Ping Pongs at Patpong

Now I feel that my visit to Bangkok is complete! I likened my dillemma to traveling to Anaheim and not paying a visit to Disneyland! You've read about it, you've heard all the stories...so you're in town...you gotta go#@!?

...Right???

I'm rambling about the notorious red-light district known as Patpong in Bangkok. It's in all the travel guides.

Well, after three very strong white russian cocktails, I managed to muster enough nerve and simultaneously abandon all my Catholic inhibitions & relinquish my Asian sensibilities - and hailed a cab to take me "shopping" in the Patpong district.

No sooner did I step out of the taxi when I was accosted by touts with graphic pictures and descriptions of shows they were trying to solicit. I raised my hand to gesture "no" and turned my nose up with false indignation.

Yet, beneath the veneer of indifference, lay desperate human curiosity. (How else could I explain the behavior of a single woman foraying in the seedier areas of town?)

I paced the main drag about three times. Soon I felt self-conscious that the touts were actually beginning to recognize me! I was sobering up rather quickly and I knew that I had to make my move before all my courage was lost.

As I tried to be nonchalant, I noticed an American couple enter a bar. I quickly followed behind them hoping to "blend."

Without being too graphic, here are the highlights: Ping-Pong balls propelled into the air with incredible precision into buckets across the room; Bottle caps that were like sling shots after incredibly being twisted off their respective bottles; and darts aimed at balloons above my head - I cringed during this part of the act...what if they missed?

I didn't have travel insurance. That was all I could risk...

So are the bragging rights worth it? Yeah...if only to say, "been there, done that."