We originally started in a small part of Phuket called Chalong. This was were the majority of the Muay Thai fighting camps where in which Jonathan was eager to participate in. However this was all that was there and I think you had to be a dedicated fighter to remain there for any amount of time! One road in the middle of nowhere which included about 3 different training camps, a couple of hotels and a couple of cafes; Not a tuktuk in sight to take you anywhere else. Wandering along this road and looking into all the camps it became fairly clear that you had to eat, sleep and breath Muay Thai. Lots of fit young lads with piano keys for Abs modelling boxing gloves and making Muay Thai look very easy; I was starting to wonder how on earth they had the energy to punch the boxing pads for longer than five minutes... It looked very exhausting! As we sat down for breakfast and Jonathan ordering his usual bacon and eggs he looked around and noticed that all his fellow diners were tucking into porridge and protein shakes! It was then that I asked him the question of whether he should sign up for the full two weeks which he was adamant he would be doing, and I suggested he should maybe sign up for one week instead to see how he got on. We soon decided that this area was not the most ideal place to spend our time in Phuket, as while Jonathan would be away training at these camps twice a day, I would be left on my own thoroughly bored. Googling we found another camp just out side of Kata beach, one of the main tourist destinations in Phuket. Booking two weeks in a lovely hotel we set off the following day to check in. Renting a moped we was all set and as Monday arrived, Jonathan set off at 6:45 to begin his first training session at Sinbi Muay Thai for 7:30am. Luckily he took my advice and signed up for a week. This would mean six days of training, twice a day from 7:30am-10am and then back in the afternoon from 4pm-7pm. However due to the intensity of the classes, he decided the morning classes were quite enough for the day. After Jonathans morning class's and the days he couldn't make training altogether (due to a number of small injuries sustained) we spent our time near the beach and we also visited the zoo. Hoping on the moped we ventured to the Phuket zoo for a day of fun. Walking around the enclosures we marvelled at the many animals and watched the different shows. The Elephant show in which the elephants dance, kick footballs and paint pictures. The monkey show in which they ride tricycles, dunk basketballs and collect coconuts from up trees. The crocodile show, where the trainers makes the crocodiles snap their jaws and then tries to put money on it's Tongue and eventually tries to put his head in it's mouth; Very daring although as these crocs were rather feisty the trainer bottled it at the last second.
At this zoo you can also get your photo taken with a number of the animals: snakes, elephants, tigers, monkeys, crocodiles etc. I would normally have done the tiger however it wasn't too tempting especially when the trainer turned around sporting just one arm! Passing on this photo and deciding to feed and pat the elephants instead, we headed back to the resort. We had previously been to the zoo on our first visit five years ago and although the admission price had risen drastically it was still worth the visit!
The rest of the first week continued with some beautiful weather. On one day of walking about Kata resort we was stopped by two French blokes on a moped who handed us a scratchcard. Knowing automatically what they were after we wasn't to surprised when we was told we had won something and that we had to go to Patong and sit through a 90minute presentation showing us around a 5* hotel in order to collect our prize. With no plan for the day and having the opportunity of a free TukTuk to Patong we decided to go with the flow. Looking around the posh hotel and then have them trying to persuade us to purchase a £25,000 membership to join the resort we finally walked away with our prize of a free week of accommodation within Thailand within one of their posh resorts. Being valid for 18 months we decided it would likely come in useful for the future and as a possible stopping point if we was to fly back to England from OZ or NZ.
We ended the first week with a trip to the beaches on the South of Phuket, Nai Harn and Rawai. Both very beautiful and Rawai being very picturesque with it's lovely long tail fishing boats scattered here and there.
So the end of the first week came to a close with some scorching 40degree sunshine. Of course this is the start of rainy season and we knew all good things must finally end, and so we are now into some rather dull and cloudy days with rain drops that soak you to the core within about three seconds and wandering around Kata in our pink and blue ponchos looking like two giant jelly babies! Bye for now from a soggy Hayls and Jonathan x