With Sherry gone, I
now was on my own for the rest of the day. It was five O'clock and all I really
wanted to do was wander back to the hostel. I took a look at a map and found my
location and that of the hostel. It didn’t look to be that far. At most an hour
walk.
Spirits high and
feeling a bout of introspection after a packed day with my new friend, I
meandered back down the route from which Sherry and I came. It was different
now. The tourists had left and in swept the locals heading home from a hard day
at work. I watched passively as I walked by groups of people deep in
conversation, some with a light hearted tone (from what I could tell at least.
You know I don't speak Thai) and others in a very abbreviated/aggressive one.
As I walked farther
and farther down the road, I found myself following a stream amidst the middle
of two roads. The people were quickly setting up shop for a night market that
would line the stream for half of a mile. As I walked on and on, I kept getting
stares from the different stall workers mid set-up. It was clear I had happened
upon this place in a time in which I was not supposed to. After about 15 minutes of this, I veered off
the road and into a park where I heard music.
This was by far the
best surprise of the day. Unknowingly, I had wandered into a Thai Jazzercise
class in the middle of a public park. From the side walk, I watched on in
fascination. The class was moving perfectly…. Well…. Almost perfectly in sync
with the instructor. I was perplexed. All but the instructor looked like the
heat and days work had taken its toll. They lifted each limb in rhythm with the
beat but did so in an apathetic manner. As if each limb weighed fifty pounds.
A video will be inserted here of this once I get decent WiFi
Realizing that the
class had started to notice my gaze, I picked up my daypack and exited the
park, continuing back down stream. Realizing now that I had walked for around
40 minutes and only gone a mear quarter of the way. I knew I had to adapt my
plan and seek a taxi.
For a hundred baht I
bargained my way into a tuk tuk back to the hostel. The views this driver took
me to on our journey home were fantastic. Wizzing through markets, I began to
see a new side of Bangkok. All day, I had spent my time amongst tourists, making
my through the list of tourist sites. For the first time, I saw a side of
Bangkok that seemed real but foreign.
Upon returning to
the hostel, I was quickly greeted with a shot of Thai Liquor. I tried to say no
but the hostel worker was adamant that I needed to try it. I really don't know
how to describe it. All I remember is that it tasted boozy with a hint of natural
bitters like the ones that you would buy from a homeopathic medicine shop.
I was told I needed to try the liquor if I wanted a beer |
Having been greeted
with a shop, I thought it only proper to sit down and have a bit of
conversation. At the communal table sat a german, Chris; a Frenchman, Alex; and
the hostel worker, who now I think of it never actually gave me her name, just
booze.
Alex quickly began
to ask the usually questions. I'm not going to lie he had absolutely beautiful
eyes. The kind that flicker with an enigmatic glare. There is a reason why the
French are strong at wooing. I have yet to meet one that couldn't charm the socks
off someone when they wanted to. As we got deeper and deeper into conversation,
the more I became fascinated by his story. Like many travelers on their journey
alone, Alex was recently single. He had spent the last four years in a
relationship with a woman he loved but had outgrown.
His Story made me
think more and more about something a friend back home had recently expressed
to me. My friend Mark and I were walking to lunch on a Saturday afternoon and
while talking about friends he said, "you know, I don't think friends are
always meant to last forever. Sometimes they are what you need at a moment and
then you out grow them. Its not bad, it just is what it is." His words
lingered with me as I listened to Alex's story.
The more Alex
talked, the more shots the hostel worker would pour from a bottle of rum
sitting at the table. After about 3 rounds of this I was on my way to being
tipsy. After the third shot, out of the corner of my eye, I began to see Chris
glance from a packet of paperwork to his hands which gently held the hostel
workers left hand. Noticing the look of confusion gracing my face, Chris
interrupted our conversation and said, "what? I'm practicing." He
went on to explain that his year long travel around the world was now ending
and he decided that he wanted to take back something he could give all of his
friends, Thai Massages. He was enrolled in a five day, 8hour/day instructional
class on how to give a Thai massage. The idea of this struck me as brilliant!
I am horrible at
After about an hour and a half of great
conversation, a large group on British students strolled in. They announced
that they were going to go get ready and then we were all heading to a Ping
Pong show. I perked up at this. An HR Manager at General Mills had actually
told me that this was one of the things I needed to see in Thailand. She
wouldn't tell me what it was but she did say let's just say the Thai Woman
shoot things with incredible accuracy in an unusual manner.
With a game plan
set, the hostel worker turned to us and said, "if you are going to ping
pong show, you need to drink more." Suddenly our deep conversation became
a game of never have I ever. Each person got three fingers. If someone says
something that they haven't done and you've done it, you put a finger down and
drink. Once you're three fingers are down you drink the rest of your drink. She
tells me to start. "Never have I ever smoked a cigarette." I say to
the group. One finger from everyone
goes down.
Her turn is next.
"Never have I ever kissed a
girl." She says. One of my fingers goes down. The guy sitting next to her
then chimes in with "Never have I ever kissed
a guy." And Morgan comes
out. Not the worst way to do it, but it would later lead to a long line of
questioning (some rather inappropriate and others very naïve) from the British
students later in the evening.
With everyone liquored up good and ready we made our way to the tuk tuks. There were twelve of us in total. Normally you only seat 3 people maybe 4. We crammed in 6 to a tuk tuk. Not my best decision. As the driver hurled us through the neon lit streets of Bangkok towards our ping pong show, a moment a rose in which our carts were side by side. Recognizing the need for a selfie, I handed my phone off to the farthest back corner and instructed him to line the selfie up down the middle of the two carts and snap the photo. I watched nervously as he reached his arm outside our cart into the streets, fumbling about with my phone whilst trying to take the photo. After fifteen seconds, all was well. My phone safely returned in my pocket.
Like most drunken
nights in a new city it raged on. We saw a suspect ping pong show…. let's just
say the performer missed… A LOT! We saw an Irish bar and then ended up back at
the hostel beers in hand bantering about.
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