Alive and (Muay Thai) kicking in Phuket

Doing really well and am alive and kicking (literally) here in Phuket. Haven't had much of a chance to get to a half decent computer as the power kept cutting out, computers didn't work...the usual, so this could be a long one catching up on over 2 weeks.

Arrived at my camp over 2 weeks ago in a 'fun' taxi journey from the airport, checked into my sauna of a room at around midnight and got a bit of sleep before starting my fitness regime the next day. Phuket is roasting hot - 38 degrees with humidity to add to that. So what do I do? Well, everyday, bar Sunday, I train 5 hours a day in this sweatbox. The mornings will start with Bodyfit. One day, participants could be running on a beach with tyres on their shoulders, throwing the tyre, sprinting from flag to flag, crawling around in the sand doing exercises for core strength & stability, running 6km up a hill to the Buddah (who sits up there grinning at us all like idiots as we die trying to get to the top)with a tyre on your shoulder, squatting in between flags, climbing up 50 steps backwards; running up and down steps with that tyre again (I've never taken a dislike to a round, black bit of rubber in my life as it bruises your shoulders/head as you run)...you get my drift I'm sure. This is just touching on the surface.  Yesterday as we all ran up and down hills with these tyres, a bus full of Japanese toursits got out and took lots of pictures. People look at us like we are completely insane, doing all these things in this heat. Or you'll have people relaxing on the beach in their loungers as teams of us run past, tyre in mid-air, telling us we are nuts.

Here at the fitness camp you can do all sorts - Western Boxing, Krabi Krabong, weights, spin, Muay Thai, yoga, Cross-fit and if someone was really nuts, they could start training at 6 am and finish at 8pm that night doing different exercises, but I've yet to meet that mental patient. I will either run, spin, lift weights and also do Muay Thai along with Bodyfit.  Enjoying the Muay Thai and think I could defend myself ok if someone tried to hit me.  Muay Thai is a form of kick-boxing and most of the kicking comes from your shins and not the foot. My shins have hardened (after 2 weeks of bruising kicking bags, trainers and classmates) - don't think I'll need shinguards the next time I play soccer.

At Muay Thai we all spend 2 and a half hours doing cardio, kicking, punching, sparring with each other and we all share a common bond...salty bodily fluid in the form of sweat and lots of it. The phrase 'Women glow' doesn't exactly fit in here. Within 5 minutes, everyone is saturated with sweat right through their clothes. We all end up running in each others sweat puddles that have landed on the floor, slipping off each other - it's so bad that my knees have started to sweat. Never in my life have my knees sweated.  After lessons, we all look like we've just been put through a washing machine, with the 'spin' bit broken - pure saturation.  But it's great - everyone gets on so well with each other and I've met so many people from every part of the globe (who like me, have also paid to torture themselves - so it's fantastic meeting like-minded/mental people).

I've enjoyed it so much, that instead of just staying here for 2 weeks, I've extended it for an extra month (and could go further after this). I did decide that my concentration camp of a room was nearly killing me and had to move out after 2 weeks. It was usually cooler outside my room at night; the fan that was constantly on to cool me down sounded like a jet engine starting up; most nights I lay in a pool of my own sweat trying to sleep; the TV had BBC News 24 all day long; a gekko (lizard) made a home in my room and croaked all night when I tried to sleep; the toilet was a walk outside to the end of the block and when you used it and threw toilet paper in the bin, about 60 mozzies flew out and tried to feast on you. All this led to a bit of sleep deprivation, which isn't good in this heat/for exercise so I found myself a new apartment not far from camp. In my new pad, I've 2 beds, a TV with loads of channels (even ITV is there), air conditioning, a bathroom etc. On site, is a restaurant, pool and massage...aahhh, the massages are bliss - Costs the equivalent of 2-3 pounds for a massage. Got a Thai massage with a friend and the wee Thai lady was jumping all over me, pulling my arms/legs in the strangest of places. An oil massage is much nicer/more relaxing.

Spent my first weekend away with 10 other people from the camp and went to Phi Phi Island and Maya Bay (where 'The Beach' was filmed). We caught a boat to the island, snorkelled in the turquoise waters, ate food and sang songs around the campfire, drank out of buckets (!), watched the sunset/sunrise, swam in the water with plankton that glowed around you, slept out under the stars - pure paradise on earth - apart from the fact that my legs/ass had been a feast for the local sandflies/mozzies.  It's hard to believe that these places were destroyed in the tsunami, but there are remiders everywhere and the Thai people are so resilient and have been building their lives back up.

The following week (last weekend) was St Patrick's Day. A crowd of us painted bits of our body in green (all we could find was green eye-liner) and I made a crap attempt at drawing shamrocks on peoples faces and we headed into the madness of Patong.  Patong is a bit of a sleazy but very fun tourist strip.  Here you'll bump into the lady-boys, women pole dancing on bars that open out onto the street, games of all sorts being played on the streets, food vendors selling food (that could probably food poison the unsuspecting drunk tourist falling out of a bar at stupid o'clock who is desperate to eat), bars of every nationality, offers of ping-pong shows being shoved in your face!  We all had a great night, quite literally drowned the shamrock (as no-one drinks during weekly training) and made it back to Chalong in a tuk-tuk singing lots of songs, in the wee small hours of the morning.

It's great here - everyone is so similar and are here to train, get fit, detox, ...whatever and we tend to bond easily because of that. People just hook up after training, jump on the back of some of their scooters (which can be hired for 4 pounds a day, without a licence or any prior motorbike experience), head to the beach, go for dinner, sightsee or check out the night markets (yes, I ate some fried witchety grubs/larvae along with Tina, a Norweigan friend - it was nice).  So all is good right now. Thailand is surpassing NZ and Oz - even after all the torture I'm putting myself through!

Wat Po, Bangkok

Phi Phi Island

Maya Bay - 'The Beach' was filmed here

My group sleeping out in Maya Bay

St Patrick's Day festivities