Crazy story

After a late night celebrating the end of our course we went to bed. At some point during the night, during a dream, I found myself climbing over something and reaching for the ground with my foot. I couldn't reach it, so I hung from the edge and let myself drop. After I found the ground, I walked around a little and scoped out my surroundings, then I tried to climb onto something else, and started falling. I caught myself, pulled myself up, and woke up.

After I woke up, I realized that I had climbed out my third story window, dropped onto the corrugated metal roof of a building just outside mine (breaking through the metal, walked around on it, tried to get onto the balcony of someone else's hotel room, fallen through the metal there, and pulled myself up. At this point I'm fully awake, in my boxers, bleeding, and stuck on top of this roof. I walked all around it trying to figure out how to get down, but short of shimmying down a palm tree, I can't figure anything out. So I lie on the roof until I hear someone walk by and I call out in Thai and English, "Help!" Eventually someone from our program hears my voice and calls the front desk. They come and let me into a side window and I scramble half naked back to my room.

It takes about a dozen bandages and gauze pads to get me covered up, by that time it was about 5:30am. I went back to bed (with the windows and doors locked) and woke up a bit of a wreck at noon. I eventually decided that, even though my cuts weren't that bad, I'd rather not get tetanus, so I went to the emergency room. There was no wait, and I got my cuts cleaned a tetanus booster, all for 100 Baht (about $3). I paid the hotel 800 Baht ($25) for the substantial damage to their roof and now all I have is a bruised heel, a handful of small wounds, and terror of falling asleep to show for the whole ordeal. I am really lucky that that's the worst that I've got.

As far as I can tell I've never sleepwalked before. I know my sister used to a long time ago. I talk in my sleep pretty regularly, but this is just crazy. It's good to know, I guess. I can make sure that I keep windows and doors locked. I could sleep handcuffed or in a tight sleeping bag or something, but that may be overkill. I'd be a lot more terrified if I hadn't heard Mike Birbiglia's story on this episode of This American Life.

Anyway, I'm fine now. Of all the weird things to happen in Thailand, I sure wasn't expecting this.