You are in Bangkok for one month now and not gone for Cabaret yet, no good.
Yeah! But my colleagues have gone back to their home countries and they will not be back until another 15 days, may be I will think then. I dont have any company with me right now.
But you have been staying here from last 1 month and you did not go there still? You have gone to so many places alone all the while. Are you afraid of going alone there?

I was impressed with her intelligence to read my mind correctly. But, I continued with my excuses. I am not afraid. See, its not a place where you go alone. She was not someone who would take no for an answer. She persisted, Mdam you are missing something. See, its a lady boy concept. Everyone who comes to Bangkok goes there. Its an event to watch for, nothing wrong in it. Now even I am curious to know what is it? Sorry? I am not going to tell you anything, otherwise its no fun. Its not fair. I was trying to get all the sympathy I can. Ok I will take you to the cabaret. My Tourist guide declared. Alright! I will buy your ticket too. I replied. I could not believe it, she managed to sell it to me. Done! then lets meet at 8. But, you have to pay now. She wanted to make sure, I wont back out and she genuinely wanted me to watch the show. Alright, give me your tour guide no., and agency number. We both made sure that none of us back out at the last moment. I had 2 hours in my hand.

I went back home to relax. I was wondering, Was it a right decision? I mean, going for a Cabaret at all? That too with a stranger whom I had just met? Am I getting over smart by making these kind of off the floor deals? Will it be a good place for me to go like that? Oopps! What have I done? Its 8 oclock! May be that I was too curious to explore the concept or that I had paid a bulky sum in advance, or I had made up my mind so there was no way I am going to back out. I gotta go.

I entered a big hall. I glanced at the audiences; they were mainly tourist from Japan, Europe and Australia. To my surprise, they all had come with Family, few of them with kids too. Alright, not all that bad place after all ;-) I had a sense of relief for the first time in the last 2 hours.

Now, all the ladies who will come on the stage are actually guys who have converted themselves in ladies. They have altered their gender. Its very common in Thailand. I was amazed to see the ease with which she was explaining me the concept. Altering gender for her was as simple as converting my foreign exchange.
She continued, Some of my friends have also altered their gender. Some of my male friends were even married and had kids and they realized, that they have a woman in them and they altered their gender. Really! kid will be so confused to have 2 mothers. We both laughed at my silly joke, me wholeheartedly to ease myself. I was holding my breath to see what is in store to see on the stage.

Suddenly, the music was loud and they started serving drinks, which is complimentary with the ticket. Do they put some hypnotizing substance in drinks so that we get mesmerized and assume that the guys on the stage as girls? You wait and watch. She said matter of factly looking at my impatience.

The show began, ladies started coming on the stage and started displaying sometimes-good, at times provocative dancing skills. Their outfits, lighting, sound system was glittering. Their moves were in tune with the music and the entire set up was breathtaking. Are they guys? I cant believe it? Yes she said with a victory. The ladies on the stage were well toned and wore dress to kill. It was all costume drama, with some dance displays including, adult themes, kiddish themes and some Thai cultural promotional themes.

One and half hours of stage extravaganza, was an experience to remember. After the show was over, my tour guide asked me to hurry outside. Lets go out and you can click photographs with them or talk to them. Really! I said with excitement. I came out and I saw all the gorgeous ladies (?) are standing in row wearing the most stunning gowns in Miss Universe style to greet us. I went near to them and asked one lady, who I thought had a good dancing skills, to click a photograph with me. I thanked her for letting me click the snap.
40 Baht? The lady asked. What? I asked in disbelief. You have to pay her 40 baht(Thai Currency) for clicking snap with her. My tour guide advised me. Then other ladies started to point at me to come and click snaps with them. The voice was that of a guy now and I was horrified. All of them were started to shout at tourists and provoking them to click photographs. They were dressed like the most beautiful girls on the earth but the voice was contradicting the whole set up. Awesome evening turned into awful evening. I started getting a giddy feeling. My sharp tourist guide took hold of the situation and took me to the other side. Soon other tourist started coming to the entrance. Lets watch some fun now. My tourist guide said enthusiastically. We saw that excited tourist would click snaps with 2-3 ladies and in return ladies would ask for money. The surprised tourist would have no choice but to pay. He would be embarrassed to think what a fool I am and move forward. Now, it was a Kodak Moment for me to click snaps of the embarrassed tourist and not ladies. :-)
I was still figuring out whether it was a good day or a bad day? Hundreds of questions in my mind about the whole concept were still unanswered. On a positive note, it was a relief to know that in some part of the world, this human race is respected for what they are and not for what they should be. At the end, Its a 2 hours of pure entertainment. Enjoy it and forget it, probably no other logic would help.