“I traveled to Thailand for 6 weeks a few years ago. I didn’t know anyone there, nor did I know the language. Still, I’m always down for an adventure, especially in a beautiful place… 

A few days after arriving in Bangkok at the start of the trip, I was hooked up with a friend of a NYC friend who’s been living in the city for a decade. She invited me to stay with her in her beautiful home, and I couldn’t believe my luck. The place was spacious, cool (great AC), and in a quiet and slightly secluded part of the city. The son of one of her American friends was also in town, so he and I went out for some late-night bar hopping. He had been there for months already, and sort of spoke the language and knew his way around, so I felt comfortable letting him be my guide for a few hours on this solo-trip.

The night was a lot of fun, but as we got into the wee hours of the morning, my jet lag really started to kick in. I needed to go to sleep, so the guy, Ben, put me in a cab, and explained to the driver where I was staying. We said our goodbyes, and all was honky dory until the taxi driver realized he didn’t know where my place was. 

In broken English he expressed that he was lost, and there we were, somewhere in that massive city totally lost in translation. I had the address written down in Thai, but he still couldn’t figure it out. In these days before Google Maps and Google Translate, the only thing we could do was talk to each other in our respective languages totally unable to comprehend one another. We had been driving around the area for about 10 minutes when I recognized a familiar landmark; the gas station a few blocks away from my friend’s home. Since I couldn’t tell the driver, “make a left here, then drive me down that side street,” I signaled that I would like to get out and walk. I paid him the baht, and made my way to my refuge as quickly as my feet would take me. 

I was so afraid that I would never make it out of that cab and back to my place, but when I did I patted myself on the back for handling that terrifying situation with the coolness of a green papaya…”

– Jenné Claiborne // @sweetpotatosoul

068/100 of #100DaysofConfessions Instagram Project