Hi guys, sorry there was no blog to read last week. To be honest not a huge amount happend that last week. There was just a lot of hard training everyday and eating and same same as every other week. It all picked up again last friday so thats where i will start this blog from.

So we have gained a new friend into our ever shrinking group. His name is Tom aka The Geezaaa, so as some of you may have guessed he is a right cockny lad. Now if you were to describe him to me before i had met him i would have just assumed he was a complete tool and a bit of a lad but it really goes to show that assumption is really a stupid thing cause Tom is infact a real nice fella and has fitted straight in amongst the crowd here. He is still a bit of a lad but thats why we love him....oh and his choice of clothing (more the colour of them) is to be questioned but we except people for who they are and not what they wear right? Hes a good bloke and another one to the list of people to keep in contact with.

The Friday was Tommy's birthday so we all met over at Baan Suan as Yuiii wanted to suprise Tom with a cake (not much of a suprise when you tell someone what you have got them). It was such a nice thing for the Baan Suan girls to do. They even wrote there names on the cake. We all had some grub and some good old Woody style banter then headed off to the cinema to watch the film Inception. Now i think everyone should watch that film. Its a crazy ass film and the concept of it is a bit mental. I also will advise your not drunk or stoned whilst watching that as i can imagine you head will infact explode. The taxi driver that took us up to the cinema actually waited for us outside the whole time the film was on and it only cost us like £2 each. Wish taxi's were that cheap in the UK. The next day we were at a loose end and did not know what to do, luck would have it Deano and his friend from here (Sun Kim) had come up with the idea to head down to a Korean restuarant that she knew of. It was a bit of a new thing for me as i had no idea what i was ordering but i was just trusting Sun as she said i would enjoy it. She was right, my black looking noodles and other random bits of meat and veg was very nice indeed. All the others seemed to enjoy wrapping meat into a leaf and shoving it in there gobs. All in all the Korean was ok but its got nothing on good old English grub. After the food we decided that a few drinks were needed as it was infact a saturday night. We headed down to a bar right opposite Woody and Danny's (Nick Frost, Crazy Frog) place. It was a quite bar. 2 Ladymen people were working as the waiter...ess things which we all found quite amusing at first. After about the 5-6 drink i actually think Tom started to fancy one of them. Saying that i think the drink had got to us all as we were all making a lot of crazy noises and screaming like the guy off the video on Youtube....The best cry ever. Now that video has us all laughing all the time and you should of heard us that night at the bar. The staff must have thought we had lost the plot. Truth is, we have. I happend to find a lawn mower so straight away i felt like i was at work so i grabbed it and tried mowing the concrete floor whilst making the same noise as the best cry ever man. At around 12am this little 14 year old Thai boy turned up at the bar with make up on and a bow in his hair. Now im an open guy and so are most people in our group but that was just wrong to see. He was prancing round like some fairy queen and i felt quite uncomfortable. I understand that is a culture of its own here but when you see them that young it really just makes it hard to understand. At about 1am the bar staff actually told us that they were closed at 12am but they let us stay and just kept drinking. So after we nicely got asked to leave Sun Kim said to go back to her place and hang there for the rest of the night. We stopped off at the 7/11 for some more supplies and headed over to Suns place. The rest of the night was a bit blurry but i remember these little things.....Tommy styling Woodys hair with Sun's hair straightners, me putting a load of gel in his hair, having a water scrap in the bathroom with Woody, ended up with shampoo all over the place and no socks on and tshirt half on and Sun laughing her little Asian balls off (she does not have balls im sure but its a stupid joke we got going), muscle stimulater ended up coming out and we found much humour in zapping our legs. Just as Tommy was about to do his face the batteries died. Now i know this sounds like a teenage slumbur party (which it wasnt cause no one slept there) but it really was a lot more manly than it sounds. Plus if i was worried what any of you thought, i would not have told you any of that. So back off and get your own sandwich as Dave would say.....we miss you Dave. Somehow it ended up being 6am and i was heading home in the morning light.

The Sunday was also a bit of a wasted day but a nice one. I headed to the beach by myself for some reflection time. I sat there and just thought about the trip and journey James and I have both been on. Its crazy to think of the boundries we have both pushed ourselves through, both mentally and physically. I then fell asleep to the sounds of crashing waves and kids playing on the beach. Could be worse i guess. Headed back to find the boys still chilling at home. We decided to go to our little secret spot for dinner with the guys. We took them to Friendship Beach and introduced them to the Phillycheesesteak Burger. They were just as amazed with it as us. What an amazing spot that is, especially at night time. After the burger we ended up going to an American style diner called Stevo's for a big chilli hot dog. Was very nice so we washed it down with a cookies and cream milkshake too. I dont think i have ever eaten that amount of food before and i was done. I couldnt even eat the next morning before training.

Monday morning and back to the grind. This is my final few days training before my fight on Friday night. James has been moved up to the Fighters Ring to be prepared for his fight on Sunday 25th. He also got to feel the wrath of Ritt. Ritt pushed him hard and gave him his ritual pre fight beatdown. Now i know how nasty this is as ive been on the end of a few Ritt beatdowns and 2 weeks of Ritt being my padman...he will drain every last ounce of heart out of you until you have nothing left....then keep you going. He is relentless and heartless once on those pads and sparring. He is only like this for a couple of days during the fight prep but then his sparring and padwork comes down a few levels just to let you relax a bit before the big day. He is a nice guy and so friendly but when it comes to fight time, he is a different person. This is what James has been finding out the last 3 days. He is pushing himself through and working hard ready for his first fight. We also found out that the fight Woody was suppose to have on the 27th has been cancelled and moved to the 25th, so it will be on the same card as James. Saves me £20 to go and watch them seperately. Also will be good for the boys to have each other there to get each other in the zone.

Tuesday we trained the stairs again but this time we took stair virgin Tommy along with us. He battled those steps like a trooper. Once again we were an attraction to the many tourists passing by up to the viewpoint at the top. I am not suprsied really as seeing grown men crawling on all fours.....backwards up some stairs is not the most comman thing to see on a day trip out. After we finished at the stairs we headed down to the beach at Nai Harn to run around the lake down there. The lake is around 3k long so a nice afternoon jog in the sun around a beautiful lake is not such a bad thing. We then indulged in some Mystery chicken from a mobile kitchen on the side of the road. The cat and dog that were local scavs got fed very well that day, they had some nice chicken breast and plenty of bones. We headed off to a spot that Sun Kim had told us about. It was through some back lanes and was totally shut off from most other tourists, it was a spot of paradise. We decided not to swim there as the rocks were a bit close so we headed back over to the main beach were the water was the clearest blue we have seen in out entire stay here. Really made you appreciate where we are and what we are doing. When we got back and got online to check a few things we found out that Sun Kim had been hit off her bike and had stitches in her face. We ate that night at a place called the Anchor Inn and she came along, poor girl looks like she has a backwards 71 stitched in her forehead. She is still in high spirits which is good. On a good note, the food at the Anchor was amazing, so we went back the next night too and enjoyed more good grub.

It is hard to describe what i have going on through my head right now and im sure James is the same. We both have fights coming up and we are leaving this amazing place on Wednesday. Its a funny concept as i know i should be thinking about the fight but i also keep thinking about home. Im not really ready to come home yet as i feel like i want to train harder and have a few more fights but i know i will be coming back out as soon as i can. Today im going to relax with a massage and sauna ready for tomorrow. Will update again maybe before we leave but if not it will be a final blog to end this amazing trip we have both been on. Peace and love to you all. Stu