It’s about 4:30am and Im currently sitting in the common area of my hostel in Bangkok, jet lagged and wide awake. I arrived here a couple days ago and haven’t got my sleep schedule right.

Shauna Ryanne is here with me, she seems to be having better success with sleep than me. On my arrival date I came in late at night and was in dire need of getting something in my stomach and before flopping to bed. A hostel worker pointed us towards what he described as a “lively area” that would be serving food. Turns out he pointed us to Soi Cowboy, a red light district

No complaints there. Theres nothing like kicking off a travel experience by eating eating spicy papaya salad in a narrow, vegas-like strip while watching scandaly clad gogo dancers and lady boys aggressively drag western men into their bar. A coule of drunk backpackers crashed our party at one point and tried to make plans that would never happen. It was one of those moments I regret being honest when asked about my profession. “You’re like, a dominatrix? But you’re so pretty! Do you show your tits?” Yeah… Get out of my space.

We went to bed at 2:30am that night and I woke up around 5am and couldnt go back to sleep. I killed some time socializng with other travelers in the hostel until waking up Shauna to join me for breakfast. We discovered we had a mutual goal to find a jack shack that serviced women. A “rub n’ rub” if you will. One of the hostel workers made the mission seem far fetched and guilted us with his vague understanding of sex trafficking. We ended up  getting a regular (& incredible) Thai massage but the dream is still alive.

Afterward we went over to Theta State Float for some sensory deprivation (essentially, where you float in a inclosed tub of salt water in complete darkness and silence.) I was connected to the owners by a mutual friend and they were kind enough to treat us to an hour. I had only done it once before back home and didn’t get much out of it the first time. I thoroughly enjoyed it this time. Chilling in a pool of nothingness was exactly what my body needed after paying a thai man to contort my body in painfully blissful ways. The owner, Annile, drank wine and chatted with us for several hours afterwards. Truly a gem of the place with a kind, laid back staff. I think they’ll going to do well.

It’s 5:45am. Someone here at the hostel sat down next to me as I was writing this and started a conversation about traveling and finding meaning in his life and work. Typical conversations run pretty deep when you’re abroad. Can’t say I miss the small talk.

I’m going to try and get more sleep.