As a gracious grad gift from my parents, I spent three weeks in Southeast Asia on a Contiki tour. I did the tour on my own, like the majority of the other travellers and together we explored Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. Obviously, the trip was one of a lifetime and one I’m not sure I’ll ever stop talking about, just because it taught me so much about myself. My first night was in Bangkok where I met 30 other people I’d have to spend 20 hours a day with for the next 16 days. A little daunting for someone who’s never solo travelled before, but I forced myself to just go with the flow and say yes to everything (well, no drugs). After our group introduction meeting, I found myself in a group of girls who could not be lovelier. A couple Aussies, a Kiwi, two Brits, and an American later and I had myself set for a fun night out.
There’s something about being in a new city that throws all caution to the wind and time slows down a little. The air is easier to breathe, and walking just feels lighter. Logistically I should have been terrified, I was on the other side of the world by myself and didn’t speak the language but I’ve never been happier. These people were incredibly easy to get along with and the banter was A1. After dinner, we were given a scavenger hunt of sorts and number one and two on the list were “fit as many people into a tuk-tuk as possible” and “find out what a ping-pong show is.” Now, what I love about Bangkok is that it is not a place for morals, judgement does not exist and anything is possible. Within ten minutes, I had squeezed into my very first tuk-tuk with my new friends, ended up at a ping-pong show, and bartered on my own for the first time. The entire tuk-tuk ride I kept thinking “how is this real life” because it just felt so surreal. One minute I was stressing in my suburban desolate and the next I was in Bangkok of all places heading to a goddamn ping-pong show.
Please note that a ping-pong show is nothing to brag about. It’s an entirely depressing practice that proves how desperate people are for money to survive. The only way to describe a ping-pong show is to picture a seedy miniature strip club composed of old grotesque men and idiotic tourists sitting in the dark watching a sad woman play beer pong with their vagina. As soon as we walk into the room a woman takes off her underwear and opens a coke bottle with her…particulates and the horror on all of our faces is indescribable. After a few more sets that only left us sadder, the ping-pong lady arrived and her aim was honestly impeccable. She was having fun with it, and while I would like to have as well, the fear of splashback from her bucket of ping pongs was enough for us to 
leave. I was struck with another moment of “what am I doing” but in the sense that despite how ridiculous this entire situation was, it was something I’d never experience again. I’m literally never going to be at another ping-pong show, the feeling of being in Thailand for the first time can never be recreated and my first solo travel trip was a milestone I’ve now met. I was living so many firsts and the magic behind experiencing it all could not be lost. All my anxieties somehow went on hold as I experienced the most unreal and unexpected adventures and became the best version of myself.
After the show, we met cute boys from Liverpool and suddenly we were on the iconic Khao San Road. Known as the “backpacker ghetto” we were offered everything from laughing gas to scorpions (which I ate) to a massage on the side of the road. We abandoned the boys, ended up at a bar with the rest of our Contiki group and began our 16-day bender by drinking Changs, which is the beer of choice in Thailand and dancing the night away. It was a night of meeting new people and figuring out who I am outside of reality. It turns out that I actually like who I am when I’m stripped down, I’m a freer variation of myself and I’m excited to see where she takes me. There’s an entire world out there, endless lists of firsts to experience and I refuse to let the magic of it all get lost in the mundanity of life and “getting my shit together.” My first night in Bangkok awoke something in me that I can’t wait to explore on this blog, so get ready for my ramblings.
