The Adventures of Julie

Thursday, November 10, 2011

The World Is My Playground

Warning this is one of those semi-serious introspective what have I learned from this trip, reflective, blah blah blah blogs. So stop now if you are expecting my usual light hearted witty thoughts. I will promise you a joke at the end if you slog though. Or you can just skip to the end and tell me you read It so I feel good. :)

So, first big trip all by myself. I be a grown up. I won’t lie it was harder than I thought and more rewarding as well. There were nights I felt so lonely and wanted to cry, that I wished for my ex or just someone to share the moment with, and other times where I had met the most amazing people and spent the night laughing, talking, dancing, and thinking I wouldn’t trade this moment for anything. I have been stretched and pulled, torn in two and put back together, had amazing discussions, met amazing people, had wicked adventures and broadened my mind. Seven months and six countries later (Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, India, Sri Lanka, Burma) I am back in Taiwan feeling like I never left and that I have lived a lifetime since I have been gone.

Since April I have…

Decorated my body with glow paint and danced on the beach during the full moon party, drank way way too much alcohol, broke into a national monument – twice (it was the same one, I just got caught the first time, so went home, changed my clothes, bribed a tuk-tuk driver to show me another way in and successfully snuck in the second time), attempted to surf, dove off a cliff, scuba dived and saw the biggest fish ever – named Elvis of course, because he is the king, messed up a visa and had to figure out how to fix it, did my first visa run, scootered all over Sapa, Northern Thailand, Goa, Ko Tao, Phuket, and Nha Trang, took a bamboo raft through a giant cave, kayaked through three caves, ate live shrimp, was horribly sick in India, couchsurfed in Delhi India, Passara Sri Lanka, Shimla, India, Pai, Thailand, Chennai, India, and Mae Hong Son, Thailand, spent days doing nothing where my biggest achievement was walking to town to get lunch and watching the rice paddies, was silent for ten days, discussed religion over Pho in Hanoi, and sex over a Kuma Sutra book in a café in Pai, wakeboarded, kissed on the beach, got thrown in the ocean by a drunk Italian, had an entire wardrobe made, walked up to random people and introduced myself, stayed at the Golden Temple in Amitsar, drank the best Lassie EVER, watched monks chant at sunset high above the world at Ankor Wat, danced the night away on a beach in Phi Phi, bought too many sundresses, saw a man shove a large sharp peg through his skull at the vegetarian festival, watched the sunrise in Sri Lanka, danced in the ocean, drank beer on the beach at sunset, ate lots of pad thai, green curry, banana chocolate pancakes, fruit smoothies, and fried rice, kissed a midget, missed a night bus and slept on a random hotel couch, asked a guy out for drinks and got rejected, sat down with a guy at a bar and did not get rejected, tried kite boarding, was stunned and moved at the War Remnants Museum in Saigon, watched bodies burning in Varanasi as well as a dead guy we named Bob floating down the Varanasi, took about 3,000 pics at the Taj Majal, walked through a blue city, lived in bungalows, bamboo huts, lofts, and even a dorm bed for two weeks, took pics with at least 50 random Indian families, got to be a Superstar, explored temples, wats, and ruins, crashed my scooter, ate meals with at least 100 different people, slept on buses, hammocks, planes, trains, benches, beaches, slapped a guy who touched my ass, was part of a giant water fight in Phi Phi for Songram, the Thai New Year, learned Muy Tai boxing, ate a happy pizza, drank shots of rice wine, jumped off the top of a boat, went skinny dipping with 20 other drunk foreigners in Halong Bay singing “I can be Your Hero”, hiked to the end of the world, saw the white temple in Chiang Rai, (and yes, they do have a pic of Michael Jackson in Hell, props to Emily Awesomesauce for being right), danced to “With or Without You” in Pai more times than I can count, explored waterfalls, caves, and hot springs, smoked Hooka with an adorable Dutch guy at a little bar in Pai, hitchhiked in Thailand, sung “I Will Survive” as a duet from a scooter In the rain, watched the sunset from the hot springs at a monastery, had a tuk-tuk driver ask to kiss me (I said no), toured a slum in Mumbai, worked at an Indian wedding….to name just a few adventures.

It has been a trip like no other, and somewhere in the middle of it I think I did find some of those answers I was looking for, and more importantly I gained a sense of myself and an acceptance of who I am now. I have struggled mightily to come to terms with my divorce, and what I believe now about God, Christianity, Religion, etc. And I think I have finally forgiven myself, made a fragile peace with what I believe, and established a truce with God, maybe even an understanding. I still have my issues, but I've realized all of us do, it just depends on how well we handle them and I'm getting pretty good at handling mine. :) I have seen that I need to live in the Now ; enjoy life for all it has to offer, and stop looking back. My future’s so bright I gotta wear shades. :)

And where to next? Is the question of the hour. I am thinking South America, most likey. I think I will just rock up to Rio and see what happens. But we will see what happens. Maybe I'll find a reason to stay around. The world is my playground after all.

Okay, now for the promised joke. This is the best joke I heard on the trip and I have told it everywhere. A bra and two jumper cables walk into a bar. The bartender says, I am sorry but I can’t serve you. Why not they ask? Because, you are clearly off your tits and you two are about to start something. Ba dop ba shhh.

by jewel30 at 4:04 AM |