Is it actually fun to stay at the YMCA? My brief foray into the drag cabaret scene

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What can I say? I like to be on stage. So when they asked for audience participation at the drag cabaret we happened across in Ko Tao, I simply couldn't resist. As Courtney later noted, I literally leaped out of my seat. I really wanted all three of us to go up, but then who would capture it on film? And speaking of which, I think Courtney has some more pictures and possibly video of this performance, which I hope to add at some point.

I don't think I have written about this yet, but it's no joke that there are quite a lot of "Lady Boys" in Thailand and it can often be quite difficult to separate the boys from the women, so to speak. There's nothing quite like being stage with a bunch of lady boys and wondering if you are feminine enough by comparison.

Though we arrived rather late to the cabaret show, I think we still got to see some of the highlights, such as a Mamma Mia medley (awesome) and an extremely heartfelt rendition of Sinatra's "My Way" in which the Lady Boy, while lipsinking the song, changed before our very eyes from a woman back into a man. And she/he definitely was androgynous because she/he was nice-looking either way!

The 'finale' involved dressing 3 farang up in silly costumes and making them dance to "YMCA" in front of all the other Lady Boys. It was me and 2 funny Germans. I particularly enjoyed the man wearing the red dress. I was having a good time dancing up there for about the first minute, but I just never realized how long that song drags out! I would pay to know what the emcee was saying about us in Thai as we danced. I'm sure the Thai people got a good laugh out of it, whatever it was.

All in a good night's fun in Thailand.

(It should be noted that I was entirely sober during this performance, merely "high on life" and the thrill of the stage.)

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