in the middle of nowhere, a smoke filled warehouse full of local thai people stood silent. A young man from guernsey stepped into the Maui Thai boxing ring. his fighting style was that of 'drunken tiger, flailing monkey'. in all honesty he did not understand what he had volunteted for, a drunken action had led him to his destiny. three other competitors entered the ring - the young man, dressed in tradition thai kickboxing gear, was scared - to say the least. infact, it would be safe to say he almost fainted when the ref asked him to get down on his knees. when the referee put a blind fold on him he knew God had already decided how he should....'BING BING' - he swung widly with his arms, only conecting thin air. needless to say he was confussed, the ref dragged him to his feet. the three other contestants (who, in all fairness, were also blindfolded) landed punches into the handsome Guenrsey face that had unwillingly volunteered. a young girl in the audience shouted "kill him!" it was later understood that her name was Laura, the heroes girlfriend.

it was to be a fight to the death, muscle against muscle - three of the men in the ring trained in thai boxing - the other man slightly drunk.

Im going to give you all some frank advice. DO NOT PUT YOU HAND IN THE AIR WHEN SOMBODY ASKS FOR A VOLUNTEER! - IT WILL ONLY END IN YOU CRYING ON THE FLOOR OF A THAI BOXING RING WITH GROWN MEN STANDING OVER YOU AND LAUGHING!

I was in that ring for two whole minutes, and that seems like a long tim when A: youve been drinking most the night - B: youve been blindfolded and put in the ringwith three other guys - and C: youve been flailing you fists wildly at unseen oponents (on more than one ocasion the referee had to stop me figthing the corner of the ring)!

but thats only been a small part of the adventure Laura and I have so far endured! from being taken hostage on mopeds to eating chiken hearts and pigs entrail - ok those were just beer fueled events i took part in...but the both of us have...ridden elephants, swam in man-eating-fish infested waters, ridden out of control bamboo rafts down rapids, clambered through kilomteres of rarely explored caves, ridden along ancient railways, treked through countless rainforests. driven on motorcycles through the ancient ruins of Siam, sunk a few beers, clambered over stunning waterfalls, enhanced guernsey thai relations with the natives, slept on the river Kwai, taken thirteen hour bus rides and haggled in the never ending markets of Chang Mai! so I have to say that the both of us have done pretty well in the first week or so of traveling!

sorry its taken so long to get this out but i havnt had much luck with the interweb!

hope the weathers treating you well my friends, where ever you may be!

and remember, you are the hero of your story

x