A Reset Week

That Was The Week That Was — The Reset Week, Koh SamuiThis was not a fireworks week. This was a foundations week. A reset week. The week the body was still patched together with tape, bruises and stubborn pride… but the engine quietly restarted.After the final hospital dressing on Sunday, the shift was real. From survival to rebuild. The ribs still argue with me every time I lie flat. The calf reminds me not to get cocky. But the wounds are closing. The strength is returning. The discipline is sharper than ever.

The Island Reset and Sunrises

I circumnavigated the island again. Rolled through Lipa Noi. Found new pockets of quiet. The sunrises have been extraordinary — molten orange spilling over the Gulf, silence broken only by birds and the soft rhythm of water. Each morning feels like a personal reset button.

Culinary Inspiration: Ocean to Table

The food continues to inspire me. Smile House at Fisherman’s Village was the headline act — lobster Thermidor that could make Paris blush, Thai dishes layered and fragrant, cooked with care and confidence. Fisherman’s at night is electric; by day it’s refined, elegant, breathable. Different to Chaweng. More curated. A different energy entirely.

Ocean to table

The Big Buddha seafood market delivered another highlight — fresh lobster straight off the ice, taken home and cooked properly. Ocean to table. No processing. No nonsense. Just quality. That’s what Koh Samui keeps giving me: freshness. In food. In air. In energy.

Health-wise: The Reset is Real

Health-wise, the reset is real. My routine this week has been focused and clean:

Fasting every morning until midday.
Gym early.
Clean protein-heavy meals.
Sugar restricted to a tight afternoon window.
No drinking. No chaos.

Blood work this week came back strong — nothing in any danger zone. Just discipline required around sugar. Vaping and chocolate still on thin ice. And admiring stunningly beautiful women remains strictly observational research — cultural appreciation at its finest.

A Culture of Calm Civility

Central Samui at sunset had that same calm civility. Families. Travellers. A softness in how people move. You don’t see aggression. You don’t see disorder spilling into the street. The quality of people here — locals and tourists — feels different. Lighter. Kinder. It’s chalk and cheese compared to where parts of Australia have drifted.

I love Geelong. I love the Elephant & Castle. But culturally, something shifted back home that didn’t sit right with me anymore. Here, the baseline feels clean. Civil. Grounded. You are who you’re surrounded by.

“You become the rhythm of the place you wake up in.”

Here, I wake up to light on water. To fresh markets. To Thai humour and warmth. To a pace that allows thought before reaction.

Lunar New Year 2026: The Year of the Horse

And today, that rhythm turns into something even bigger. It is Lunar New Year 2026. Happy New Year to you — wherever you are in the world.

This is the Year of the Horse. I was born in the Year of the Snake. In the Chinese universe, Snake to Horse is movement. Strategy meeting momentum. Intelligence meeting speed. Patience turning into power. The planets align differently this year. The energy shifts forward. The Horse runs. And when it runs, it runs with purpose.

Embracing the energy of Lunar New Year 2026.