The story on why I missed the ladyboy show, my conversation with God, and how I survived Thailand.

Location: Outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Time: 9:57 AM
Date: June 14th

The time had finally came. It was time for the ladyboy show to start. This had been the moment I've been waiting for forever. Whenever I think of Thailand, this is the first thing I think about. It was finally time to get a taste of the most fascinating part of Thai culture.

Then, it hit me. I started getting hot, my legs felt like jelly and the room started spinning. I knew I was about to faint. The first thing I did was go to the restroom. My stomach had been hurting like a bit, so I figured maybe I just needed to poop. Nothing came out and I was still dizzy. Maybe I was dehydrated. I went to go get water only to have them tell me I had to pay and I had no money. I went to find my family in the audience and that's when I started having a panic attack. My voice started shaking and I knew it was a matter of time before I would faint. My mom led me to the bathroom again. Still nothing. I got out and we walked outside to get fresh air. I laid down on a bench while my mom tried calling the tour guides, while I kept on repeating that I needed to go to the hospital. I was dizzy, hot, tired, weak, and terrified. Here I am, in a completely foreign country, about to faint from who knows what. Most people don't know english and I didn't know thai. If something was seriously wrong, what could I do? Laying on the park bench, halfway concious, I started talking to god.

"Hey God... Uh, It's me Johnny. So, I know I always told you that I'd be ready for you to take me when the time was right, but I still think I need more time. I'm not ready to go. I mean, I'm in a different country and all. How would my friends find out? They're not even expecting me to be back until July and I don't think my family could handle this right now. And I need to go to Emory! All that stress and anxiety, I don't think this should be my time. But it's all up to you. I'm scared, but whatever you think is right is right. If it's my time to go, then I'll go."

It may seem overdramatic, but I don't think anyone can truly understand how horrifying it felt. To be sick and not know why in a country where people can barely understand you. To not know where a hospital is or to even be able to tell someone what was wrong. Honestly and truly, I felt that at that point, I would die. And that's not something that you come to a conclusion about easily. And throughout all of this, the only thing I could think about was James. I knew that if the worst possible thing happened, that at least I would be able to see him again. And as terrified as I was, this thought gave me strength and calmed me down. Whatever happened happened, and whether I got better or worst, I would end up happy either way.

That's when I started sobbing like crazy, as I thought about James and how scared I was about what would happened. I ended up getting some medicine from my tour guide who went to a pharmacy and taking a taxi back to the hotel where I relaxed. The remaining two days consisted of me waving in and out of feeling faint and having horrible stomach pain. The fainting could be because I wasn't eating enough, or drinking enough water or just not getting enough sleep even though I thought I was doing all of those things. Everyone said the stomach problems were because I didn't digest properly because I wasn't used to the food there or maybe it was because I was constipated. Either way, I do feel better than I did when I started getting sick, but I'm still not all the wa fine. With two more tours left, I hope it doesn't get that bad again.

As for the rest of the Thailand tour, it was pretty fun. Thailand is a beautiful country that reminded me a lot like America, minus all the Asian-y stuff about it. The most memorable moments were when I rode an elephant at some show and got picked up by it's trunk, when we went to the beach and took a speed boat to a platform where I parasailed around and then took the speed boat to a little area and just chilled at the beach, when I saw that AMAZING show the first day we were there, and just being able to walk around the malls and outside and seeing how similar and different America was to Thailand. I had the most AMAZING tour group and it feels weird waking up and not seeing them after spending all this time together. Everyone and everything will truly be missed (minus the sick parts) and I had a great time. With that being said, I am ready to be back in America, but I still have a ways to go.

And dear ladyboy show, it was evident that it was not my time to go see you this time, but believe me when I say, I'll be back.

Sawasdee Thailand

xxxjohnny.

Bangkok has him now.

Location: Pattaya, Thailand
Time: 7:24 AM
Date: June 11th
THAILAND IS AMAZING.

Just a preface, I haven't been able to update in a while, and I only have a few minutes before I have to leave again, so I'll try to make it as short and sweet as possible.

The last two days in Vietnam: Me laying around in bed wataching movies (I Am Sam, Everybody's Fine, Julie and Julia, Mulan II)

The first day of the tour: Flew to Thailand on Thai Air. (AKA: The most colorfully bright plane out of the ones I've rode so far.) The flight was only an hour, so it wasn't anything tedious. Thailand > Vietnam, in terms of the cities. Thailand actually has nice buildings and isn't quite so slum-mish. Of course, this is only a tunnel vision of the whole country and since I'm on a tour, of course they're not going to show me the negative sides to anything. There are actually lots of cars here, in contrast to Vietnam where motorcycles are EVERYWHERE. It seemed as if this whole trip so far has been a fun game of expectations and reality. Let me explain that the whole tour is in Vietnamese, of course since the whole group is from Vietnam. I can speak Vietnamese and understand Vietnamese, but I am not fluent. That's not to say I can't hold a conversation, I'm just not great at it. So, half of the time, I have no idea what the tour guide is saying or where we're going. I just use context clues to fill it in or wait to be surprised. (Why don't I ask my family? Oh, I do. They just don't like telling me stuff.) So, day 1: expectations vs. reality

1. Grand Palace
Expectations: We're going to some castle looking building where the King lives.
Reality: We ended up going to this HUGE area where one section consists of huge historical royal buildings that we're all ornate and gold. The rest of the area consists of more historical buildings, government buildings and the whole site is used on occasions for the King (Which was the instance when we went and there were military people everywhere.)

2. Hotel
Expectations: Raggidy hotel with Thai people.
Reality: AMAZING hotel with all kinds of people, mostly Arabic and Indian.

3. Siam Naramit Show
Expectations: Talent show-esque where groups dance/sing/act.
Reality: WORDS CAN NOT DESCRIBE WHAT I SAW. It was amazing, beautiful, extravagant, wonderful, etc... It literally was the best thing I've ever seen on stage and I will probably ever see. It told the story of Thailand in little segments of different regions, talked about hell and heaven, and talked about the festivals they had. The costumes were amazing, stage changes were amazing, dancing and acting was amazing. Not only that, but they had live elephants, goats, roosters, half of the stage turned into a real pool. rain came from the roof, performers were literally EVERYWHERE in the room to make it as entertaining as possible, there were at least 200 performers. My mind = blown.

I have to go to the beach now, but I'll update you guys with the rest when I come back!

xxxjohnny.