Gregory's Road To Down Under

Some of you have asked me to write a blog/diary about my trip. Hopefully this trip inspires you to take life by the balls and run with them into the unknown. I'll be traveling Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Malaysia & Indonesia for 14 months. Then settling for two years in Australia.

[gregorystour]

“We Go Together”

Day 31, 1st December 2014

Today is our final exam and graduation event. The final exam is the big one. the whole two hour massage with you customer with no faults or problems, you have to remember it all with the eyes of the teachers watching.

Our customer we're pre selected and thank god I've had this woman before so I know how she likes her pressure. And I think she must have requested for me again because hopefully i did such a good job first time around.

The room is always tense when you first walk in. We have extra teachers from the other Watpo school from central Bangkok, they are here observing everyone, the trick if you ever was struggling with trying to remember is to watch someone else and follow about 5 secs behind them. I admit I forgot to do one side of the arm when I did mine. But I'm sure over time it will stick like glue. I still went back and done that arm that i missed to make my timing fit in 2hrs. There is over 300 moves in the two hour massage and it's surprising how fast two hours flys by. 

Reason I've chosen to do thai massage is; I personal like deep tissue massage and thai is a unique massage, can be altered for deep tissue and simple massaging and also my friends say i have really good pressure when ever i do a greg massage and that i should look into being a masseur. I plan to use this to help me get extra funds in Australia while I'm there from October. Working in gyms in the week and then maybe the beach on weekends from the mid morning to mid afternoon. I've been doing some research and I could pull in $80 for 2 hour massage and $50 for hour massage, if I was doing this is Aussie this would really help with finances.

Above left to right, Teacher Mango, Alex, Me, Teacher Pickle and Nigma

Thats it we have nothing further to do, we have finished everything, we have been taught everything that we should have been taught and i can finally say i need a break from massaging, this afternoon the school are laying on a food but first we have to collect our certificates from the manager of the school and from out teachers.

Its not the best photo of the group, but they insisted they wanted the photo here but i was trying to explain that the photo wouldn't come out right. But they went ahead and took the photo there anyways. We have people missing from this photo because they have left yesterday.

It was actually a nice afternoon spending some time talking with the teachers eating burgers and chips and other western dishes. we spent the next couple of hours eating and drinking and talk about the course and going through memories. Its been an experience ill never forget. Im now even tempted to come back and learn the body oil massage all depending on funds i have left after China, Vietnam and Cambodia.

The above image was me trying on the Watpo Therapist top, I'm not trying to blow my own trumpet but i don't half look good in this top, suits me very well, role on to when ill be practicing it for real.

It was around 3pm that me and Alex said our goodbyes to everyone and made our way back to Bangkok, we checked into the Merry V Hostel just on the Ram Buttri Road near Khao San Road . We went basic in a very budget hostel with two single beds in a very small room, so no more sharing beds with Alex, i’m sure hes sad about that. If you ever watched ‘The Beach’ then you will understand what the hostels look like. 

Good Bye Salaya it’s been great...

[gregorystour]

“Goodbye My Lover”

Day 30 - Sunday 30th November 2014

After a great finally night for some of us, we had a chilled out morning, had breakfast and we went into the pool and relaxed for the morning. Some of the students were leaving today and one of them was Savi. It was our last morning together and i'm gonna miss that lad like an arm, hes been my rock here making me laugh and hes a true gent who knows how to have a laugh.

But before we said our goodbyes we had the pool all morning to relax, the pool area had great facilities like a gym, pool, sauna, steam and jacuzzi. we would go in this pool most weekends and sometimes after class to cool down. It was also at the end of the rainy season here in thailand but they didn't have much of a rainy season i was told, it was very dry.

That time has come, to say goodbye to my Watpo friend. Walking to his room proper chocked me up but i was strong not for my tears to start falling. He also got little speechless when saying goodbye. walking him down to his taxi i was singing good bye my lover, goodbye my friend - james blunt, i would sing this to him now and again and say when you leave on your last day ill be singing this. It didn't work well for my emotions tho, he was just laughing. just explining tohim how much ive enjoyed his company the past 5 weeks. We will meet again. 

The above picture was when i went back to his room where Manos needed some man hugs because he was also a little sad to see him go. Savi had left this trainers on the floor, i went to them and pick up a shoe and went to his bed and looked like frantic ex girlfriend pretending to cry out loud and sob for my true love to come back to me.

It all started to seem like it was all coming to an end, 5 weeks have gone so fast but we still have one more exam and our celebrations meal tomorrow. Savi and a few others have already done their exam today so they could leave for their planes leaving to go back to their home countries.

[gregorystour]

“Can I Get A..”

Day 29 - Saturday 29th November 2014

After a long day in class me and the boys decided me needed to hit the town of Bangkok, I wanted to treat the boys to some girls which they have been lost without for the past 5 weeks, so i planned to take them to the Nana Plaza later on in the evening, but we wanted to go to the Sky Bar, which was used for the location of ‘Hangover 2′ movie. But first we had to leave the compound and get to Bangkok because being in the middle of nowhere no taxis on the road and no call taxis willing to take us into Bangkok. So the evening has started successfully.

We must have been waiting on this road for a taxi to pass us but nothing did, thank god one of the teachers was leaving campus and he gave us a lift further on down the road where there was a taxi rank and thankfully a taxi gave us a ride into town. which he didn't want to use meter he wanted to give us an amount. Just so you know taxis in Thailand have to use meter, its the law, they will never get away with giving a Thai person an amount number because they will report them, but when taxis only want to take westerners they can put up the price 400% so when i got the taxi to Salaya from Bangkok it cost me 200bht (£4), but the taxi man would only take us if he charged us 600bht (£12), which between 4 people is fine so we just did it to get there.

We arrived at the sky bar and the boys loved this, its a bit on the expensive side here but the view is worth it, out in the distance also was a thunder storm in some clouds, it was a spectacular sight watching the bolts of lighting come bursting out of the clouds, we must of had 2 rounds of cocktails, having some chilled quality of following conversation about the course, people and plans for the future, its said that men a more bitchy than women, ill let you guys be the judge of that.

Firstly before i give the boys the girls, i'm taking them to the gay area in Bangkok,with its infamous Soi 2 and Soi 4, Silom is considered the main gay area of Bangkok. While Soi 2 caters exclusively to those who like dance clubs like DJ Station, Freeman and Espresso, Soi 4 offers a more relaxed atmosphere with pubs, bars and restaurants such as Balcony Bar, Telephone Pub and Sphinx.

I only took the boys to soi 4, which has chairs either side looking out on the central path, so for you to walk through they will all be looking at you, this is like the homo catwalk, i started to show the boys how its done, savi was next, i didn't even have to show me how to catwalk, he did this fine all by himself, he was more mincing more than me, this is sure to get the attention of the gays. Alex just walked it like a male model and Manos just walked normal like he was popping to the shops for some milk.

we found this bar on the end away from the crowds and the drinks were flowing, there was another group of westerners in there, i think they were spanish and they had clocked me and savi, at this point this one gay was locked onto him with his eyes, Savi wanted to pretend i was his boyfriend, so i sat on Savi’s lad and made googly eyes with him until the gay guy from the other group got the picture

It didn't stop them coming over and having a dance in our area. which we greeted them and we all danced together Savi tried to stay away from the lad.

Next up showing the Nana Plaza, Nana Plaza is a 3 storey red-light district in Bangkok, which is rumored to be the largest sex complex in the world. It is on Sukhumvit Road Soi 4. Basically just full of strip joints and girls in there tightest bikinis. we got in a tuck tuck and made our way, this tuck tuck driver was going so fast, i was little scared for myself, his sharp turns and swaying side to side and darting between the cars.

When we arrived the boys was mouths open, but first i wanted to take them to the lady boy bar which is on the top floor of Nana Plaza, i wanted to see if they would tell the difference. we were escorted over to some seats and the boys was getting excited, it wasn't until the host asked all the girls to stand in front of us on the stage to see if we like any of the girls and if we wanted to talk to them, none of the boys selected any. they were too busy picking who was the hottest. it wasn't i told them that these were actually men, i told them to take a closer look down stairs. Then i said so who wants number 10, this lady boy had such a big bulge out of all the girls she must of been packing some junk in that trunk.

Next we went to another bar where we sat down in front of the girls dancing area, and there was some nice girls to be honest, this one girl had glasses on and she was working the Britney teenager look with the school skirt, don't worry I’m not turning, i just appreciate a girl who owns the stage and gives her all dancing, while they are here they might as well work it.

So this one girl was owning it, what she did is turned around and bent over and her ass cheeks were on top of my bottle of my drink, the boys faces were just wide open now, getting more excited. Then i pointed at Alex so she would go over to him and then he kept his face still and she bent over and then she put her ass in his face it was like 1cm away from contact, at this point Alex was taking in the moment and ordering more drinks.

Whats interesting in these sort of places is the hosts, the girls who just look after the customer making them buy more drinks and walking around making sure lads don't use their cameras on the girls, these girls ain't the best looking out of the bunch, normally these girls are butcher then the rest of the girls, these girls are the ones who can take care of themselves, these are the girls who get this job, they also have numbers on them so you can pick these girls just in case you didn't like any of the girls on stage and u wanted big and bouncy one.

[gregorystour]

“Sexy Back”

Day 28 - Friday 28th November 2014

Throughout the teachings of massage the teachers would also tell us sexy, sexy. Whenever your on line one is always up onto your knees and hands back up which would mean sexy, sometimes people would start line 1 down on the floor while it was sexy position so your giving more pressure and that you're more stable when up on your knees. like so.. but me being me when being told to be more sexy, i would always give 100% on that.. this would always cause hysterics within the class. I think they just said that to me so ill keep being sexy throughout most of the day. 

The whole class would remind people when they weren't being sexy enough. Specially me, sometimes i wouldn't go in full mode when learning the massage because it can take it out of you so i would always just give 50%. Imagine doing massage 6 hours a day.. killer! Every day you would feel in a daze or mostly feeling so relaxed that everything seemed like a dream, it wasn't just a health school is felt like a health retreat also.

[gregorystour]

“Shine”

Day 26

Today was exam practice with real people, from the outside world which was amazing. This is when the real fun begins actually dealing with REAL people, all the students were waiting in the outside area where 12 customer went into the massage room and they were sat on each of our mates, but we would be called in in different times, so we would never know what customer or treatment we would get. So hopefully the teachers pick one that you know and remember.

I still say that knowing 2hr massage, 1 hr and half, and 5 treatment massages in 5 weeks is mental. Its just impossible to remember all of them so which ever ones you liked and could remember hopefully it was the ones you focused on more than the others because if they picked ones you didn't enjoy doing then you would have been screwed. 

Meet my customer her name is Lou Ton, this picture was taken after the massage so shes little relaxed atm, so no smiles. Thank god she had weak arm treatment, because this was one of the things i had taken more time in learning and remembering.

Its all very tense inside the class everyone looking around see whos doing what treatment, seeing there face reactions to if they were screwed and not a clue what to do because they didn't want bad leg or weak arm. There was this guy in class called Richard, he must have been around 50 years old, his memory wasn't what it used to be, 10min into the massage i looked over at him and i knew he had the same treatment as me but i noticed he had jumped from part 1 to part 3, which means what should have been a 1half hour massage turns into 30min massage. 

I gave Teacher Mango a nod to come over and gave a side look over to Richard so she could see his mistake which then she pulled him up on it, and made him start again. Richard would never really listen in class, i felt his mind was always elsewhere. If you ever get partnered with him you knew you was going to be massaged on for a very long time, so you kinda wanted to make sure you was always with a partner that could massage and also someone you work well with, i was always with Alex mainly.

So now Richard always needed supervision on his learning and if he made a mistake teacher mango would always make him start again from the beginning. There was an old student called Nigma who would come to school to help students know the massage kinda like a volunteer support teacher. she would always get logged with Richard, so Richard would always do massaging and never receive one when he was with her.

[gregorystour]

“Devil in Disguise”

Day 25 - 25th November 2014

Today we were learning the last treatment massage for bad stomach. So if my customer would come to be saying that she was surfing from wind, stomach cramps or period pains then this treatment would hopefully work for her. I haven’t been able to try it on anyone yet personally I don’t think it’s going to be a one of my top treatments to be honest. But I’m always up for giving my friends free massages on this to see if they feel any benefits from it.

So throughout the course me and the teachers have given ourselves nicknames. Which has filtered out into the other classes and offices of the school so now that’s its coming to the end of the course everyone only knows me by the name of broccoli. The reason the teachers started calling me this from day 1 is because of my hair, it would always be big and bouncy with some curl. Specially after getting massaged all day looks like you been dragged through a hedge backwards.

                                     Mango on left, Pickle on right...

I’ve also named the teachers there own fruit or veg. So teacher Malinee was given the name of Mango, wasn’t any reason on why because she doesn’t look like a mango, she says the reason I called her Mango was because she said she was fat, which isn’t true, she always pull this sad face. The reason I called her mango because the letter M is the same as her name and mango was the first one that came into my head. Teacher Mango was the main teacher for teaching the westerners because her English was very good.

Also we have teacher Ploen, whos Mango’s support for this group. Her English is also good but not as good as Mango’s. Teacher Ploen would always get her words mixed up and normally mean the opposite or would get her in awkward moment in a sexual manner which was always hilarious as she was trying to step back from the comment. Teacher Ploen was given the name Pickle. Pickle was easy to play up and she was always a good sport to have a laugh. She wasn't impressed that she was pickle after I shown her a picture of a pickle because she didn't know what one was until week after she asked what a pickle is.

On the evening while we was eating out dinner, I could see Edwardo looking over at me, being unusually difficult and making my dinner awkward watching me while id eat. I had just finished my main meal I had my pudding ready on the side, I literally just started my pudding and Edwardo came over to our table and asked if he could see me outside now. I said to him we can talk after I've eaten. He persisted that he wanted to speak outside now. I just reminded him I’m eating and when I’m done we can speak, just because you've eaten doesn't mean I’m ready. He carried on having the same conversation with me in front of the full table of people. He said why I am being so difficult. I replied “I’d like to remind you your being difficult, I’m eating my dinner which you want me to leave so you can have a chat outside about something, why can’t you just be patient and wait until I’m done which will be in 15min, what’s the hurry?, now tell me if im wrong but that’s being difficult”

I came outside after I had finished to try and find him and we met at the tennis court. He started going off on one saying if he knew how much the hair cut would have cost him he wouldn't of had it done, and that 400bht was too much money. I did explain to him that he had the choice to come to me with whatever he had, and I told him what I thought his intentions was and that was to leave the course and not pay me. He didn’t ensure me that was the plan so I kinda guessed it was the plan.

He just kept going on at me about price, i really wanted this conversation to end because its not going to go anywhere, so i said “is this conversation about money?” which he said “no”, “because all you have mentioned Ed is about money, if money is that important to you then you can have your 400bht back”. He replied “its not about the money just principle”, i said “yeah about principle that it took me two weeks to get a payment from you which i had to come and ask again.”

We left the conversation on a agree disagree basis, but i still had the 400bht. The boys couldn't believe how strange hes been acting tonight.

[gregorystour]

“Bitch I’m Madonna”

Day 24 - Monday 24th November 

So it's been awhile since I've cut Edwardo's hair and I did mention to him that he can pay me what he thinks the haircut is worth. Has its been just under two weeks, and he still he hasn't come to me with my dosh. He's had the chance many times to say something about me getting my money or asking how much again, but what he rather do is pretend to forget he had a hair cut and come to the end of the course and not pay which I think is where he wanted to take it. So I cornered him after class.

I made sure we left class together and that we got our time alone, for courtesy out of him. I asked that I haven't received payment for the haircut yet, he then act surprised and said he totally forgot. I doubt he forgot because he's been tying it up every 5 minutes, so not sure that I believe him. He's too much of a snake. 

So then he asked me again how much I want, I said back to him “well you had all this time to come with any payment you wish for your hair. Because of your delay in gonna charge you 400bht (£8), like I did with Tim the Aussie and Lina the French girl”

It seemed like he chocked on them words when he repeated the price to me and I said ill come and get it off you just before dinner tonight. 

The evening came and just as I asked the money was handed over, with no problems or questions. You'd think that any conversation about this cut would be finished now, but no there's more to come.

[gregorystour]

“Is This the Way to Amarillo”

Continued

Day 22 - Sunday 22nd November 2014

                                          Kanchanaburi‎

We had the best morning wake up this morning the view from our window looked right out onto the River Kwai. We all managed to get down for breakfast as breakfast was included in the room price. I wouldn't really call it breakfast, all that was on offer was toast and coffee or tea. So you could imagine the let down we went down for breakfast and that was the only thing on offer.

We got back into the car and made our way to the museum called JEATH War Museum . I thought this museum would have been more then what it was. It consisted of 3 rooms, one with just loads of photography's in picture frames of the poor conditions of the POW's and the other was of some weapons and tools that was used back in the day and the third room is newspaper cut out story's from back in the day. To me I could have found all this on line and more and would have saved the journey, and they even charged for us to go into this place.

Next on our stop was the actually River Kew Bridge. The most famous bridge in Thailand with its history. The railway line was meant to transport cargo daily to India, to back up their planned attack on India. The construction was done using POWs and Asian slave laborers in unfavorable conditions. The work started in October 1942 was completed in a year. Due to the difficult terrain, thousands of laborers lost their lives. It is believed that one life was lost for each sleeper laid in the track. 

I love my history and when I'm around something with any historical value I get little overwhelmed I get this excitement come over me which gives me this energy when ever i touch it, so i always gotta have a moment to myself, take it all in a appreciate it.

We parked the car and it was very crowded. But still able to move around and get a good look. There was a train pulled in, I think this one is the one that goes all way to the end where Hellfire Pass is. This is the main shot I wanted from the day. So we started to walk along the track and made myself go halfway over the bridge and then wait for the train, the train started to sound its horn to warn people to move aside and make way. At this point this means everyone needs to move into the areas which are at the side on the bridge, back in England we would have been moved off the bridge to let the train past, oh no, not in Thailand, the train was coming and it was gonna pass US on this bridge.

Savi managed to set up my go pro on the floor facing up at the train. We got this beautiful shot on the train passing over the camera. It's not much to catch this train to the end around £6 (300bht) it takes you along this beautiful cliff edge and river bank view and through some jungle mountain side. I would have loved to do this but maybe I'll do it again from bangkok, because I wanna say I've done the rail ride on the Death Railway. 

We must have been here for around 1hr and half and Savi had already downed 3 coconuts from this one stall, he loves his coconuts. You can carry on walking along the railway track for some kilometers. you can keep on going until you fancy it. We didn't adventure far as we needed to make sure we get everything in today but i feel like i would like to come back.

We had a bit of a drive now to reach hell fires pass. It was around 1half,2 hrs drive from where we was. It wasn't that bad, we had our thai music and the drive was pleasant scenery. The boys managed to fall asleep on the way. I was thinking thank god we got the car becuz the freedom we have in moving to place to place which we wouldn't have got if we was with a tour.  

We arrived at Hellfire Pass, its abit in the middle of nowhere. the entrance was a museum on the local area and some history about the place, with a viewing platform with a peace vessel bowl with orchids floating in it. The view was actually stunning, with the mountains in the back drop

Hellfire Pass is a 500 metres long and 26 metres deep section of rock that was dug out by Prisoners of War intended to allow the ‘Death Railway’ to continue its route from Bangkok to Rangoon. Soldiers were forced to remove the rock using no more than picks, hammers and their bare hands. Of the 1,000 Australian and British soldiers who took 12 weeks to clear the stretch of mountain, 700 died.

It was a short walk down to what actually still remains of the old railway, the walk down was steep down these wooden stairs, once you get to the bottom you take a right and walk along the actually cut out of the mountain, the ledge on where the rail tracks would have been, walking along you can see some rail tracks still remain on the floor. Again i was overwhelmed by what i was walking on, forget waterfalls, this does more for me.

When you get to the section where you can see the cravings done out of the mountain you will just see how hard it must have been for them, before coming i also watched the ‘The Railway Man’ film to get a feeling on how life must have been like for these POW.

Next on our list to visit was the Erawan Waterfalls, this are stunning naturally made waterfalls, made by the calcium within the water which creates these beautiful waterfall shapes. Erawan Falls has seven levels dropping down over 1,500m and is regarded as one the more beautiful in Thailand.You can walk to each level fairly easily on the paths but if you're aiming to get to the very top then it's a bit of a scramble up the cliff - it's worth the effort though!You can swim in some of the pools created by the falls. Around the park are also several caves where you can explore and see some weird and wonderful limestone formations, stalagtites and stalagmites!

The pool behind me wasn't really that deep but i didn't go in, i wanted the lads to stand in it and show me how deep it was, not being able to swim i’m always uncertain on if i be able to keep my head in. they wouldn't help me, they just kept trying to push me in, the other problem was the fish. there was some huge fish in these pools, and they were always trying to get at your legs and feet with their teeth. So people would jump in and swim across to the waterfall.

It was coming up to 4pm, i said to Alex that we need to keep walking up to the other levels as we was only on 3 and the park closes at 6pm. we made our way more up and we came to a viewing platform where me and the lands took a moment to take in the view, we also had monkeys around us so we had to make sure we kept our bags close because normally they would try and take them.

We skipped one level because it wasn't that great and we arrived at level 6, the lads tried to go further up to level 7 but there was security guy stopping anyone going any further up to the next levels. he told us they are closing all levels above 5, which it would give people time to walk down back to the start. Alex face wasnt impressed at all, he started mumbling under his breath and his face was just in shock, he kept staring at the guard and i said to Alex what you looking like that at him, you cant do nothing now, Alex turned around to me and warned me not to push him, and that hes not in the mood anymore. I reminded him that currently hes acting like a right baby. I know what they were thinking we spent all day looking at stuff we didn't really want to look at and we come he being told its closing. i did tell them that we have already been here for two hours, they were swimming for ages in the big pool, thats not my problem. he needed time to cool down so we went back to the big pool and remained there till 6pm

[gregorystour]

“Is This the Way to Amarillo”

Day 22 - Saturday 22nd November 2014

So we had to get class over and done with before our weekend actually started we are going to Kanchanaburi. Soon as class finished I was to go to the airport and pick up the car which we have hired for our weekend. I got a taxi from the school which took me all way to Don Mueang airport. we cost me around 500bht (£10), the time it took me to get to the car hire place was around 45min. when i arrived it took me a further 45min to get served because they were so busy.

I got to the lads bout 6.30/7pm. I got little lost in Salaya area on way back because coming off the high way is all one way which means when you miss a turning coming back is a nightmare, because you have to come back up another one way. When I arrived they were all waiting ready to leave

We had been driving for 5 min on our way and we must have been driving 40mph and all of a sudden the road turned from cement to dirt road but it must have been a good 30cm drop to the dirt road. We all yelped and positioned our hands read for impact of something like a river or ditch, ready for something to happen but the car just kept going dust shot up everywhere.

The drive there wasn't that bad, some traffic but it was actually nice to see the other side to Thailand which is none touristy, pure local living. We had Savi in the back seat with Manos, and Alex next to me as always. We pulled up to some traffic lights and Thailand traffic lights takes forever a turn green for you to go,like 3 mi wait.

I started to play up Savi in back seat, there was this Thai girl on her scooter next to us waiting and she was properly inline with Alex’s window so I started to creep forward so she was inline with Savi's window. As he always does he can't help but look and check anyone out, as he was looking and she was looking in with a smile I started to put his window down with my controls that i have in my door, i can control all windows of the car from here. His face started to start to smile and then it started to look awkward because it look like he should have said something because she thought he opened the windows, Savi just burst out laughing and then the traffic lights went green and she buzzed off. For once Savi was speechless and he didn't know what to do with himself he's reaction was to just laugh, this is the first time I've seen him like this specially with a girl.

It took us around 3 hrs to drive there, we found our resort pretty easy, its based on the river Kwai about a mile down from The famous River Kwai Bridge . Couldn't see much as it was dark. Alex was sharing with me and Savi and Manos had their own room. 

We went out for dinner to this bar we found. Can’t remember the name i was little drunk. i decided to leave sooner than the boys. But what happened when i left well here’s a short story, Manos pulled a Thai girl and went back to her house, Alex and Savi went to other bars and got a hitchhike ride from these people, which related in Alex loosing his favourite hat from the wind. Savi and Alex returned back to the hotel at 5.30am. Just wild....

[gregorystour]

“Birthday Boy”

Day 20 - Thursday 20th November 2014

Today it was the owners birthday. The teachers made us finish class just before lunch to go and surprise the owner with a birthday cake. We all made our way down stairs near the office and we was all waiting for him to come through the door. the person who we was thinking it was came from behind us which was the father the owner of the school so we all started singing happy birthday to him, the teachers started to look confused on why we was singing to him and started to shout at us going “shhhhhhhh, no, no, no” the Father was pointing at the other door to where his son was coming out and then we all started singing happy birthday to the son, who is also an owner of the school, so it was very confusing for us students as we didn't know his sons worked here also.

Then they also told us that he is a twin and we also needed to go and surprise the other brother who owns the factory product producing side of Watpo, and that building is behind the school. We all made our way to the factory where his wife was waiting for us to arrive so she could sneak us up stairs to his office.

It was actually interesting to see this side of the school as we wasn't aloud here normally because they are all working and its a busy place. we made our wait outside the office and looking around on the walls we have seen that the owner (Dad) and his wife have met the King & Queen of Thailand 60 years ago, which is really amazing and we spoke about this after the surprise

This was our surprise photo for the other brother. As you can see the brothers are not identical twins. They are both very sweet and friendly when ever we would see then around school and specially if they pay for the whole staff and students to eat out every Wednesdays, that’s the Dad in the middle.

[gregorystour]

“Many Shades Of Black”

Day 19 - Wednesday 19th November

As we have another weekend coming up I thought I would suggest to the lads that we go on another adventure. This time smaller group just Me, Alex,Savi and Manos, but first i would need to know my details and how we are going to get there and back because I've been doing some research at it seems like its gonna be trick if we get train from Salaya as there is only one train a day and they both arrive and leave on the afternoons which doesn't work well with timing. Before i would let them know how the trip, the school is taking us out again for a meal in another restaurant.

I wasn't impressed by this restaurant. the teachers knew i am fussy with my food but they still ordered without my concern or without me even picking one dish for me to eat. Most of what was put onto the dinner table was chicken with smashed up bones, a lot of fish meals and fatty pork. maybe i’m just being picky. when we left i mentioned to the boys that I’m gonna run them through the trip ideas.

So I suggest that we would hire a car and go visit Kanchanaburi which is west of Bangkok around bout 145km. They have the Death Railway, the famous stunningly beautiful waterfalls of Erawan Falls and Hell Fires Pass

Savi and Manos was totally on this but Savi kept saying that he just wanted "waterfall, waterfall, girls, girls"   Then Alex was debating bout the car if we should hire it lets just get there on the train. And he wanted to talk about it in front of he group to see what every wanted to do, basically a hands vote. 

If we would have used the train there is only two trains a day from that area, one in morning and one at 3pm. It means that we would have had to leave what ever we was doing at 2pm on the Sunday which means we would have only explored Kanchanaburi for around 5 hours. As we had class on Saturdays we don't get a full weekend it's just after school we would travel get there on evening and have the whole of Sunday to do what we want.

Alex took some convincing around getting the car which i was surprised about, this was mine and Alex’s first debate, but it did mean the only place where we can get a late drop off for the Sunday night was at the airport car hire. Meaning I would have took a taxi to airport and then drop it back off on the Sunday night. Which I wasn't bothered in doing anything to not stay on campus on weekend and to not get the train, which there isn't any point getting if we only have 5 hours to explore and not the 12 hrs if we had the car. 

Alex & Savi said they wanted to spend most of the day at the waterfalls. Which actually I wasn't happy about this. Yeah I wanna spend time there too but I wanna balance it out between some history and cultural with the death railway, Hell fires Pass and the waterfalls. I have them time frames on how long they would be at each area. Why would I suggest a trip and then change plans because they wanna go waterfalls. If I didn't suggest anything they wouldn't even be going out on a trip. This is the plan, we have to balance it out for all party's. I found it a right cheek that they tried to change the agenda just to go to waterfalls. 

[gregorystour]

“Relight My Fire”

Day 18 - Tuesday 18th November 2014

 I woke around 9am and decided I still needed to sleep more. I still felt like I needed to sleep some more so I decided to stay in bed to at least mid-day, I asked Alex to tell the teachers in the morning that I'll be back for afternoon class because I was still feeling exhausted.

I woke midday from Alex coming to check on me and to see how I was doing, i then I looked back at him all of sudden and I saw 10 heads in the door way which was both teachers and most of students from my class just looking in, at first I thought I was tripping. But it was nice of them to come and see me, most of them were probably being noise and the rest were actually concerned.

Teacher Mango decided to take me to the hospital and just to get a check up and see if I needed any medication. We arrived at the hospital and I firstly noticed the outfits on the nurses was very old fashioned they looked like they were from the 1930’ with their little hat caps on. The doctor came in and my days, I don't think I've met anyone so camp then this doctor that’s just walked in. Flapping his arms round, big arm/hand expressions, fiddling with his ear scope while talking with me while having this dirty smile on his face, I knew what he is thinking. The nurses must have found him amusing because they were all in a fit of giggles.

It wasn't until he asked me to pull my trousers down and go and lye on the bed this just made me crack up with laughter looking at teacher for support because I wasn't sure if I understood correctly on what he wanted me todo. It was confirmed that I had caught food poisoning. He put me on 5 different types of meds and he's asked me to watch what I eat. 

When we got back to the school Teacher Mango took me to the kitchen and asked Momma (head chef) to cook up some rice soup. Has I haven't eaten anything since yesterday morning.

[gregorystour]

“Blame It On The Boogie”

Day 17 - Monday 17th November 2014

In the Afternoon I wasn't feeling too great. I knew something was up because you know your body and when it's not feeling normal you just know. I started to get fever and feel light headed. But most of all fever was really high. I knew it must have been something from breakfast that I had eaten like the ham or the pork sausages.

The teachers said it might have been something I'd eaten at Pattaya on the evening or that I'd been partying too much. But I knew it wasn't that because I've felt that feeling many times and it wasn't the same feeling. I had been receiving a massage from my class mate and next thing I knew I woke up lying on a massage mat in the corner of the class room feeling my body shaking, feeling cold sweats, I remember feeling to cold with my body but my temperature from  my head was extremely high.

Teacher said I could go back to my room and sleep, it was an hour before I finish class for the day so I wouldn't have missed much, so that's what I did, it didn't take me long to sleep and that's where I remained till the next morning where I had slept for 18 hours. I wasn't sick or suffering from any other problems but fever and sweats was my main concern. 

[gregorystour]

“My Heart Will Go On”

Day 16 - Sunday 16th November 2014

              Pattaya & Koh Lan Road Trip (Continued) 

So we all managed to wake up for 9am and make the walk to the ferry to catch the boat to Koh Lan. The most thing I hate about traveling is the getting from place to place, takes a while and specially that I don't take sea motion or coach trips very well. I've literally got to be right at the front of the boat looking out into the distance like Rose and Jack,  their iconic scene from the titanic movie, Maybe Savi can be my Jack. When some of us got on the 1st boat the other half of the group held back, when actually we could have all got on the first boat. They were like shouting out to us that we getting the next one. Now this means we have to wait 30/45min for them to pier on Koh Lan island, which is really annoying.  

While we waited for the others I got the low down on Kitty Kat. Savi was very happy with Kat, he smiled from one ear to ear. He didn't go into details because most of the time we would normally communicate using Google translator on his phone if the conversations was more technical, but we could break conversations down which was more fun, but he did inform me that he used all 3 condoms. Most of the day all you heard from him was "oh Kat, my sweet Kat" I did explain to him after he showed me some of his messages that Kat was only after one thing and that was for her to be his bride and for him to take her to Italy. I asked Savi how old is Kat, he said she was 28, I said “bullshit”. To me she looked 18. He said that he saw her I.D, she must have been willing to show you her fake ID that says she's 28 but I was reassuring him that she wasn't 28 no more than her 20’s. I just kept thinking about her not fitting in them shoes. 

you can get these fake I.D’s all over Thailand at a very cheap price. So I’m sure shes using these to show her boys when she meets them.

We decided to rent some scooters to help us get around the island as we wanted to visit more than one beach, we managed to find 150bht (£3) split between two for the day for each bike. As always Alex was back partnering with me on the back while I drove. He really doesn't mind being my partner all the time, its better then not people with the people we not keen on.

I've never been on a scooter before, I always thought they were dangerous but I do have a driving licence so i kinda know the highway code which actually doesn't exist here. At first it's hard to break and accelerate, I know you don't do both together but right hand is your go and also has break, when you break your hands lock tight and so does the acceleration you’re going at some speed. I needed to remember to let go and use break on left side which are for the back breaks, took some time trying to remember my hands. We had some moments when the bike was driving us and not the other way round. 

We took advantage of the scooters and got to visit 2 beaches on the island. The first beach was beautiful the sun was beaming down as it was a south facing beach, so for my white skin I needed to keep reapplying my sun screen every 30min. We went swimming and mostly spent the time in the sea the water was so warm and clear that you could see your toes at the bottom. Manos had a little friend that was swimming with him, there was this little cute fish about 2inch long that would swim round him and it wouldn't leave his side, swimming around his arms, his armpits where he would hide now and again near his armpit hair. He would also swim around the group; he would try and swim for my GoPro lense

When we got to the second beach this one was mostly chilled out, so as we dropped our bags people started to relax, no one went swimming at this beach, they sat down and then people started to fall asleep. They had about 1 hours kip before we had to start waking everybody up, as we needed to be back at port for 5pm to get the boat back to main land.

 If we didn't get to this boat we would have been stranded on the island and that wouldn't have been fun with no accommodation, but we made it back with 30 minutes to spare. Soon as we arrived back at school which was around 11pm, people said good night and went straight to bed.

[gregorystour]

“Get Your Freak On”

Day 15 - Saturday 15th November 2015

                            Pattaya & Koh Lan Road Trip

This is our second weekend trip away with the school. They didn't arrange this one, but some of the lads wanted to do the beach and enjoy some sun and sea for the weekend. They wanted to go to Pattaya. We couldn't get a mini bus hire in time as I was happy to drive everybody there, it would have only taken us 3 hrs. But most mini bus hires had no mini buses left for us to drive and the arranged coach’s would have taken at least 5 hours.

But I had the idea to ask the school if we could pay them to take us so that we had our own driver and van for the weekend. Which they said they will do but it will cost us 5'000bht (£100) so that between 8 is cheapo. So there’re was Me, Alex, Savi, Manos, Sophie, Edwardo and Edwardo’s Thai girlfriend.

The journey wasn't that bad we took off around 4.30pm as we needed to finish our day’s class as week got class on Saturdays too. It took us 5/6 hours to arrive because traffic was heavy on the highway and we also stopped for 45min for food at the service station. 

Pattaya is a heavy tourist destination for dirty sex pigs (sex tourism). We decided to walk along the main strip to find a hostel. The main strip is full of pole dancing clubs and bars with girls outside to lure the men in using there skimpy bikinis and miniskirts. Savi loved this, he's eyes were wide open; he didn't know where to look as there was so much going on and to see. I've never seen such a happy face in all my life.

We split in two groups to find somewhere to stay for the night, me and Savi found this hotel and he guy behind the desk kept saying if you bring girl back I'll give you special price. Which wasn't my intention in the first place, do I really look like a sex tourist and do I look like someone who sleeps with women. One lad took us to show me and Savi the room, again the young lad said we are happy to allow girls to stay. We left the room and Savi held my hand and we walked down the corridor back to the lift with the hotel lobby boy behind us. I said we are not after a girl we would like a double bed only. The lads face changed and with an awkward reply said “we have one of those rooms also”.

We met back with the group and Sophie had found a better hotel and this one was actually half decent great size rooms and huge beds. I said out loud “so who's sharing a bed with me on this trip” everyone looked at their partners already and I said to Alex “looks like your with me again”, and we also had a double bed. 

We all got showered and decided to go for something to eat. We found this restaurant which was along the beach side but was high on stilts it mainly sold fish based foods, again I ordered something which contained chicken. Alex ordered crocodile meat which was mixed in a light sauce. He said he enjoyed it very much reminded him little like chicken, that was the first time he had tasted crocodile. I'd pass on that, I'm happy with my chicken. 

The restaurant next to ours was much more appealing, they had soft draping ball lights from the beams and they had candles on the tables, the beams were painted white, and table clothes were mint green. Compared to the restaurant we was sitting in, it was loud, red and blue paint everywhere which was harsh on the eyes, the menu was the size of the bible. Gordon Ramsey would have not liked the chunky menu which took you 1 hour to look through the menu and each dish had a picture taken.

The girls wanted to go back to hotel as they were feeling sleepy. Everyone else wanted to go and have a few drink, we found this bar which had band playing live music but with an edgy feel, it was a band but playing and singing hip hop songs with male and female vocalists. It didn't take me long to get up and start dancing when your tune comes on. Soon as we walked into this bar this lady boy clocked eyes with Savi, He knew straight away what was going to happen. This lady boy could not keep her eyes off Savi. I said to Savi “stick with me and you will be fine!”. 

The drinks started flowing nicely me and Alex suggested we should take this chili thing that we took from class which is an ingredient we use for massage and we said that we should take it during our night out this evening. The lads did it in class and they said it gave them a small high, feeling buzzed and full of energy. So yeah why not try it.

Apparently it didn't give us the same feeling as it did in class Alex said. Savi bailed on us so it left me and Alex to take it for the team. All it did to me when I started to chew and then swallowed it all, that the second it went down my gullet, i started to get the worst hiccups I've ever had in my life, one after another none stop, no interval just every second I was hiccuping. I couldn't even control them or hold my breath like I would normally do to stop them. Alex was laughing so hard at this point. I gave it 15 min where the hiccups were spaced over every 5 seconds which then I could try and hold my breath to try and kill them off. I will not be repeating that in a hurry.

So I found this big red rose bud on the floor near our table, it must have been left behind. So I started waving it around saying to the boys "look what I just got given" (them knowing full well I was full of shit), then saying "Shame none of you got it for me". Then this Thai girl had come over to speak to Savi, she came from the same group of the lady boy, while she was walking over Savi, had said to me that she’s coming over to tell him that the lady boy liked him but she actually came over to speak to him for herself, her name is Kat (Kitty Kat - I would use from this point). Me knowing full well she was fully-fledged female but I was playing Savi up by saying that she was a very good lady boy with all the trimmings.

She must have really liked him, smiling and giving him puppy dog eyes. But every time Kitty Kat would smile she would show these great big fuck off braces with elastic springs springing out every time she would open her mouth. She looked great, wearing this coffee dark cocktail dress with black cup sleeves with black heels which might have been little too big for her as they looked like she was wearing her mom’s shoes, she probably was. She could have done more with her look, as I always advise my girls with wearing a necklace or earrings to help elevate a look, because it just looked like she slapped on the dress and shoes and that's all with no actually thought has gone into it.

Savi wanted to dance so he dragged me over to the floor and we were all throwing some moves. Though and behold there was Kitty Kat behind Savi she must have followed us. I’d give her 10 out of 10 for trying and keeping up appearances, but this is what these Thai girls do when they want something they are very persistent. You know when your tune is being played and you’re really getting to the groove letting your hair down moving like nobody’s watching, well imagine me while holding my rose bud that I had found and the next minute it gets whipped from my hands from Savi and flips it into Kitty Kat’s face, he makes it out like it come out of nowhere just for her from him. Her face bless her lit up like it was a gift from a god, she was well impressed, while Savi turned round to me with a massive grin on his face just howling with laughter. I looked back at Kitty Kat seeing that her nose was rammed into that rose sniffing all its glory. I've clinched my theist to Savi and started to march over to Kitty at this point everyone was laughing, everyone saw that but her because she was too busy with that rose. - Honestly no Thai girl was hurt during this evening.  

It must have been around 1am now and I knew we was going to have a full on day tomorrow and the dreaded boat ride over to Koh Lan which I didn't want to feel hangover for. So I left and went back to my room. The lads stayed behind and continued with their night. I must have gotten to sleep pretty fast because then I had a knock at the door and woke me up I looked straight at the time and it was 3am, it was Savi knocking, no he hadn't come to me to confess his undying love to me. He said in the softest Italian voice while opening my room door "Greg can I borrow some of your condoms please" I replied "Jesus Savi", he then said "I'll buy you some more back tomorrow", "how many you want" I said "3" he replied, then I roared  has high has I could "3" at this point we couldn't stop laughing. 

Let me tell you all something on how he knows where my stash of condoms is. He wanted to borrow my nail clippers back at school which I said you can get them out my bathroom bag which is in my wardrobe, when he left to go in search of my bag, I looked over to Alex who was sitting over from and I said that Savi’s gone mooching through my bag where my two cock rings are and I bet you he won't have a clue what he’s picking up and moving them aside.. He must have been gone ages looking for the clippers and I was right he didn't have the slightest clue about the cock rings, it wasn't until he came back and I informed him what they were.

Back to the hotel room - I was only worried and asked him if hes sure he wants to go off with her to some random hotel and sleep with her, he said yes I do, I asked him to be careful. It was only the other day I ready something about a western man who met a Thai girl back in Bangkok and the next thing he knew he woke up with blood all around the hotel room and on the bed. Someone had had arranged some doctors come and taken one of his kidneys. Apparently human kidneys sell in China for £17'000 on the black market. I could see this happening with him. So he got his condoms and ran off with his tale between his legs. Be safe I shouted out and make sure she doesn't chew your cock off with that brace.

to be continued 

[gregorystour]

“Move Over Darling”

Day 13 -  Thursday 13th November 2014

 My worst nightmare has been served in the school canteen this evening. Ihaven’t eaten any sea food since I was around the age of 4 years old. Never liked it and especially when it reminds me it was a living thing like cute little fish, check this out, turns my stomach.

[gregorystour]

“If You Knew”

Day 12 - Wednesday 12th November 2014

Today in class we had visitors from the Watpo Main Bangkok massage school, they have come to do a tour of the Salaya school grounds. These were all Thai people, they must have been here to see if they wanted to extend on to classes here, the grounds here are much more useful compared to Bangkok school, where you have the swimming pool, gym and it isn't that busy, most people when they do the class want to be taught at the Watpo school in Bangkok, but instead of 12 in a class they would have about 24 people in one class.

Which for learning would be extremely hard to get the teachers attention and to understand without too many questions being asked by the team, 12 people is just right.

Edwardo asked me to cut his hair which I was fine with doing. He wanted really short sides and to keep the top bit long so he can do a top not kind of look. Over explaining to him what he’s hair will be like, just to make sure he wants it, and he’s happy for me to start cutting. Then while I was cutting it Sophie wanted to meddle in and give her 2p’s worth because she’s qualified to talk about hairdressing. Not. Move over bitch and let me do my work.

Before we started to cut Eduardo said how much will it be. I said to him that you pay me whatever you think the cuts worth and he said OK then. So he had the chance to pay me anything he wished to be a reasonable amount of a price.

He was so demanding up until this point for me to cut his hair; he’s probably been asking me every day even though I've given him a day when I will cut he’s mop for him. Anyways the cuts done, another happy customer, what was funny though and I explained this to him that he’s hair on top isn't long enough to do the top not, but when he does but the not on top it’s the smallest thing ever. There be more on this later on.