This time last year I was in peak condition having spent three months training for the Bangkok 10k fun run. I’d lost a load of weight and was full of energy.

One year on I’ve never been heavier so I’ve been getting back into running for the past 2 weeks. As a benchmark today I decided to run in the park to see how my time compared to my adequate 75 minutes last year.

I was 10 minutes slower, however this time I was running in the middle of the day, I was on my own too so had little motivation to keep to a decent pace, I also ran out of water after 3km and I was carrying a bulky bag with me.

The winter season is definitely here now and even after running 10k, getting a motorbike to meet mum and dad and then returning tot he park for an hours cycling I returned home bone dry. Considering I break out into fountains for sweat leaving the apartment to go to the local shops this was a real precedent.

This is definitely the time to up my training and to make the most of the fantastic running weather.

I am seriously committed to completing the full 40km Bangkok marathon in November 2010 so this run today was the first of many.

We currently get so little free time these days that I’ve begun planning our only day of leisure to make sure we are still getting some fresh air, some exercise , doing something new and meeting friends.

Carey has returned to stay with us this week and after an early morning swim we headed to Chatuchak weekend market to explore the artwork and puppies there.

After a couple of hours we then headed to Suan Rot Fai Park and met up with my Thai couchsurfing friend Pom and her friend for a bike ride. The park is large and seems especially designed for cycling. Hiring bikes costs only 20-30 baht for the entire day and, although the brakes were a little unresponsive I can’t really complain for the nominal price we paid.

We cycled for about an hour then stopped by one of the lakes in the park to do some painting which was a nice novelty and in the evening we returned to a great Japanese cafe we found recently in our area.

This is the kind of Sunday I love having when we stay in Bangkok and I plan to return to Suan Rot Fai more often to run.

The full photo set is here.

Tik won us a holiday this weekend.

The competition was organized by Wave FM, An English-language radio station for Bangkok (88 FM if you’re interested) and was called “Sailing to Freedom“.

The competition was partly sponsored by KTC bank and Twinnings Tea. Although 34 places were awarded to Wave FM listeners, Tik actually won our prize through KTC World Community instead.

She was shortlisted after answering some questions and, just before the new year, received a call from KTC to ask her some questions related to the kind of travel she likes. KTC confirmed the following morning that we’d won.

Our prize was 2 days in Pattaya where we’d charter a yacht, learn how to sail it and stay at the Hard Rock Hotel. Neither Tik nor I have ever sailed before so we’d been looking forward to the holiday for the past few weeks – without really knowing any more details.

We met the organizers and fellow winners outside Big C shopping mall in Ekkamai at 7:30 Saturday morning and got the coach directly to Ocean Marina Yacht Club in Jontiem – the town adjacent Pattaya, arriving in time for a buffet lunch.

After lunch we were introduced to our instructors. These were friends of Gary Baguley of Blue Wave. Gary was responsible for the teaching and safety of our group.

There were four people to a yacht with one instructor. Our instructor was Nick, an English guy who runs a management training company in Bangkok but sails as a hobby. I’m not sure if he was impressed when the Thai MC broke from her introduction, muttered something in Thai, then turned to him to explain she was joking to the audience about the size of his nose.

After lunch we walked to our yachts.

I’d seriously misjudged what kind of yacht we’d be sailing on. We walked past a handful of luxury yachts at the harbor and I’d kind of assumed that we’d be enjoying a leisure cruise on one of those. I’d expected our four-man team to comprise of a driver who pressed a few buttons and turned the wheel, perhaps one or two people organizing the champagne and caviar, and perhaps a final team member to work on their sun tan.

In reality, we were to brave the world of racing yachts.

We were paired up couple of a similar age to us. P’Yee is an engineer, married to his wife P’Gik, an accountant.

Nick took us to our yacht and explained the basic terminology and sailing concepts to us before we set sail.

There’s a lot of jargon involved but nothing especially difficult to remember. Apparently phrases such as “We’re going the wrong bloody way” and “Bloody hell, the motors broken” are quite specialist terms, used only with this sole voyage.

Once we got out of the bay, our first task was to raise the sails. This was a team effort with Yee releasing the sail and I fed it through the mast.

Apparently the wind was more severe than expected. Gary explained to us afterwards that 14 knots is a good wind speed to introduce us to sailing, I’ve found websites today suggesting 10 knots is perfect but we braved winds of 18 knots which made for quite a rocky journey.

We sailed for about 3 hours. My main responsibility was to control the sail, a very responsible job that probably should have been given to a responsible person with a greater intuitive sense of whether we were balanced or not, but I did get the hang of it and kept my crew members out of the water.

I particularly enjoyed turning the yacht which entailed stuble-roll-flipping myself from one side of the boat to the other, avoiding the swinging metal boom and regaining control of the sails as quickly as possible. We did that a lot and it got easier each time.

Yee was responsible for controlling the rudder and had the frustrating job of trying to remove and insert the motor once we were out of (and returning to) the harbor. Apparently our yacht had faults which didn’t seem to phase the crew, but it certainly upset Nick.

There was very few moments where we could actually relax. The wind and waves meant we fought to keep balance much of the time. IN spite of this I think we all felt a lot more comfortable after the first 90 minutes.

Apparently half of the participants came down with motion sickness, or, as our MC euphemistically put it – “fed the fishes“. Tik and Yee suffered but, to their credit, recovered and continued to participate.

Our faulty motor put a spanner in the works and we actually got toed back to land. It was a really exhilarating three hours, one I would willingly repeat. I was pleased that my collarbone injury hadn’t hampered me at all (although Yee had to work the mast because I’m sure I would have struggled).

It seems that most people we spoke with afterwards also enjoyed their experience (nobody admitted to me that they’d been sick though) but, I’d say that most of us considered it a once-in-a-lifetime experience that we can cross off our list of things to try but probably won’t return to.

Casually enquiring about pricing, I was surprised that a weekend of training is actually not that expensive. A 2-day course is only 8,000 baht so is in reach of most westerners as a casual hobby.

We were all pretty tired and were ferried to the Hard Rock Hotel, Pattaya before the evening’s events.

I was very impressed with the hotel. I’d always dismissed it as a bit of a gimmick yet I really enjoyed the unique touches they’ve added that distinguish it from other hotels.

The staff were very friendly, happy to start a conversation as they passed. Despite all the concern about the Thai tourist industry and low occupancy rates the hotel seemed very active but not noisy in any way. The Hard Rock Pattaya have a buy-one-night-get-one-free offer open to both Thais and expats. With typical rooms at only 1,800 this is a realy bargain.

Our room was small but certainly adequate – although I’m not sure why it comes furnished as standard with two separate double beds.

They had a big fat TV mounted on the walls with a custom entertainment system you could navigate through using a wireless keyboard. Not especially useful but, we at least used it to play some music.

N.B. this is a stock photo but our room was very similar.

Twinnings – one of the event sponsors, left us two comprehensive tea sets in the room which I really appreciated and I will definitely make use of.

We certainly enjoyed their deep bath and, after 90 minutes of quiet time, we met everybody by the pool for dinner and a party.

The party had a blue-and-white theme and we were informed there’d be a competition for the most stylishly dressed people.

It was nice that the meal was a comprehensive buffet, and whilst we had an MC and speeches on stage, we could actually sit quietly and talk to our new friends.

I won the best dressed competition. This was more due to a lack of competition than much effort on my part. Tik deserves most of the credit though for buying me the only new clothes I’ve had in two years, and in making sure my fly was done up when I collected my prize.

I’ve won a Hard Rock T-Shirt, the latest Natalie Bedingfield album (perhaps the only original CD I’ve ever owned in Thailand) and a complimentary voucher for a gym in Bangkok.

We really enjoyed the evening but chose not to extend the night by going to the Hard Rock foam party later on. Instead we collapsed into bed about 11 O’ Clock.

This morning we enjoyed the hotel’s buffet breakfast, checked out at 10:30, boarded the coach and returned to Bangkok for about 3pm.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

We were extremely impressed by the organization of the entire weekend. We experienced something we’d never had considered doing ourselves, we’ve enjoyed a lovely hotel, met some really great people and we spent less than 700 baht (300 baht of this my Starbucks breakfast on Saturday).

The event organizers didn’t push us into tedious marketing photos or force us to party until dawn, instead they were very considerate in giving us only light entertainment at night.

There will be many more photos to add in the coming fortnight. We’ll be getting them from both KTC and from Wave FM.

In the meantime all current photos are here.

My collarbone is still quite bruised but I can put pressure on it and move my arms around without it hurting.

I plan to resume jogging tomorrow at the gym and, if all goes to plan I’ll be playing tennis next Monday.

I’ve been in training for a 10k fun run in Bangkok and today, I’m proud to announce that I really enjoyed it.

The run, sponsored by Standard Chartered, began and ended at the Grand Palace and this was the biggest Bangkok run of the year with 48,000 participants. It actually started at midnight for the marathon runners and the 10k runners began at 7.

The course itself was around the historic part of Bangkok and I’ll always remember the seas of white jogging shirts swarming over the suspension bridge. It made overtaking people difficult and there were a few times at the beginning of the run where we couldn’t do much beyond walk fast.

The organization and camaraderie beyond runners was fantastic and, towards the last few kilometers I’d managed a few quick chats with fellow athletes.

Over the last 3 months I’ve been training for this run and, since buying an IPod Nano a month back, I can honestly say that I really enjoy it – to the extend where I get twitchy when I haven’t run for a few days.

Generally I’ve been training alone in Lumpini Park but I’ve joined up with Patrick a few time to run elsewhere.

My goal for the run was really just to complete it and to keep things fun. I wasn’t interested in beating any records or friends because this really is the first solo activity I’ve ever trained for.

Joining us that morning were Patrick and Sophie – the most experienced runners, David – my tennis partner and Ingo, Patricks’s business partner.

Sophie finished well before the rest of us but it seems we finished within a few minutes of each other. I think I did the run in about 70 minutes – not great by athletic standards but a huge leap forward in my personal development.

We celebrated by going out Kapa restaurant for a large meal.

When I began training, every footstep pained me. I remember my first run with Patrick 3 months back where I struggled to keep his pace beyond a few hundred meters so I’ve definitely come a long way.

I have lost 8kgs (from 74) over the last 3 months. This has been due to runningg at least 4 hours a week as well as a 2-month diet of predominantly raw fruit and vegetables.

I’m planning to continue my training. I certainly can dedicate a few hours each week and to have an hour or two spare to listen to Podcasts and music’s a great way to relax.

At the end of January there’s a 20k fun run in Khon Kaen which I hope to participate in. I have a feeling that training myself to run from 10k to 20k won’t be nearly as touch as training for those first ten.

Tik and I went to see our first ever live sporting event today.

Tennis legends Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe played in the “PTT Legends in Bangkok” demonstration match today.

Regrettably our camera batteries died so we couldn’t take any photos (the blog image is a stock photo) but we got excellent seats and had a lot of fun.

It was especially interesting to me as, having played tennis 4 mornings a week for a year I’ve still yet to win a game against David. I got an idea of techniques that perhaps I’ll be able to use next week.

Also playing one short set in a double game were Thai stars; Paradorn Srichaphan and Danai Udomchoke.

Also present were Patrick who’d told us about the match, Patrick’s business partner Ingo with his wife Sandy and daughter Ceila.

In August Tik and I will fly to Italy for a one-week family reunion. We will both continue from there to travel throughout Europe for a month and spend a week or two back in the UK with the dogs.

This will take us to October when possibly my parents will join us in Thailand for a few weeks on the islands and perhaps on a cruise. From then onward Tik will complete a visa application to work and study for a year in Australia and we’ll play things by ear depending on her level of success. If all goes to plan we will both spend 12 months traveling through Australia on a working holiday visa, working studying and sightseeing for the year. If not then we’ll likely still got to Australia but maybe Tik will complete an M.b.a. program there and I will look into either completing an Open University degree or similar studies during that time.

Breaststroke never seems to tire me out and I usually end up getting bored of my swim. In Sammakorn last year I’d occasionally swim 30-40 lengths of the 25 metre pool before getting fed up. I never really felt breast-stroke was very credible exercise.

Crawl is conversely exhausting. I found myself panting like a dog in a sauna after merely two lengths today. By the end of my swim my arms ached, my heart beat like mad and I left feeling good and as tired as I am after 30 minutes of running. It’s opened up a whole new world of using a swim to exercise properly and I intend to get into length-swimming from now on. I can swim much faster too so I’ll hopefully not have as much time to get bored.

Let’s see if tomorrow I can managed 3 lengths.

We had two Thai fishing assistants who cast the lines out and organized out bait for us. Our job was to wait for the fish to bite and to skillfully reel the blighters in.

In Koh Si Chang our catches were little more than the size of our feet whereas today our target catch exceeded 25 kilos. There’s a hell of a lot of effort required to reel in something so powerful. The skill is to tire the fish out which, considering the animal is built to spend its life moving around in the water is not such an easy task. These bastards pull like hell and our job is to get them pulling to the left and right so that they eventually exhaust themselves and resist less when it comes to reeling them into our net.

The odds were stacked in our favor yet the fish didn’t make our life especially easy. They were experienced enough to know how to tangle themselves in the support beams to escape. That said we reeled in all but a few of the catches. It gave me great satisfaction knowing that when survival is the name of the game, I am far superior in both good looks and hunting prowess to a fish.

Catfish are not particularly tasty fish so we released them back into the waters again. It must be a pretty horrific life for these poor creatures. They spend most of their day eating bread, getting a hook through their lip, struggling like mad for as long as 30 minutes in the assumption that they are not likely to see the afternoon. Finally exhausted and on the verge of death they are hauled onto land, have a camera flashed at them as they are placed into a fisherman’s arms and then thrown back into the water to repeat the cycle.

Another person who took delight in this fact was Chantelle. Chantelle was destined to video our dives today so that she could produce a souvenir DVD for us all. We were encourage to goof about in the water and to just enjoy ourselves.

Both dives were spectacular. We entered the water down a rope line which made the descents relaxing and slow.

Our first (and best) dive was at South West Pinnacle – regarded as one of the best dive locations in Thailand. With perfect water clarity we could see the most awesome schools of fish, going about, living their little fishy lives completely oblivious to us. The site was to 30m depth however our PADI qualification allows us to only go as deep as 18m so we didn’t go to full depth.

Today I’d overcome my mastery over buoyancy where by inhaling and exhaling you determine whether you float skywards or bottomless-pit-wards. It’s a valuable skill to master seeing as yesterday I got a few memorable scratches on my legs as I intuitively went down onto the corals rather than soared majestically above them.

Our second dive was at Three Rocks, which I was unable to find a link to online. Visibility was only 10 metres here but the diving itself was still fun. We also got the opportunity to do some very simple practice with an underwater compass.

We had a lot of fun with the video, at one time being asked to remove our mask, replace it with sunglasses and do some aquatic dancing for the benefit of proving how stupid we all are.

It was as we sunbathed our way back to the coast I began to really appreciate just why many of the people I’d met in the past few days had lives solely on this island for year, to do nothing but dive 4-5 times a day. Inflating your buoyancy device as you enter the water feels like receiving a lovely warm hug and the wellbeing increases from the onward. There is something intensely relaxing about the slow deeper breathing underwater, the feeling of weightlessness, the euphoria of being able to swoop and soar at will, the distorion of sounds, the magification of seeing through your mask, the completely loss of orientation and inability to gauge time.

I was so pleased to have begun my diving course. It will open up significant opportunities for me wherever I go. I am so excited to receive a copy of our dive DVD so that my friends can begin to appreciate it. I can’t wait to do my advanced qualification next April, when Lisa comes to visit, and when Tik and I have a month to relax. Both Lisa and Tik will study their basic course together over 4 days, and I’ll be able to complete the advanced course in 2 days, and have 2 bonus days for fun dives.

I left Koh Tao at 3pm via catamaran to the coach at Chumporn and returned about 2am to Bangkok with a few more scratches, a deeper suntan and a greater sense of accomplishment than I’d left with.

Traveling solo, and being reluctant to get my camera wet, I don’t have many photos to publish yet. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to pull off some wonderful underwater shots from the DVD when it arrives in a week or two.

UPDATE: I’ve put the photos I’ve got here.

We had an hour to complete a larger multiple-choice exam which we could also work together on. Our theory class was now complete and we had an hour before our first official two dives.

We boarded the boat with a number of other divers and spent some time setting up our equipment and checking it. It is important, although not essential, to prepare and to dive with a buddy. In doing this, the safety checks are doubled and if one has a problem under water assistance is right on hand. I was buddied up with an experienced Spanish diver called Fernando who was with us for opportunity of a free dive.

As we floated and swam around the boat the Thai staff amused themselves by throwing biscuits into the water near us which attracted schools of fish to take nibbles, completely unconcered that they were swimming right into us. The girls were suprised that the fish were not interested in eating the watermelons they decided to experiment with, although quite honestly what any fish would see appealing in eating anything 99% water is beyond my grasp anyway.

Both our dives were in Aow Leuk. We dived to about 12 metres and visability was at 10 metres for both dives. We practiced our basic skills now that we were in deeper water and just relaxed, enjoying our time.

A few minutes into the dive my weight-belt vanished! I was completely oblivious to this until I began uncontrollably floating to the surface. I was yanked down again by my instructor and was awarded some of his surplus weights.

I spent the second half of my dive wondering whether I had indeed clipped my belt on properly and when exactly it might have come off.

The dives itself were spectacular in themselves but really they were done to build confidence and get used to controlling ones buoyancy underwater. Both dives were for just 40 minutes yet the time really flew by.

Nobody had taken us aside and advised us on the inevitable underwater problem I’m certain we all face. The fact is that when you’re inside a wetsuit which is to be re-used many times over, how the hell are you expected to pee when your bladder is exposed to the relative cool temperatures as you enter the water?

Sure, we learnt a number of hand signals necessary to communicate ‘I’m OK’, ‘Danger’ and ‘I’m out of air’ and I’m pretty sure I could have combined all three of them to develop my own, “My pubic areas is feeling refreshingly warm” signal.

I’m not certain of the formal protocol. Safety dicates being in pairs, so I guess trying to float oneself alone, behind some seaweed would not be considered best practice.

My inquisitive mind is also searching for the answer as to whether your buddy would notice should you just mosey along and relieve yourself, perhaps more importantly, which direction would your pee spread to? How would you most strategically position yourself so not to cause offense? I guess this is something best left answered in th Advance PADI course.

We got to do quite a bit of sunbathing today and all of us were excited to be doing the two other dives the next morning. By the end of the first dive, knowing that despite uncontrollably floating away from the group at the beginning, I was unphazed by any possible problems and was confident in my ability not to undeservedly die.

Bolstered by this positive thought I again had an early night to await a 7:30 am dive the day after.

My bungalow was an adequate fan-cooled double room with a clean bathroom and shower. I was booked into the Beach Club Resort, at the far end of the island’s hub.

I spent much of my day reading my books on a rock. I rented a PADI Diver’s Manual and decided to spend a few hours pre-learning everything that the course would cover.

Over about 4 hours I’d got as far as about page 80, still well into chapter one and I was a little apprehensive as to how we’d be able to learn the book over just 4 short days. I knew the course would not be difficult but it’s always a little daunting venturing into the unknown. I like to prepare for my studies in advanced so that the classroom sessions would be easier to absorb.

We met our group at 4pm. Our Teacher Zigor was Spanish, a nice guy who’d been in Koh Tao for years. I was to study with Carla and Joy, two English girls about my age who were traveling the world together and with Jennifer and Priya, also English girls who’d been island hopping in Thailand.

Sadly Jennifer had been advised not to do the course as she was an asthma sufferer although she was invited to tag along with the group and to go snorkelling as we dived. It was a friendly group although we didn’t really get much opportunity to socialize outside of the training.

The video was interesting, Zigor left us to watch it and we sat there without him for the 2 hours. All of us were tired and it was difficult to hold back our yawns so I’m not sure how useful the video really was aside from providing a good introduction. It was cringeworthy to see how PADI had tried to liven things up by using a Mr. Bean character to demonstrate how not to dive.

The video finished at 6pm and I was in bed, fast asleep by about 8:30.

I drove myself crazy between Monday and Wednesday. I had nothing to do. I couldn’t find one book I hadn’t read, Tik was working in Khon Kaen and it was too soon to begin organizing my move out of Sammakorn.

I’d spoken to my friend Eli about going diving. Sadly we didn’t share enough time to go together so I booked the same package as he’d done and left on my own last Thursday.

I went to complete my 4-day PADI Open Water Diver Course in Koh Tao. This would allow me to scuba dive independently after 6 hours of classroom instruction, some shallow-water practices and four forty-minute dives. I thoroughly enjoyed snorkeling with Tik in Koh Man Nork a few weeks ago and have wondered just how it might feel to have that extra freedom to lower oneself closer to the action.

I organized my travel, accommodation and training with Easy Divers based on a receipt which Eli left at my house. The lady spoke excellent English and seemed efficient. I visited her office Thursday evening in Khao San Road and boarded the coach to take me to Chumporn.

We set off about 9pm. I had the good fortune at being right in the front of the coach, with the TV in front of me, and an experienced gemologist to my left. From Chumporn we boarded a catamaran to Koh Tao and I arrived around 11am.

Last weekend I attended a monumental Aikido seminar, packed with the world’s most accomplished Aikidoka (Aikido students).

The event spanned both days. Day one was certainly the most vigorous with a total of 6 hours of Aikido. The format was basically one Aikido master demonstrating and a short group practice with any of the other 300 participants.

Most talks were in Japanese with a translator and, whether they could speak English or not, all the seminar attendees could effectively communicate with each other during the short practices. I worked with some extremely impressive people and got a lot out of having my ass kicked by some truly tiny Japanese ladies in their little black bottoms.

There was about enough mat space for 2 people to one small area and it was suprising that there was no accidents. I was suprised by how few white belts were in attendance, counting about ten of us. It was enlightening to meet western students who studied with the same Sensai as I in a different school and I’m keen to visit them to participate in their classes too.

The second day was significantly easier. We had seminars for the first three hours, including 90 minutes by Ueshiba Moriteru Doshu – the grandson of the Aikido founder, and today the figurehead of the martial art.

After that, our Aikido group was required to make a lightening-fast presentation which went painlessly enough and beyond that we were treated to Aikido demonstrations by all the other Aikidoka.

It was fascinating to see 80 year old men flinging well-built students all over the place with barely an exhalation. It was also a boost to recognize that some of the experts were people I’d had the honour to work with the day before.

The seminar was followed by a large Chinese banquet where I got to socialize with some really wonderful people. It’s not often that I get the opportunity to make new friends and although I was not expecting to stay its duration I was delighted that I did.

The weekend was a motivating and enlightening two days. It made me feel proud to be training under our Sensai Fukakusa Motohiro Shihan with such small classes although I’ve not yet been back to class yet to perfect my learnings.

All of the Seminar photos were taken by Daniel Kestenholz, our Aikido photographer. Daniel managed to save his lucky legs by not having to kneel for best part of 12 hours. I’m sure you’ll agree that some of the photos are remarkable.

You can view all of Daniel’s Photos Here

You can view the rest of my photos here too which are mainly from the banquet

There’s not too much to report in the world of Aikido. I’m still enjoying it and attending 2-3 times a week. I’ve still got two left feet but these are suitably balanced by my two left hands.

Next month Bangkok will host a very significant 3 day Aikido seminar where all the Mr Bigs of the Aikido world will be attending. I’m looking forward to that.

N.B. The photo on the left is of Eli. It was taken to remember his last class with us before he takes a few weeks to travel and to ultimately return to Israel.

It’s always fun and I like to realign my reality with what I really should be doing once in a while.  Since nobody else is going to take an interest I though I’d interview myself.

Question: Are you happy in Thailand?
Answer: Hmm … good question… Since April I’ve learnt to speak and understand a lot more Thai which has certainly made my life easier here.  There’s some wonderful advantages in living here, most especially:

• I’ve got no commitments on my time whatsoever.
• I’m very happy having Tik as my girlfriend as you all know.  
• I eat out as part of my routine, 3-4 times a week in a good restaurant.
• I’ve got a lovely large house, in a beautiful village with every amenity I need within cycling distance
• I’ve got a residual income greater than my living costs so I can dedicate my time to only what I want to be doing

That said there’s still some important things I’d change.

• I’m no financially better off than i was 12 months ago despite promising myself a year ago I’d begin paying off UK debts.
• My village is so far out of central Bangkok I rarely get to see quality friends and the journey can be as much as 90 minutes each way
• I spent a lot of time alone in front of my computer
• 3 weeks a month Tik is in the other side of the country.
• Some days I don’t leave the house or even have a conversation with anybody except online.

On the whole yes, I’ve got a good life here.  There’s a few things I can do improve on the negatives and I still believe that for what I am doing with my work I am in the best country in the world.   I have learnt so much about e-commerce, web design, and internet marketing that a big success will arrive soon and as I prepare for it I have a lot of time to think, to learn, to network and to stay healthy in a very cheap country to live.

Question: How’s Business?
Answer: I’ve wasted 6 months this year waiting for a 2 month project to be completed so that I could move out of the telecom industry and into something else.   Calls in Thailand is of little economic value to me now and it is not worth updating it much.  The cost-calculator is very significant and in holding such a practical tool I feel morally obliged to update it every few months.   The site itself was only ever designed to point people towards my United World Telecom site anyway.

My Phone-Guide site is similar.  It’s self-sustaining and was only meant as a pointer to United World Telecom anyway.  I’ll add adsense to the site and again, leave it to run itself.

I’m about to close Clarity Calls.  I foolishly partnered with a company with such a poor infrastructure that administering telephone credit because a burden and troubleshooting problems was very unprofessional.  The target-market for Clarity Calls. was Thai clients so I’ve just added information about the company to Calls in Thailand instead and will hold onto the $500 or so of telephone credit should it be of value in the future.

United World Telecom 4 me is still my main income provider.  Sadly the business has halved in revenue since last year which is obviously frustrating.  The main reason is that VoIP (internet telephone) has become more mainstream for large call centers here and, even were I to have offered the service to them I’d only have made a few hundred dollars a month maximum for a lot of work.  The Thailand market is nearly dead now as the Thai telecom companies are cheap enough for most people.   United World Telecom 4 me is still ranked very high on search engines and when the new version of the site is launched I expect a lot more clients from outside of Thailand.  It would be wonderful if I can attract a few high-volume callers again, but seeing as I spend less than an hour a week with the site I’m still pleased to be getting a few new sign-ups each day.

I rushed into commissioning Coder Now to fill a month of spare time. Frustratingly the United World Telecom 4 me update overran by far longer that I’d possibly comprehended it could and I’m left with a half-completed site and no enthusiasm for it.  I’d like to get the site completed and leave it until my enthusiasm returns maybe early next year.

All my enthusiasm and excitement are in my You Do Care website which is going to be incredible.  So incredible in fact that I’m using my full name and real address in the site registration so that I know I’m in it for the long haul and that my future reputation will rest on this.

I have a new project underway which should bring me about $800 a month with very little time taken.  Assuming all goes to plan this monthly sum will double by the end of the year.  I won’t know for sure how reliable or risky this project is until early September at the earliest.  I’ll detail it when the money’s in my bank, and if not I’ll quietly forget about it.

Question: How’s Tik?
Answer: We are in a very loving and committed relationship.  Tik is soon to be coming to England with me for 3 weeks and we are both very excited.  Her English is excellent and, as a qualified pharmacist and employee of a reputable multinational Tik is keen to spend a few years in the UK.  I’m not averse to the idea of returning but I want to be able to return with my head held high, with no credit card debts and enough residual income that we will not need to work in a crap job.  Tik is interested in studying a masters degree in the UK and I’m happy to support her.

Question:  You are thinking to return to England?   
Answer:  Yes, I love Thailand but I’d like my children to be educated in the UK and I didn’t leave the UK with a chip on my shoulder.  I like England although the idea of spending a few months each year between the UK and Thailand is appealing.  I’ve got debts to clear and You Do Care is going to take at least another 12 months before it grows to even a piffle of it’s potential.  I’m thinking 2-3 more years here will be long enough to grow my businesses and to clear all my debts except for my student loan.

Question:  Have you done as much traveling as you’d have liked to?   
Answer:  I’d say yes.  I’ve been to less countries in the last 12 months that I’d have expected although New Zealand, Hong Kong and Laos are enough in a 6 month period plus weekends away with Tik within Thailand.  I’m certainly able to work anywhere now; my administration can take care of itself and I can take my laptop wherever I need to go.  

Question: So what are your main 3 goals for the next 12 months?   
Answer:  

1. Organize my finances so that I am without important debts within 3 years at the latest
2. Invest all my energy into building You Do Care so that it generates a monthly income in excess of a good UK income within 18 months
3. Study and develop my e-commerce skills more, opening mini-sites to add more income streams and to learn from them.

As usual with me, my plan will change but I’ll follow them until circumstances change and I adapt.  As long as I’m moving (and moving forward) I don’t believe anything can really go wrong.

Counsellor Tang Weiyao confirmed that even the most highly educated Chinese could be ignorant about sex.

“I had two university students who had been married for two years and hadn’t managed to have children. They went to the hospital for a check-up and it emerged that they didn’t even know the first thing about sex. They thought simply sleeping in the same bed would get her pregnant,” she said.

Read the full story here

Since I was young I’ve dabbled in many martial arts; Judo for a couple of years although the small school never really got the students graded and I ended up with just two red notches on my white belt.

I got a little bored of Judo purely because all my friends were learning to punch and kick so I joined up for Ju-Jitsu getting to the similarly pathetic yellow belt before realizing that if I could get a yellow belt then the grading system was obviously based on paying the school enough money and certainly not on the development of any true skills.

Barry Price recently reminded me about my personal and somewhat unique martial art party-trick back in my good old Birkdale High School days. The idea was to break out of headlocks by just dribbling all over my attacker. Whilst probably not the most practical technique in a street brawl I do belive it was effective in niche situations.

During university I got interested in Taekwondo and studied it quite intensively for 18 months. Foolishly I paired up with the most pathetic old man there rather than searching out a mentor and, predictably didn’t get very far.

After graduating from university I did actually plan to go to live in Korea so that I could take my Taekwondo seriously until discovering Muay Thai (Thai Boxing) which I practiced almost daily for 6 months when I arrived in Bangkok.

Muay Thai was the only martial art I’ve studied which, even 2 years after my last class I could probably use effectively and I am still impressed that after all this time, my shins are still in a pretty tough condition. I guess the judo skills of break-falling might also be a lifeskill I’ve acquired as well.

So … why Aikido?

I’ve always been interested in Aikido. I know my friends such as Mariana have always enthused about it to me and I love the fact that it is perfect for guys like me who have to raise myself on my toes just using a urinal. My call to action came a month ago when – bored – I downloaded a documentary about Steven Seagal called “The Path Beyond Thought”.

The documentary gives Seagal a lot of credibility and until that time I just assumed him to be a dumb action star. The footage of the training, the Randoori (defending yourself against multiple attackers) and the spiritual side of the art really impressed me.

It just so happens that a 7th-Dan Japanese Aikido Sensai (Teacher) holds classes in Bangkok three times a week. 7th dan is extremely impressive seeing as there are apparently only about half a dozen 8th dan masters worldwide, and the Japanese ethos is that a 7th dan sensai can never be promoted higher if his teacher is still alive. He is Japanese but the classes are taught in English. Both classes I’ve attended have had only half a dozen students so I will be getting good personal attention. I can’t imagine getting this level of teaching excellence as a beginner anywhere else. The lessons are extremely good value for money too.

I’ll be training three times a week when possible, Monday & Wednesday nights and Saturday evenings. The school I’m studying at is Dance-Center. Click here for details of my Aikido School and teacher