the headlines: the head of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, has said that astrazeneca must "catch up" on vaccine deliveries for the eu before exporting its vaccine supplies elsewhere. the eu has not received anything like the number of vaccines it has ordered. china has imposed sanctions on nine britons, including five mps, in retaliation for british measures taken against chinese officials accused of human rights abuses against the uighur minority in xinjiang province. the chinese foreign ministry has accused those it has penalised of spreading "lies and disinformation". in his first news conference as president, joe biden has doubled his goal for coronavirus vaccinations — saying 200 million will be delivered in his administration's first 100 days. he also dismissed suggestions of an immigration crisis at the southern border.

now on bbc news, christa larwood looks back at some of the travel show�*s favourite adventures in thailand, including henry golding trying out the country's national sport in bangkok. this week, a look back at some of our top clips from thailand. henry's rolling with the punches. look at his abs! they're ridiculous! mike gets stuck in. i'm knee deep and still sinking further. and carmen tries a tech solution to pollution. i'm cleaning the beach.

hello and welcome to the travel show. it's hard to believe it has been around a whole year since life changed for everyone here in the uk, thanks to the covid pandemic. the vaccine scheme is giving us hope we'll soon be able to travel. in the meantime, stay with us for inspiration and tips that will come in handy when we can travel again. this episode, the tried and true traveller favourite, thailand. we kick off — literally — in the thai capital of bangkok, where, in 2017, we convinced henry to train like a champion and try his hand at the country's national sport. muay thai is said to have been developed by thai warriors on the battlefields of the 14th century, where it became known as the "art of the eight limbs" — that's because hands, shins, elbows and knees are all used as points of contact.

really quite high octane. these fighters are absolutely astonishing watching up close and personal, but some bright spark at the travel show decided it was a good thing for me to try it out first—hand. so, tomorrow morning, i'm heading out to an actual muay thai camp that trains muay thai fighters from all over thailand. i hope i don't come out the other end too bruised and banged up. so i head 45 minutes to the north of bangkok, to meenayothin gym, where some of the country's top champions live and train. tourists who want to get fit can stay at camps like this throughout thailand,

but this place is known as the country's toughest. how has the experience been so far? good, man. these guys, they're tough — really, really tough. i mean, they're the best. back home, i'm training two hours a day and that is supposed to be like the real tough stuff, for competition. here you train, like six or seven hours a day and that's the normal. these guys train twice a day, every day.

they're determined to make me sweat even more. it's all about balance. you always think of leaning into a punch. actually, with muay thai, you have to stay pretty much dead centre — keep your weight evenly distributed. it's weird. it's like breaking habits. children here start learning from a very young age and it takes years to master the practice. i'm about to step in the ring with momo, who's top contender

for muay thai in japan. he looks really mean. look at his abs! they're ridiculous! i have got a fair way to go yet. 0k. practice, yeah? just the basics! whistle blows thank you. i will have to call it a day. these guys are

finely—tuned athletes. i've had the tiniest bit of training here. but my time here is up, so i hope you enjoyed my agony. greatjob from henry, there, channelling his inner warrior. up next, a local community battling to save its wildlife. back in 2019, we sent mike corey to the coast where conservationists have found an ingenious — albeit muddy solution — to an ongoing conservation challenge. few international travellers venture here, but in recent years the amazing transformation of its ecosystem has begun to draw people like me. it might not be one of the most

beautiful ecosystems, but it is actually quite full of life. there are snails, cockles, crabs, macaques, birds — all kinds of wildlife, here. there's a monkey right here with a crab in its mouth. this place is quite an experience. the shellfish, shrimp, and crabs which thrive in this environment were almost at the brink of collapse a few years ago, because of the dramatic loss of one single thing — mangroves. industrial shrimp farming left the mangrove forest decimated, and with it a fragile ecosystem which the villagers depended on to survive.

but the local people began to fight back. paiboon helped bring hundreds of people from nearby villages to replant the mangroves. eventually, their work began to pay off and it caught the attention of royalty.

ok, when i knew that i was going to be planting mangroves, i brought hiking boots — good traction, waterproof — but apparently this is not the footwear of choice. instead, we wear these, a fusion of yoga pants and a woman's brassiere. i put these on my feet, and we go waist deep into the mud and that's how we plant mangroves. ew, i'm ready. three, two, one.... i'm knee—deep and still sinking further. how does it work? one? 0ne. i've got one. i dig a hole. and you plant it in, just like a normal tree. all right. over 32 years since the repainting began, the mangrove forest has regained a third of what was lost. right here?

that's good? 0k. fun fact about the mangrove tree — they're actually shaped this way, like a torpedo, because when they fall from the trees, they're supposed to stick into the ground themselves and basically plant themselves. there we go. mangrove forest, one step bigger. high five. and there's more than one way to get clean after a day working in a mangroves. i'm told that years ago, local kids found another use for these boards. it's great to give something back when you are travelling, but it's even better if you can have a little fun along the way. mike getting good and messy there off the thai coast. won't it be nice when we get to have adventures like that again? followed by a nice warm

shower, of course. stay with us for more memories coming up, including henry learning survival skills when he gets lost in the thai jungle. this, ladies and gentlemen, is actually extremely comfortable. and rajan looks awesome some a car during a stay at a buddhist monastery. this is a feast. it is only once a day, but it's a good feast. so do stick with us for that. time now to head to thailand's famous sandy beaches. the country has about 3000 kilometres of beautiful coastline which, of course, makes it a huge draw for tourists, but that doesn't always mean good news for the environment. so back in 2019 we set carmen to songkhla, in the country's south — not to catch some rays, but to join a clean—up mission. cleaning up thailand's beaches has become a priority

for a network of volunteers called trash heroes. the group operates in 25 cities across the country. cleaning the beaches of trash and tiny pieces of cigarette seems a never—ending task. but the trash heroes here could soon have some help. why do we need a beach robot here? because there is too many trash. this place i grew up, so many tourists come to this beach and if the beach gets dirty no—one wants to come, so i started this project. how does it actually work? the robot is digging in the sand about five centimetres, shaking to separate the sand out and move the trash back to the truck. and how much rubbish do

you actually collect? before this, we went about 80 metres and we get about likg of trash. likg in 80 metres! ok, i'm dying to have a go to control it. sure, just easy control. ok, so that's forward and backwards, 0k. yeah, and turn left and right. oh, wow, 0k. and this is to control, to speed up the shaker. 0h! and if you push this down, it will dig in the sand. wow! this is great! yeah! i'm cleaning the beach! doctor a and his team are working on a second prototype that will separate the shells out from the trash — at the moment, it has to be done by hand. so satisfying to see so much rubbish coming in! there's a big focus here on getting the next generation to think differently about how they treat the country's beaches, to protect this beautiful landscape for the future.

carmen doing her bit there on the beach. well, now to dig deep into the travel show archives — back to 2014 when we shot a film with henry, long before he became a hollywood star! we sent him to trek in the jungles near phuket and everything was going just fine, until he got lost. this barefoot explorer is survival expert dave williams. for years, he has been teaching trekkers basic survival skills that could mean the difference between life and death. dave, i'm lost. i need your help. what's the first thing i should do? just relax. it's not that big a deal. you can't be that lost. i have a mobile phone but the battery is very, very low — one bar left — and hardly any signal. what are my priorities? do i use it now or do i save it? well, you've only got one bar, we've got one hour of light, i would wait for that.

the chance of us getting rescued now are pretty slim. let's accept our fate, enjoy the night — we've got a night in the jungle to spend. let's do this and then, tomorrow we'll figure out — we'll walk around just a little bit, find two bars, make the call. dave's most important tip is to keep hydrated. without water, the body and brain soon go into shut—down, so that's what we need to sort out first. we're gonna hopefully find some water in bamboo. bamboo holds a lot of water. during the dry season, it has water inside. this water is pure, it's a little bit sweet and it tends to be cool temperature—wise, so i'm gonna take and i'm gonna make myself... there it is. ..a straw. 0k. there could be this much water in here, there could be this much water in here. it's a little bit late in the dry season, so i'm just gonna expect to be a little bit of water here. so we can cut up in here. there we go. let's have a little taste.

that is good! that is very refreshing! dave originally worked in the shipyards of virginia. when the work there dried up, he decided to head to asia — his home ever since. so dave, how did you get involved with all of these survival techniques? i've been into wild, edible plants and stuff all my life — i just find it a very interesting subject. when i lived back in america, if you know one dozen plants basically in my home state, you had it sorted. here, i got a dozen plants in my yard! with sunset fast approaching, i had to sort out where i was going to sleep for the night. so why is it so important to build a shelter? certain times of year when it's a little bit cold, the ground is cold. it doesn't have to be but a few degrees colder than your actual body temperature to literally suck the life out of you. but you're getting off

the ground to get the creepy crawlies and things that are gonna annoy you and keep you from sleeping. go around everything as many times as you can to make it as tight as you can. 0k! we've got the foundation going. check this out, man! that's pretty stable. that's pretty good! now all we have to do is put some slits across and we are done. hold my breath! holding my breath! 0oh! ah! that's reasonably comfortable! hold on. just shift down a little bit. shift down, get your weight right — you might want to take your knife off. and what about a pillow and a bit of a shoulder rub? chuckles oh, there we go! there's your pillow. ah! and that's the shoulder rub.

there you go. this, ladies and gentlemen, is actually extremely comfortable! henry there getting some tips from dave williams, who's still out there, hacking through the undergrowth and teaching survival skills. well, to finish the show this week, it's time for something a little more relaxing and even consciousness—raising. across the world, thailand is known for its hundreds of buddhist monasteries, where monks and nuns spend their lives in simplicity, contemplation and meditation. back in 2014, we sent rajan to get a taste of that lifestyle — for a day, at least. the first duty of the new day is collecting alms — food from the local community. every morning, there is a number of routes from this monastery and the monks divide into small groups and go out to each route. dog barks as i'm soon to find out, this is not the only source

of sustenance for the monks. there you go. this is a feast! it's only once a day, but it is a good feast! next on the agenda is one of my daily duties. has everyone else gone? you may have noticed that the task of sweeping up is given, really, to the most enlightened person here in the monastery — that's why i'm doing it! and after that is complete, a chance to meet some of the foreign monks as they finish theirjobs. some, it transpires, have had rather colourful previous lives. i used to be a photographer. used to be a photographer?

yeah, and i travelled through the world, enjoyed myself so... what kind of pictures? fashion. fashion? oh, really? yeah, so fashion magazines. and successful? oh, yes — yes, quite. successful enough. turns out that michael was also the manager of the model claudia schiffer for three years. he was then a monk for a short period in 2001 and returned to the faith 1.5 years ago and this time, he says it's for good. mostly my family thinks yeah, i should have a family, i should make lots of money and what people normally think in the west, so... i have no possessions any more, no health insurance, nothing at all. nothing in the bank. both chuckle no safety net. it is quite simple —

you train yourself daily seven, eight, nine hours served in meditation and you are able to still your mind. it becomes very peaceful. and this experience is actually much better than all the money that you have. michael has not completely forsaken his old life. he's still curious about the english premiership football scores — arsenal especially — and then reveals the abbot is a secret liverpool fan. all chant monks have to observe 227 strict precepts, or rules, so really, my efforts were rather pathetic. but in truth, as i left, i realised i did gain something out of the experience. in that short period, i had appreciated the routine, the simplicity and the absence of empty choices you frequently have to make in the outside world. the point, though, is most of us live in that world.

rajan taking some time to find himself back in 2014. well, that's all we have time for on this week's programme but coming up next week — we head underground in edinburgh to find out how one iconic street dealt with epidemics almost 400 years ago. you almost walk a mile in their shoes. you can really, really understand what these people went through. oh, wow! and mike's in zanzibar to visit the showpiece palace that tragically collapsed in december. it's a mess. don't forget, you can catch up on anything you've missed from this programme and others on bbc iplayer. until next time, from me and the rest of the travel show team, stay safe and we'll see you next time.

hello there. the weather will be turning much colder today. we look at the temperatures we got to yesterday, in the warmer spots we had highs of around 15 celsius, for example, in sheffield. today, those temperatures quite widely across the uk down by about five celsius. from 15 to about 10 later this afternoon. the change is brought about by an area of low pressure, this one here, and there are a couple of weather fronts on it. the first, an impostor bringing in a little rain eastwards. the second is the cold front, and it's behind that that the colder air will spread its way in across the uk. over the next few hours, ourfirst band of rain moves from wales across into central and eastern england. our main band of rain, our cold front, will be

bringing wet weather and gusty winds to scotland, western parts of wales and northern ireland as well. through friday morning, this band of rain will push eastwards and only really reaching east anglia and southeast england in the afternoon. so there will be a bit of sunshine for a time. behind that, some sunny skies but also plenty of showers. the showers have hail and thunder mixed in across northwestern areas, where it'll feel particularly cold. highs of seven celsius, and factor in the brisk wind and it will feel colder than that. in fact, through the weekend, i think it will stay on the windy side, with rain around as well. we start off with a risk of icy stretches across higher parts of scotland and northern england because there may well be some snow showers here through friday night. so, icy conditions. sunshine for a time, but further west the cloud building in and eventually outbreaks of rain spread in to northern ireland, perhaps western scotland towards the end of the day. blustery and still quite cool, temperatures about 9—10 celsius through saturday afternoon. into saturday night,

more outbreaks of rain, particularly across northern areas of the uk with the rain turning heavy at times. the weather front slow—moving somewhere across northern ireland, northern england and north wales. to the north, cold air in scotland, so sunshine and a few showers, and to the south across southern parts of england and wales, temperatures will not be quite so low — highs of 13 or 14 celsius. and that trend to slightly milder conditions continues into monday. for many of us it will be a much milder day, with temperatures as high as 18 celsius, but there will still be rain around across the north and west uk. that is your weather.

you welcome to bbc news — i'm you rich preston, very good to have you with us. our top stories. joe biden holds his first presidential news conference, setting a new vaccination target and defending his gun control and immigration policies. china levels sanctions against britain in retaliation for penalties imposed on chinese officials accused of human rights abuses against the uighur minority. at least five people have been killed in alabama after a series of tornadoes tear through the us state, destroying entire neighbourhoods. still stuck in the suez canal — why it could take days or even weeks to dislodge the container ship that's causing a maritime trafficjam.