Well, there's been a lack of updates and the main reason for that is I've had problems with the laptop that I only resolved last week.

Last week I trained 4 times which wasn't brilliant but this week I’ve trained 5 times including the beach session on Saturday morning . It was only my second beach session since I’ve been here but the weather was fantastic and we finished with a swim in the sea afterwards. The sea was crystal clear and lovely and warm. I've still maintained the weight loss and was 98.7 kilos before Friday’s training session.

Trying to get a regular sleeping pattern is still a real problem and it didn't help staying up till 5am on a Monday watching the Swans lose 4-0 to Man City. Although saying that it doesn’t help staying out until 6am in the morning on a Saturday either My knee is killing me because I slipped in the shower, My thumb is still sore from falling off my bike weeks ago and I thought I'd broken my toe when I kicked the corner of the door as I walked into the bedroom. There is no doubt that it is more bloody dangerous just being me than it is flaming kick boxing! 
Friday was a bad day. I'd been up since 1:30am so I was absolutely knackered but I was determined to train. Afterwards I couldn't have a shower because the toilet in the bungalow was blocked and overflowed when they tried to fix it. It wasn't pleasant in there I can tell you and I really stank too. I left the plumber in the room thinking it would be a quick fix with a plunger or something but came back to find him chisseling up the floor tiles to take out the toilet. The two cleaners and Ten the manageress were also in my room and I was thinking they are probably wondering what I get up to because I’d knackered another toilet but it turned out it was women’s things that caused the problem. All fixed now and room smelling of roses again

Monday - I went out for my first run. In the blistering heat I did a 4km run with my gym bag on my back as I intended to train when I got to the gym. As I made my way around the circuit  a couple of Thai's passing on a scooter shouted "put rocks in the bag"! After the run I decided I to train in the afternoon session as it was just too hot in the gym a 10am. While training in the afternoon I got a really bad cramp so I went for massage.

Tuesday - The cramp was so bad I couldn't train and decided to go back for another massage. This time an oil massage which improved things a little.

Wednesday - I trained at the 5pm session even though the feeling of cramp hadn't gone away. I just had to make sure I didn't kick with my left foot because that's when it started. I couldn't knee anyway due to my injury from the previous weekend

I thought it was time I let everyone know who they were dealing with so wore my Swansea top to training. One of the the four brothers  (Hem) that own the gym had been away for a couple of weeks. Hem, it turned out had been in Brecon with his wife, who is Welsh so he spotted the Swansea badge straight away and shouted "Swansea City"!  A little bit later he came over and said "I support Cardiff" so I turned and jokingly aimed a kick in his direction. Must be a first for Cardiff. normally they'd bottle it but but on this occasion I knew I stood no chance.  

Thursday - I had an errand to run for Orsa in the morning to order a birthday cake for her friend. I totally forgot she was coming back that day and I had to pick her up until Aimie reminded me so I trained for and hour on my own before setting off  to the airport to pick up Orsa and her friends.

Friday - I had a VIP at 11:30, The trainer, Ling Lom, didn't turn up until 12:10 so I already had a pretty good sweat on and I've learnt midday is not the time to be training in this heat. Even so we had a good session. The VIP sessions are the best time to learn the right technique while still getting a good workout. After a shower I went up to Sup's shop for a coffee. Orsa has the car this week so I was bored and one of the fighters stopped at the shop on the way to the gym and inspired me to go to the 5pm session. My name is now Swansea City! 

Friday is western boxing day and I have chosen to do the 300 kicks and 300 knees (yes, 300! I think I said 150 somewhere before) instead of clinching and boxing. I'll join in when I've had more experience but Hem asked "Swansea City, you want to spar with me"? I politely declined. 

No training on Monday due to my inability to ride a bike after drinking copious amounts of alcohol left me with a sprained thumb and a gash on my left knee. However, I trained the rest of the week with 2 sessions on Friday. On turning up for training on Tuesday morning the 2 Dutch guys that were still up drinking with me on Saturday were impressed to see I was still alive. I thought I just tried to get on my bike once but they tell me it was about 9 times before they convinced me to walk My sleeping pattern has been all over the place for a few weeks now and I was desperate to get a good night’s sleep to take part in both sessions this Friday. I took 2 sleeping tablets to knock me out at about 11pm and I was wide awake again at 1am I had to find some way of staying awake though because by 7am I was flagging and made a discovery that got me through the day. All the trainers and most Thai workers that you see in the bars and on building sites drink these energy drinks to keep them going. They sell them at the gym so I had one before each session today. They kept me awake and I trained like a lunatic. I really felt a big difference but I think they’re full of sugar and caffeine amongst other things so I wont be getting addicted to them. I’ve enough trouble sleeping already!

As far as the pain goes my feet are pretty sore but my hands are ok. I think it’s just par for the course to expect some pain each week and you have to allow yourself time to recover between sessions. Getting the technique right also makes a big difference.

I may train again tomorrow if I get a good sleep but if not I’m happy with the 5 sessions (10 hours) this week. I will weigh on Monday.

Oh, after training in the ring on Tuesday I was asked, what you name? How long you stay Andy? By one of the brothers that own the gym. “You have good power”. I knew that anyway but hmmm. Getting ahead of myself a bit but I could see his brain ticking over and that sort of question only leads to one thing. I’m not fighting at Bangla Stadium…… Am I? At this point in time I can’t see it as I’m here for the weight loss and there’s a lot to learn. I also would think it would be at least 4 – 6 months before my fitness levels were right realistically but stranger things have happened. For the time being I’m happy with training as the pads and bags don’t hit and kick back but watch this space…..

After training on Saturday I drove Dom to the airport to pick up his girlfriend Julie (ZJulee -she’s French). As Orsa gave me the keys to her car she told me go easy because she’s not sure I am actually insured to drive the car after all. Just what I wanted to hear driving in the dark with all the maniacs out here! On the way back we stopped at the market for something to eat and decided to go out for a drink later. Dom wants to be my personal trainer and introduced me to drugs at the gym (Ibuprofen). He took an interest in me from day one and to be honest I was relieved to find out he’s not gay (sorry Dom:-) ). He’s actually been pretty good with advice as he was 115 kilos himself last year and is now in the 80′s somewhere. Dom is Italian and is ere for one month and an alf. On the day he arrived I told him I was having pain in my hands and feet, hence the Ibuprofen. Pretty much everyone at the gym has been supportive of each other. He now wants me to go shares on some white powder as it’s buy 2 kilos get one free. Don’t worry though it’s only protein shake

So we decided to meet in an hour. I was on my own so I decided to go across the road to Sup’s shop and have a drink over there while I waited for him. Anyway during the time I was waiting a couple of people from the gym came by and invited me to drink with them rather than sit on my own. I’d waited over an hour for Dom so I decided to join everyone at the gym. Maybe I celebrated my weeks training a bit too much I don’t know but after a few hours, even though I could hardly walk I thought it would be a good idea to ride my bike home. By the way the Scooter debate is well and truly over. One guy training at another camp in Rawai had his leg amputated from the knee down 2 weeks ago and on Saturday one of the guys was chased by a dog and fell off his scooter. Honestly, they need to do something about the bloody dogs! It’s not just me, everyone mentions it. Orsa did say to me. Why did you try to ride your bike when you could hardly walk? A sensible question and not one I could easily answer but before I could get my feet on the pedals I’d gone arse over tit resulting in a nasty scrape on my knee and a sprained thumb so no training Monday. So far most of my injuries have occurred at the weekend and have nothing to do with training

I woke up on Sunday feeling pretty worse for wear and my whole room was covered in water. The back of the toilet was leaking slowly throughout the week but something occurred between me going out Saturday and waking up Sunday that made it a whole lot worse. Don’t ask me what because I honestly don’t remember. It wasn’t me Gov! That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

It’s still bloody leaking now so I’m going to have to see about changing rooms if they can’t sort it.

I trained 5 days out of 6 last week as I went to the afternoon session on Saturday. I’m really pleased with that because my sleeping pattern is all over the place at the moment.

I’m not quite sure what happened to my original post on Friday because it seems to have disappeared which is worrying but never mind. Will have to keep an eye on that.

The training each day consists a warm up then 5 x 3 minute rounds on the bags with a 1 minute rest in between during which we have to do 10 push ups or sit ups then the same again but in the ring with a trainer and the pads. That alone is enough to lose weight and you’re literally dripping with sweat afterwards.

Depending on the day of the week we then focus on certain aspects of Muay Thai so -

Monday = Clinching
Tuesday = Clinching
Wednesday = Kicking
Thursday = Wai Kru (Dance performed by every fighter before a fight)
Friday = Western boxing

Some people aren’t interested in fighting so if you don’t want to do any of those then you can’t just leave you have to do 150 front kicks and 150 knees on the bags and then a warm down before finishing.

Before we start an exercise or round we have to bow to the trainer or even the bag. If you don’t then it’s 20 push ups.

I weighed before my session on Friday and I was down to 100.9 kilos so that’s my first target of 10 kilos and I’ve still been enjoying myself without being too strict on the diet.

Things haven’t quite gone according to plan this week. I had to move to stay within my budget and I’d found a villa near the beach. I also got on really well with the owner so it seemed perfect, However, as I was riding home on Saturday night I was chased in the pitch black by 3 pretty nasty dogs. I never noticed them during the day as they are all pretty dosile due to the heat but at night it was quite scary. It threw me so much I was terrified at the thought of riding past them early in the morning in case I had to endure the same thing and just didn’t know how I was going to deal with it every day.

I didn’t train Monday, Tues or Wednesday but did get out and about. Monday I went to Patong with Orsa and Alex to watch Hangover 2 then we had a few beers on Bangla Road before coming home. Orsa lent me her car so I could get back to the villa safely Tuesday night I was invited to a leaving dinner for Andy, one of the fighters at the gym and Wednesday Orsa and I drove him to the airport. Wednesday night we were invited to dinner by Dom who’s Italian and is also training at the gym. What with that and the meal at the Happy Elephant the previous Friday we’ve been spoilt by the Italians over the past week. Both meals were delicious and a nice change from Thai food although all the Thai food I’ve eaten has been excellent also.

During the week I’d been talking to Orsa and we’d decided to share the cost of a small room and a bungalow. That way we both have our private space but we can share the living area and cooking facilities in the bungalow whilst saving money and I can move back to the Happy elephant. I’d also felt like I was letting the owner of the villa down because he’d gone out of his way, Introducing me to the locals and showing me around the area. Once I’d told him I was moving out it was a weight off my mind and I went back to training on Thursday. As I warmed up, Sam who’s from Liverpool came over to me and said Andy had told her to give me his shin pads which was really nice of him.

I had a one on one session with a trainer on Friday and will get back into things again next week.

Apart from the training it’s been pretty busy and I’ve still maintained the weight loss. I also had my first and subsequently second foot massage. 1 hour massage costs about £5

Best weeks training so far. Managed to do 6 sessions inc 4 VIP sessions with a personal trainer.

Here's a few pictures (click here).

Sat eating dinner tonight at a Korean BBQ (Lots of dogs running around our feet but not as many as last time for some strange reason, hmm!) and about 25 feet away with only one table in between someone driving past the restaurant smashed into a parked Scooter. He was travelling at a fair speed because the Scooter flipped over and all the debris came flying into the restaurant. How ironic would it have been to be killed by a scooter when I didn’t even rent one out

In the Bungalow to my left is George who is the IT co-ordinator at an International school. Next door to George is someone who shall remain nameless as he is actually in Australia or so his firm believes. Again another IT person and he’s currently indoors enjoying some of what Thailand has to offer Next to the man with no name is a colleague of Georges and her husband. Oh by the way George is Australian, His colleage and her hubbie are American and the man with no name is Irish and currently living the dream

On my right hand side is a girl I don’t know yet as she only moved in this morning. Then next to her is Asse, pronounced Orsa, although as she pointed out looks like the first thing that pops into everyone’s mind. Then there’s an empty Bungalow and to the right of that is a French girl who we think has had a tiff with her boyfriend and is staying there with her dog while it all blows over.

Why do I think it’s necessary to introduce them? Well Mum and Dad met most of them through the wonders of Skype on Saturday morning so I thought it only fair.

Maybe I should describe my morning….

Friday I trained in the morning but I haven’t been sleeping very well so I managed to keep myself awake until Asse, I’m starting to realise just how much pain Asse (Damn every time I write her name it looks worse, I must console the poor girl when she finally surfaces) must have gone through as a child. Anyway she who will be nameless (otherwise I’ll never get through this) offered to drive George and I to the Big C supermarket. Anyone who said it’s difficult to get hold of certain things in Thailand, well certainly in Phuket that isn’t the case and we split up for an hour whilst we all did our own thing. Having finished my shopping I headed to the rendezvous point only to find she who shall be nameless waving from within the KFC (I don’t think she’s taking this whole thing seriously). After watching her scoffing down a fillet burger that smelt insanely good we headed back to the resort where I had to get some shut eye.

As I said I haven’t been sleeping well. I was so tired I slept from about 3pm until 4am and then I was wide awake so I thought I’d Skype Mum and Dad. The Only downside to that is that it was late on Friday evening in th UK so they’d been drinking with Shiela all night. We chatted for about an hour then I logged onto Facebook and got a message from the woman with no name “Someones outside, can you see who it is”? she said. I couldn’t hear anything because the TV was blaring and I was chatting away on Skype. Eventually curiosity got the better of Asse (get over it) and she sent me another message saying “I’m going to come round to yours and pretend I’m checking if you’re training today. That way I can see who’s outside” She turned up after a couple of minutes but we still wcouldn’t make out where the noise was coming from. Although Asse (C’mon it’s getting childish now) had spotted 3 strange people looking on from Cyberspace on my laptop screen so she was no longer interested and after a brief introduction proceeded to take Mum, Dad and shiela on an impromtu tour of the resort and her room before deciding we should go for a swim and show them the pool. All of which the Cyber visitors found highly amusing and entertaining. Bear in mind that it was around 7am here and dead quiet apart from the mysterious noise, until Asse came round. I was also the only one who hadn’t been drinking so you can imagine my reaction to all this. Orsa (I’ve decided that’s what I’ll call her from now on. She’s been through enough) was now making more noise than the people that originally got her attention. So much so we’d been joined by the man with no name and his Thai friend;-) It turned out they were the one’s
making the noise by the pool earlier but were insisting that there was a party going on in my Bungalow last night. Me, the parents on Skype and the TV, some party!

Oh, I forgot to mention Maurice. He has a room here, is from the UK and comes down to the pool every now and then to make the other guys look bad. He is the only person to have been sent home from the gym. Maurice upset one of the trainers who was holding the punch bag as he practiced his kicks because he’d neglected to put any underpants on so he’s beome a bit of a legend.

Orsa is Australian and works in IT so I’ve come all this way to get my life back on track and “find myself” and I’m surrounded by flaming teachers and IT people. Can you believe it!

Also, Some people aren’t keen on having their lives revealed on other peoples blogs or Facebook pages so for the purpose of this story please change Georges name to John. As for Maurice I’m sure he’s proud of his part in all this