
From there we headed to our apartment via shuttle bus. Ernie was the driver and a magnificent job he did.
First thing we did the next day after waking up in a beautifully chilled 16degree room, was hit the main street of Darwin. Had a bit of breakfast, a couple of pints and then back to the apartment to laze by the pool. It is then we had the brainwave to get beers, to drink in the pool, and I thought I could just go up to the bottle-o barefoot. After getting outside our apartment complex, I realized that the ground was uber-hot. I would predict the outside temperature at 36degrees. We walked to the bottle-o up the road, that I had seen earlier, and it was closed on Sundays. So it was a mad-dash along intensely hot footpaths back to a place called
:THE BUFF CLUB:

I walked across the car park, and realized the tar in the bitumen was melting. Onto my feet. This caused for great displeasure. We ended up with the booze however, and back to the pool to chillax. A few hours wasted, a couple more beers with dinner and back on Ernies bus to the airport... overseas bound we were!!!

BY SHANNON:
It's the most full on place ever!! No amount of Getaway or internet research prepares you for the roads and noise and smells here. Seriously, I have taken photos but I'm going to get a video of it tomorrow, its madness.

We went for a walk today around the shops, and got followed by a Cyclo dude called Son. He speaks English quite well and has taken alot of Australians on Cyclo tours, he seems to really like us for some reason and has a photo album of his "friends" - the people he's toured around the city. Anyway he has offered to be our guide while we are here. We went on an hour long Cylo tour of the city this afternoon, I thought th traffic was madness in a car!! The Vietnamese all think John was hilaroiusbeing driven around in a Cyclo, Son has the build of a praying mantis and isn't much taller than me and peddaled him around for an hour! People were pointing and staring and laughing, all in good fun thoughnot animosity.

We are going to meet with Son tomorrow, and get him totake us on a tour of Long Tan. He wants to take us to the Mekong as his family lives there and also to the Cu Chi tunnels - his price is a little expensive though so we'll probably book the tour with the guideplace Sinh Cafe. I've got the most hilarious pictures of John being surrounded by people peddling sun glasses and all sorts of other shit, he's really bad at telling them no so they literally follow us down the street! We had Fillet Mignon Steak tonight for 70,000 Dong which is about AUD$6.00! Cheaper than pub food AND better cuts of steak.

Singapore was so incredibly boring, mind we didn't leave the airport as we had no time to do a tour of the city. We had Rotten Ronnies there for breakfast - everything was made from chicken! The Sausage and egg muffin - chicken patty. They also don't sell anything with bacon on it - weird. Oh and they have squatting pan toilets! I took a photo because they've got hoses to wash your bum with when you're done!! Along with normal loos thank god!

More updates and photos very soon...
john.shannon.vietnam@gmail.com