Good day to you all. Hope you found the last blog quite entertaining as it was for me writing. It's been an eventful weekend so I thought I would do this weeks blog alot earlier than normal. No burns to report of this week though but more bruises and a damn load more bites, and one (two) new feature that I have aquired in the last 24 hours. 

So after the hell session on the beach we both felt destroyed. I hit the gym that night as I didn't think my arms or legs would hold me up for 2.5 hours of muay thai. Even then I could barely pull my self up let alone pushing weights. Nedless to say I slept very well that night. Friday morning I thought I would brave the morning session. I woke up and my body felt like a train had hit it. My legs had given up on me and my arms just didn't want to play ball. I headed over to training and my brain just kept saying "idiot, idiot, idiot" but I just ignored the voices in my head as I was told to by my doctor. As soon as we started the warm up I wanted to cry. The voices were right, I was an idiot. Let's just say that was the hardest 2.5 hours of my life. I felt like I was on another planet looking down on my body whilst it was atempting to hit pads. Went back home and passed out cold on my bed. That night like a pair of zombies we went up to Tiny Tonys for a BBQ and to watch the recent strikeforce event. James had double ordered the pork and chicken so he ended up with 6 pieces of meat, I always knew he loved meat but that was a good amount for any human, but the soldier he is, he nailed it. This is after a plate of phad thai and followed by a banana pancake with ice cream. So to all his family members that read this, your boy is eating just fine! We had become friends with a chap called Adam from Oxford, well Hong Kong, but also Phuket, he gets around let's say. We chilled with him at the BBQ and organised a night out in Patong as he knows all the good bars there and comes to Phuket quite a few times a year. He was our new tour guide for the dirty, seedy streets of Patong!

Saturday morning and I felt a little bit more alive so I went to the gym then we met up with Adam and got a ride with our 4ft friend Tony. Tony drives a big pick up. I thought he might of had a booster seat of some sorts or extensions on the pedals so he could reach, but no, the lil fella just hopped in and off we went. I don't know If he could see where we were going but we got there safe. We did not know what to expect when we see Adams place. We had already made jokes that it was gonna be a bamboo hut in the sticks and we would all be top and tailing........how wrong we were. It is simply one of the most amazing places I have ever stayed or seen. Up in the hills edge looking over the whole of Patong and it's beach, looking across the other hills in the distance. The place is where you would imagine a Hello Magazine photoshoot to take place at. Infinity pool looking over the amazing view. Everything was so clean we did not want to touch anything. Infact Adam told us not to touch anything. We didn't want to ask him what his parents did but James came to the conclusion that they must be Bond Villans, I think they are gang leaders of some sort. So after we checked in at the Ritz of Patong we went for a little shopping session. More hassle from shop owners but this time we stood our ground and just kept walking. We wanted some cheap DVDs so Adam said if you ask some shop owners then they can take you in there shop and show you there stash. Well we headed into this ladies bag shop, at this point I thought maybe they have them behind the counter, but nope, we ended up going through a door covered in bags into a hidden room full of DVDs. It was a secret room. It felt like something out of a movie. After this we headed back to Adams palace on the hill and got ready for the night out.

We had a rough idea what to expect from Patong. Lady boys, shop owners, annoying westeners and more over the top lady boys. Well we were quite suprised that it was just lady boys that was right from our expectations. We went to the main street and went to a few bars around there. Now let's just say that women are everywhere trying to get you to go into there bars or watch the infamous ping pong show.  We opted with just picking random bars and drinking at them. They like to play games like connect 4, random dice games, jenga and hitting the nail, normally for drinks, but also for fun. The first game we played was jenga. We played just the 3 lads but we had around 4-5 women (lady boys) helping and making noises if we nearly made it fall over. Was really good fun and the lady/men were also very entertaining and helped out. Jenga gods they must be. We headed to another bar. This time Adam got into a game of connect 4 whilst me and James just drank. We then got shown this cooked frog, small and crispy. Adam ate it! Good man, but my stomach would have hated me for that one. The lady boy behind the bar kept pulling a fake geko lizzard out from his knickers and waving it around. Nice! We got shown how to play the nail game. You have to hit a nail into a stump with 1 hit using the small point of the hammer. Hard is the word but once again the bar people make it look easy. I aslo did manage to sink 2 nails which I was quite proud of. I put it down to the glasses (which the Thai ladies seem to love taking off me and trying on). We headed to the next bar, sat infront of poles with a couple of very man looking women dancing around. Adam decides to wave under his nose suggesting one of them smells, next thing you know he is up there dancing with them, shortly followed by James. I was holding my ground but at this point I was pretty drunk so I'm up there now giving it the beans with these 2 lady boys. We had a laugh and the thought of dancing round poles with girly men was quite funny. At the next bar I did not want another drink as my voices told me that was enough for the night. Ended up back in the first bar and we watched the champions league final and someone bought me another drink. I don't remember that football match very well. Also the random stop in mcdonalds with a girl throwing chips into my mouth like she is feeding a seal is pretty blurry to me. I put it down to the Thai whisky (samsong) I was drinking all night. Hopped in a tuk tuk and headed home. It was 5am by this point and we didn't get up till 1:30pm. I pulled back the roller doors and looked across the most amazing views on a nice sunny Sunday morn.....afternoon! Was a cracking night and our thoughts of Patong had now changed. Yes it is full of ladies and lady boys but it is all good fun if you just put that aside and just make jokes with them, but don't buy them drinks or play any games for drinks with them as they will win. Adam had warned us that so god knows how much he has lost in the past.

After getting home we needed food. We had found out about this quite little place overlooking some islands and a quite little beach. It was called friendship beach. What a place. Beautiful view and a real peaceful resort. The reason we headed there was the Philly cheesesteak burger we had heard about. Layers of beef topped with melted cheese, grilled mushrooms, onions, peppers and horseradish sauce. I don't know whether it was the late night and the fact I was sooo hungry but that burger was the most amazing thing I have eaten in a long time. A Thai couple were singing really chilled music and it was so relaxing. James and I felt like it was a proper holiday moment. We finished it off with a bit of cherry cheesecake and a chocolate brownie. Perfect for my stomach. We both decided we needed a good oil massage so we headed down to a local place and got an hour long rub down. James was not wearing his knickers so he kept his shorts on but the Thai lady was convinced to try and get them off but he was having none of it. I had mine on and I must admit the lady did get a bit close to my luggage. Later we did find out from another chap that sometimes they do go the extra bit If you want. We will be using another place from now on.

Monday morning again and back at training and I felt great. I think it was down to the greasy burger, brownies and samsung Thai whisky from the weekend. We do a drill at the end of the session that involves walking around on our toes doing knees for 3 laps of the mat. Each session Dang picks out someone who speaks good English to explain what the drill is to the class. That days person happened to be our good friend James. Dang makes it very clear if you do not explain the drill very well and anyone makes a mistake (drops heals or stops) then he will hit the offender and the person explaining the drill. So James explained the drill and off we go. 2 guys happened to stop....result! So James and the 2 new guys lined up at the front of the class. Dang got his old stick out and did what he promised, he put a beating on James. It was a very hard hit too. As there were 2 guys that messed up, he gets another hit too, just as hard as the first. If I was to say I felt sorry for him and I hoped he was ok, then I would be a liar. I really enjoyed the hurting he put on him to be honest and actually kept telling dang to do it hard. So he is the first to get a Thai stick beating and I'm sure it won't be the last. Straight away it started to bruise up and welt a bit, very much to my amusment. He later showed the trainers and they also found just as much humour. Dang explained he hit James because James speaks bad English. I also agree. 

Next morning Dang told us he no longer likes us and told us to go up to the intermediate class, so not wanting to get hit with a stick we did just that. I think it's a show of his love really, he just does not know how to show it. It's a lot more technique and sparring is a little harder which is great. Get to spend more time with the trainers too, but as I said before, each trainer has different styles so it's just learning which one works for me most. Good to meet new trainers and new people too. 

As I said at the start of this, I have a new feature. I have wanted a new tattoo for quite sometime. I have had some ideas but after coming out here and learning a bit about there beliefs and the reasons behind there tattoos I had decided to get it done here. They have a certain design that I really liked, it's a set of 5 lines in thai script. Each set has a different meaning. I have gone for the 2 different styles that most of the Thai fighters have. In the short of it one lot means strength and the other lot means peace. There is a lot more to it but I will explain some other time. The main reason I had these done here is because one of the trainers here called O also does traditional Thai bamboo tattoos. He explained all the meanings and reasons behind the tats and he also is a strong Buddhist and takes his job very seriously. After the morning session I went up to his studio and for 2 hours I led on the floor whilst he stabbed at me with a bit of bamboo and needle. It was a bit stingy at first but then I nearly fell asleep. He finished the right side and then after the afternoons session he did the left side. After each one he finished he prayed over it and blew over it. It's a very spiritual procedure for him and that makes it even more meaningful to me. That night I had to put lots of vasaline over the 2 tats. In the morning it looked like I have dragged my pillows through dirt from all the excess ink. Today I met up with O and we headed down to the local temples were I had my tattoos blessed by one of the monks. We gave our thanks and then had to throw our stencils that O had used for my tats into the lake as it keeps my tattoos protected and no one else can use that stencil. There is also a lot more Buddhist meaning to it also, I'm just not great at explaining. It was quite a special process.

That's everything for now which I'm sure you are happy about. I do go on a bit but you know that already. Hope your all well and look out for some pics tomorrow some time. Chow for now family and friends. Stu.