The Free Rollers San Diego Camp!

Greetings from San Diego USA! (9-21 Oct 2017)

I'm detouring from detailing my adventures traveling and training around the world to bring you a special article about my time on a training camp in San Diego with a bunch of crazy Australians. I last left off leaving Russia for Ukraine, and I will get to that shortly, but this camp I went on was a special time and I need to cover before it becomes too late, which is already is.

Open Guard and the Free Rollers

Let's begin with explaining who set up the camp and how I got involved. Open Guard is a website with the focus on bringing together the BJJ scene in Australia, with a number of writers posting articles on the events taking place there. They feature different competitors and gyms and review BJJ gear from time to time and have some good articles about all sorts of BJJ related topics. Part of Open Guard is the Free Rollers community, the people and gyms who just like to roll with whoever, whenever, without any club drama. The idea is similar to the BJJ Globetrotters community, but centered on the Australian BJJ scene. Open Guard and Free Rollers have been around for a few years now and I've had the pleasure of watching them grow from reading the first few articles and seeing the pictures from the very first Free Rollers Outdoor Open Mat. Being a part of the first Free Rollers camp was an honour and a lot of fun, but how did I manage to get involved with them?

Luke Docherty

I first met Luke over 3 years ago when I first started posting to the BJJ Globetrotters Facebook group about my eventual plans to travel and train around the world for a year. Luke was one of the first guys to reply to me and invite me out to his place and we've been good friends ever since. You may recognize the name if you keep up with the Jiu-Jitsu Times articles as Luke is a usual contributor, including this awesome interview on my milestones we did. Luke and I have a lot in common, Serving in the Navy, being obsessed with BJJ and a healthy sense of inappropriate humour, we have often made jokes about being long lost brothers. He's also part of the driving force behind Open Guard and was the one who put together the Free Rollers camp. Luke bounced some ideas off me about the camp and would keep me updated on it. I was always planning on making it to Australia to meet Luke and travel around and see the mystical Land Down Under that I've only ever learned about from shows like Crocodile Dundee and The Crocodile Hunter (Or Luke's favourite: Precilla Queen of the Desert). Meeting the guys and hanging out together in San Diego just seemed like a great idea, both as an awesome setting for us to meet before heading back to Australia and an awesome way for me to visit San Diego on this journey. Although adding the Free Rollers camp to the Odyssey timeline meant adding a lot of traveling, and extra expenses, it was also an adventure I didn't want to miss.

Luke and I were happy to be on a ship again.

Free Rollers San Diego Camp

Now that I've filled you in on the back stories to everyone let's get to the actual camp! Everyone but me was from the same club back in Perth Australia so I was the outsider at first. Having Jiu-Jitsu traveling and an odd sense of humour (and me enjoying their ability to call everyone 'Kent') we all quickly warmed up and become one close group training twice a day, exploring San Diego and generally getting up to no good. From the start I could see guys had a lot of steam to blow off and were really excited about the trip, there may have been a tiny bit more partying than I first expected, but that's the difference between saving to go on a training vacation and backpacking around the world for a year. All my steam was gone, I am just going with the flow and trying to balance training with exploring so I don't do too much at once and end up burnt out or injured. These guys could go hard, both on and off the mats, and just rest once they got back to Australia. I had my hands full these 10 days we hung out and trained and partied together. While the nights usually ended with the guys having a few cold ones and getting a little wild (there was a night of midnight 'No-Gi' wrestling in their underwear that took place in the front room. Where I sleep. While trying to sleep) we all put in quite a bit of training throughout this camp. As the saying goes, work hard, play hard, or in Australia they say "We're not here to fuck spiders!" that actually became the camp motto, I'm still waiting for the shirt.

Andy, on the right, ended up with cauliflower ear the size of Zack's (center) little fist. I was the only one with experience draining them.

Luke, as the spearhead of Free Rollers, had everything set up for this trip. He found an affordable Airbnb near the gyms, set up all the day and evening's activities, like going to a college football game or to the USS Midway, and got us a group deal to train the whole time at the University of Jiu-Jitsu with none other than Xande Ribeiro (Saulo was back seeing family in Brazil). I has happy to have a destination that literally all I had to worry about was just getting the ticket there, I didn't have to worry about sending e-mails or contacting the gyms on Facebook, or finding a place to stay, I just showed up and followed along with the guys. The day we all showed up to San Diego I got in a bit later than they did. They all arrived in LA and drove down while I took the long way with many connections and after a delay managed to visit Kurt Osiander's gym for my 100th club visit before arriving in San Diego. Once I got into town and we were all settled in we stopped by Uni-JJ to say hi and set up our week long training passes. That's when we met Gustavo Dias, a Brazilian tank of a black belt and one of the instructors for the day classes at the gym, as well as one of the nicest guys I've met. Throughout our stay Gustavo gave us so many tips on places to eat at and sights to see. Basically he gave us the necessary tools for the perfect camp: Jiu-Jitsu, beach and food.

My 100th club, with Kurt Osiander.

We went out for supper that night at a near by 'Buffalo Wild Wings', we would become regulars there during this trip as most our suppers were held there while breakfast was had at the all-day breakfast place just a block away. We were creatures of habit but when you know what you like, why bother spending time looking for new places everyday when we're on a tight schedule. Quite often we would make plans for the next day's classes and activities while eating baskets of chicken wings and watching the sports highlights on the TV's. There was always an over zealous "I'm hitting all the class tomorrow!" usually by Luke, that never panned out, and a comment about checking out other clubs since there are so many high caliber gyms to choose from in San Diego. Although we mostly trained at University of Jiu-Jitsu we did venture out to other clubs during our stay and one day the boys managed to hit up the Atos BJJ HQ for a weekend open mat without me.

Buffalo Wild Wings had a hot wings challenge that Charlie valiantly attempted.

Lunch at the Guahan Grill, tasty Chamorro food! That reminds me, awesome food and awesome Jiu-Jitsu, I must make it to Guam!

The ocean Cafe, amazing Acai bowls, sandwiches and protein shakes. Also the usual hang out spot for a lot of the Ribeiro guys.

During the day in between classes, or when we took some rest and only attended the evening class, we would pile into the SUV and drive around, hitting up a beach or pier to walk along and enjoy the sights.

One day a few of us made it down the Mall of Americas (or 'Las Americas') at the US/Mexico boarder where we spent a bit more money than we all planned, especially at the Under Armor outlet which had pretty much everything at 50% off. I also ended up getting a custom Panda's Odyssey ball cap while everyone else bought new Vans with the 'buy one, get 50% off a second pair' sale (Note to self: Next time buy new Vans!)

The new Panda hat! 

Trump's wall, making America 'great' again...

Spent too much money, celebrating by eating too much food.

Of course we also spent an afternoon touring the USS Midway, and old Aircraft carrier that is now a museum and has all sorts of cool military paraphernalia at their souvenir shop, as well as both the flight deck and hanger bay full of old fighter jets you can climb in and take pics of in and flight sims you can try and fly.

The football game was an adventure I think anyone visiting USA should go on. The sports culture around American football is unique, with the tailgate parties and BBQ's throughout the parking lot. The game itself, with all the cheer leading squads all around the field and the marching create a whole show to watch rather than just a sporting match. It's quite surreal watching everything going on.

University of Jiu-Jitsu

Our first class at University of Jiu-Jitsu was the morning class at 7am, I believe that was the only morning class I made it out to. I don't remember which class he taught but that day we met Victor Barreto, another tank of a Brazilian, like Gustavo, with the added  feature of towering over everyone. If you've watched the 'BJJ Library Challenge' Victor was the winner of that challenge so it was pretty cool to watch that series then actually see him teaching our class. The whole week went on like this, showing up to class and meeting someone we've seen before online, or would be seeing a lot more of, like Casey Hellenberg who just competed in the EBI 14 'The Absolutes'. For the morning class there were only maybe 3 other people showed up for it and I could see the guys were all pretty nervous about their first time training in Uni-JJ. I guess maybe since I have traveled all this past year and walked onto so many mats it wasn't as big a deal for me, I was more excited then nervous. Or maybe since the morning class was smaller they were all worried about being in the spotlight under Gustavo and Victor as the new guys, which in that case I was also a bit worried. Our fears were smashed away once we were done the warm up and drilling techniques, all that mattered was training the details. That's one thing that is consistent through all of the Ribeiro instructors, the attention to detail and the emphasis on control. As in intimidating as Gustavo and Victor were they were great at teaching those points and seeing any adjustments we needed to make throughout our class with them.     

Group photo with Victor, towering over us.

Finally got a picture with Gustavo on the last day. 

The Wednesday night 'Library' class is where they film the class to use for instructionals on the BJJ Library, it was taught by Xande Ribeiro who was just coming back from his impressive run at the ADCC Worlds. This class was packed, the evening classes are always busy, with the count somewhere in the 30's or 40's, but Wednesday was especially busy and with the camera man there it there was an electric energy in the gym. Xande showed us basic moves all night, nothing special to the unknowing viewer, just basic armbar set ups from the closed guard. The very same moves and details he used to tap out world class competitors at the ADCC's. Not so basic after all. The details he gave us were stellar, with a big emphasis on control and contact throughout all movement, once you had that arm it was your the entire time. Making the basic technique we all learn in our first days of starting BJJ into a world class, black belt level, competition winning technique. It was amazing being in Xande's class, it's like his presence just adds more energy to everyone training. Even during the week in classes he wasn't teaching, if Xande was in the gym everyone stepped it up a notch. Xande himself was a great guy to talk to, welcoming us into the gym at the start of class and telling everyone to look after us. He was intimidating be around at first though, with his stance of constantly rolled back shoulders and open arms, like he's ready to shoot for a double leg take down at any second. It made you hesitate walking up and saying hello, but he was always friendly and chill with everyone. Training there all week was absolute blast. While there's tons of gyms to choose from in San Diego you really must drop by for at least one class.

The Free Rollers and Xande.

10th Planet San Diego

One night I got a few of the guys to come along with me to another gym to get a completely different style of rolling in and see grappling from an all new perspective. We piled into the SUV and drove across the city, which in itself is an adventure if you've never driven in San Diego before, and ended up at 10th Planet San Diego. Richie 'Boogeyman' Martinez runs the classes there and man does he spread the love at that gym, such a warm welcoming place! From mis-reading the schedule we got there just as class was ending and had an hour to wait before the next class started. We sat and watched people train, like Liz Carmouche (the very first female fighter to walk into the UFC cage and Ronda Rousey's first opponent) hit the pads. As people starting showing up for the next class they would come introduce themselves to us one by one, everyone was really friendly and we felt very welcomed, making this introduction to 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu a lot easier for the guys. Once class started and we got into drilling techniques Richie walked us down a rabbit hole of Rubber Guard set ups and chained it into the 'Gogo-Clinch' a move from rubber guard that incorporates the leg over the shoulder and under chin of the Gogoplata with the C-clamped scissoring arms of a No-Gi baseball bat choke to make the most hellish choke I've seen and experienced. At first we were all watching and thinking 'Smoke another one bro, there's no way I'm getting the rubber guard let alone finishing this technique' but by the end of the class, with Boogey's awesome guidance we were all able to drill this technique with only minor difficulties.

Just so happened to have UFC fighter Jesse Taylor in class with us as well.

The rolling at the end of class was by the far the best part, I had my experience rolling with 10th Planet guys already and knew of the black magic to expect, but the other guys were going in practically blind. After the first roll I remember walking up to them and seeing their eyes the widest they had been this whole trip, just about popping out of their heads "Man, that was amazing! I didn't know what was going on, I got wrapped all up and twisted and tapped but he didn't muscle me!" 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu is indeed a different way of moving and manipulating the body, and being at the home of one of the foremost innovators to 10th Planet you can rested assured we were shown some really different shit during those rolls. After class we were all sitting in the SUV in the parking lot trying to figure out how to get back to the house and where to grab food when Richie pulls next to us "Hey guys, you want somewhere good to eat?" he asked, and then proceeded to tell us where to find the coolest Mexican food place in San Diego. "I'd love to come with you guys but I got to cut weight for EBI next week" he adds like it's just another day at the job. We made our way to the restaurant and we were not let down. They whole place is done up as a tacky flamingo bar inspired Lucha Libre shrine with signed photos of great Lucha wrestlers all over the walls and masks encased in the seats. They even had a ring at the back that was set up with a table for private parties. It was a perfect place to end off our awesome night. We'll have to go back with everyone next time, and hopefully Boogey can join us this time!

Richie is the niceist guy, totally not the scary Boogeyman we all watched on EBI.

Lucha Libre Taco shop, I would try to come here at once a month if I lived in San Diego. And I know a few people who would love to have a birthday party there.

Victory MMA

Another gym we ended up dropping by for a class was Victory MMA. It wasn't in the plans at first as it seemed a lot of the head instructors were away, and the guys just wanted to train at Uni JJ, but then we dropped by a cryotherapy place that was just across the street from the gym. As it happens the guys running it, Keeling and Bryan, were both black belts from Victory. We would drop by Chill'N Out quite often, at least one person would be going for cryo each day, and during our time hanging out there they would always mention how they would love to have us over for a class. Finally, after feeling guilty of these guys treating us so well and us not dropping by, we decided to go train with them on the weekend. We were not disappointed. They were just as fun to train with as they were to hang out with while we froze our balls off in their cryo chamber. Bryan ran the class that day and started with working functional movements as as warm up. One person sitting in open guard as you worked your footwork around his legs, triangle footwork drills, zig-zags in and out, hopping over, all sorts of movement. Let me say that Bryan is a spider monkey and makes the movement look way too easy, I was out of breath just watching him demonstrate.

Getting our freeze on at Chill'N Out.

I was teamed with a giant of a white belt and neither of us were in the mood to try and simulate Bryan's Jack Russel-like movement but we did get along drilling quite well. Keeling and Bryan made sure to split us Free Rollers up so that we were training with guys from the gym so we got meet the club. Even in rolling we weren't allowed to roll with each other, which was good since we didn't travel half way around the world just to roll with the same teammates and by this point I had rolled with them all anyways. It was a lot of fun, which Bryan always made a point of telling us is his main goal for each class, training and rolling with the crew there in a relaxed setting. Everyone was pretty laid back and welcoming of visitors and I'm sure the guys each had a few questions asked about their travels and visiting San Diego during class like I did. I'm glad we finally made it over to see the Victory guys before the end of out trip.

Fun class, Thanks Bryan and Keeling and the rest of the Victory MMA guys!

By the end of the 10 days we were tired, bodies beaten and heads full of all sorts of new techniques, and ready to head (back) to Australia. I've got to say thank you to Luke for setting this camp up and of course thanks to all the clubs and people who welcomed us during this adventure. It was one of those experiences legends are made of, and I'm pretty sure by the end of the trip we were all legends for one thing or another, weather we want the world to know what that is is another story all together. When it was time to leave we split up on our ways back to Perth Australia. I had a flight out of San Diego and 30+ hours of connections and flights while the guys headed to LA for one last night, where they decided to finally track down Zack's man-crush he had been Instagram stalking all week, ADCC champ Gordan Ryan. I'm sorry I missed that event and can't elaborate on it but I heard it ended hilariously. Anyways, I highly recommend joining Luke and guys on the next Free Rollers Camp, which I hear is already being planned and has a lot of interest, both from Australia and the US so keep watch on Open Guard for updates. I know I'll be watching and hoping to meet with them again, in the meantime my next article will pick up where I last left off on the Odyssey: Kiev Ukraine!

Until next time,
see you on the mats!
OSSS!!

WAYS TO SUPPORT PANDA'S ODYSSEY!
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Moscow, Russia: The Kremlin, The Red Square and Checkmat

Greeting from Moscow! (15-20 July 2017)

The train down from Saint Petersburg was quick and easy, and Moscow has a simple enough city train system to navigate through, although one does has to pay attention as the twists and turns to find the right platform can be tricky (I had downloaded the Russian alphabet on my phone when in Saint Petersburg to help translate, it helped immensely in the Moscow train system where everything was in Russian while Google Maps translated it to English). One thing I found peculiar was the main train station in Saint Petersburg, it was busy with people traveling all over and filled with shops of all sorts. In the middle were kiosk, one in particular sold weapons, knives and guns to be exact. I could easily have picked up a handgun for quite cheap as a souvenir of my visit. I passed on that idea but instead spent my time on the train wondering how many other travelers were armed that day.

The hostel I stayed at apparently is quite the hotspot for travelers as when I was at the Visa Services Canada in Ottawa they remarked how every traveler they help get a Russian Visa have Godzilla’s Hostel down as the place they were staying at. In my opinion there was nothing outstanding about it, it was a nice place, central to the city and very cheap, which makes it a prime place to stay at, but it was no Castle Rock Hostel in Edinburgh with their own movie room and pool tables. I lost a shirt while staying at Godzilla’s, my brother’s band ‘Phantom’ shirt I got from him a while back (I use their music for my videos). It was one of my favourites. I guess the guy who bunked beneath me left in a hurry in the morning and figured the black shirt hung on the side of the bed was his. He left his plain, size small, black shirt behind. I was very disappointed as I had lost my ‘Phantom’ hat back in Barcelona and I had enjoyed taking pictures of me wearing my brother’s band clothes around the world and sending him the photos. That was no longer possible now. I hope the guy enjoyed that shirt, even if it was too big for him.

The busy 'Moscow Station' the gun kiosk was in the middle somewhere. I had a picture but it didn't turn out so well with the reflections off the glass.

The Sights

In this short 5 day visit I was only able to make it out to train just one day, given their schedule and how far away from them I was staying. I was much closer to the popular sights of Moscow and made sure to get out and see places like the Kremlin, the Red Square and St. Basil's Cathedral, although the line ups were so long I would have to get there by sunrise and spend the entire day in order to see inside. I passed on that idea.

The entrance to the Kremlin.

The Entrance to the Kremlin, and an impossibly long line up. About the same kind of line of that I saw at the Vatican.  

Kazan Cathedral, State Historical Museum & Nicolskaya Tower. 

Panoramic of The Red Square, there was a huge party they were setting up for.

Nikolskaya and Senate towers. The wall and the towers guard the Senate Palace inside, where Lenin's body is on display. the line up was too long for me to go in without baking in the sun.

The State Historical Museum.

St. Basil's Cathedral. The building pictured in the original Tetris. 

Also by the Red Square is the GUM shopping mall, a huge building that is the pinnacle of Neoclassical architecture and a famous tourist sight for it's elegant, and some what over the top, decor. 

Glass ceilings with narrow and busy hallways.

So many water fountains, at every corner, and flowers everywhere.

As you can see from the outside it runs quite long.

I have more photos of my travels and adventures over on my Flickr account, head over there if you want to see more and maybe show some love by liking or commenting on few of them, thanks!

Checkmat Moscow

Back when I was first planning out Russia and talking to Khaled he connected me to Yusup Adaev who is the head black belt of Checkmat Moscow. We talked about my visit and Yusup was happy to have me come train with them, and even made sure to set everything up with the gym, Tigerclub, Checkmat is a part of. The gym is is the VEGAS Crocus City Mall, a huge and brand newly built mall out on the western end of Moscow. The mall has several floors with everything you could want in it, movie theatres, giant food court, gyms, even a hockey rink! Up at the top floor is where the gym is and Checkmat has a big mat space in the back. This gym was like the mall, big with everything you need in it. There was a big free weights section and big machine section, a fake grass area for cross-fit and dynamic conditioning exercises and even a boxing ring before the matspace. It was quite the impressive place. With this gym and this mall I could seriously just live in the mall as my visit.

The ice rink in the mall, complete with a huge golden statue.

The night I visited Checkmat Yusup wasn’t around, I believe he was out of country at the time but still made sure I was taken care of. The front desk attendant didn’t speak much English so when I first asked about Jiu-Jitsu and the Checkmat club she was puzzled. After a confusing conversation where she told me she passed me off to a manager who exactly why I was there. We had a nice conversation as I filled out the information form and waiver and then I was set up with a temporary pass, a key to a locker and told if I need anything to come back and talk to her (probably because no one else understood me).

I got changed and wandered onto the mats to stretch out and warm up for class. Since the head coach was away a lot of the higher belts were also away, leaving the class full of white and blue belts. Although everyone was friendly enough throughout class, the start of class was a bit awkward as everyone seemed to keep clear of me, giving uneasy stares my way. At first I figured they were intimidated or weren't fond of visitors, maybe I was just getting a cold shoulder as the new guy. As the class went on and students over heard me introducing myself to my training partners or telling them where I'm from during breaks between rounds, one by one they started to open up to me and come over to talk. As it happens everyone was just really shy, not being strong in English they weren't comfortable talking as first. By the end of class I had made a few new friends.

The class itself was good, there was about 20 or so on the mats and they had a very fit student take us through a thorough warm up. After the warm up we went straight into a series of sweeps which I believe they had been working on for a while as everyone seemed to be very familiar with the chain. As I was training with some white belts I gave a few points of advice and it was then that they first started asking me where I was from and why I had come to visit Moscow. They must not get many visitors as practically everyone asked why I had come to visit Moscow and not another place in Europe. Once we got into rolling the guys shed their timid demeanor and gave me some tough 'Welcome to Moscow' rolls that really tested my defense skills. I only rolled with one guy who didn't maul me and he was only new. I gave him some advice as we rolled, just newbie pointers but I could see given a year this guy would be a serious threat. It was a really good time training with Yusup Adaev's club, Checkmat Moscow, and wish I was able to make it out to the west end to train with them again, but it was not in the cards during this short trip. Thanks Yusup for having me at your club and thanks guys for the fun rolls.

The team of killers, I highly recommend dropping by if you visit Russia.

After an all too short visit to Moscow, ending my all too short visit to Russia, I was off to a neighboring country not too happy with Russia:Ukraine, first stop Kiev! Seriously this trip was too short. I had planned this back when I planned out my trip across Canada and was going on a 5 day per stop schedule. What with travel days that only gives you a few days at each place which is just enough to get out and train at a few clubs or one club a few times but no time for sight seeing. With traveling through Europe I had since increased my time at each to give time to take it all in. With my stops being closer to a week long at each place now I was looking forward to taking in the culture and all the Ukrainian food I had come to know and love while living in Canada. Now I was about to see how the real thing compared!

Until next time,
see you on the mats!
OSSS!!

WAYS TO SUPPORT PANDA'S ODYSSEY!
Sign up to the Panda's Odyssey Patreon Account.
Buy Panda's Odyssey Patches at The Gi Hive.
Buy a shirt at Panda's Jiu-Jitsu Store.
Follow me and other traveling Jiu-Jitsueros at the BJJ Globetrotters blog section.
Subscribe to my YouTube Channel.
Check out my full photo albums for each article at my Flickr account.
Add me and follow along on most social media @pandasodyssey

Saint Petersburg, Russia: A Fortress, Palaces and Sambo

Greetings From Saint Petersburg, Russia! (10-15 July 2017)

Finally I had made it. Russia was one of the first things on the list of places I want to go to, to see the culture and old Soviet buildings (and much older architectures) and of course learn Sambo from the birthplace of the sport. Although the flight over and navigation to the hostel was simple and easy, even though the bus charged me twice the bus fare because of my backpack, and the customs checkpoint went smooth (which I had been a little anxious over given my past career in the military), the steps taken to make it to Russia were more complex. Russia requires a Visa to visit and it's quite involved with the amount of paperwork and information they require, with a lot of pre-booking before even acquiring the Visa. This would be the first time I had ever had to apply for a Visa for visiting a country as well so I was a bit unsure of all the necessary steps, and given the personal importance of this stop in the Odyssey, I was nervous to make sure it was all done properly.

When I was first laying out the rough draft of the Odyssey itinerary I had only a few points to go by outside of Canada. I knew I would be flying to London in March, and eventually wanted to make it to Thailand and Japan, but much else between, and the order in which I would visit these spots, was yet to be determined. When I saw on the BJJ Globetrotters map that there were gyms to visit in Russia and Morocco I decided I had to add those places, but I would have to plan out my route carefully so I could get the right paperwork completed and give myself the proper time to visit all the other places in between. With the Russian Visa Canadians, and most other countries, are allowed to apply as much as six months in advance for their trip. I decided Russia would be a great next stop after my maximum time of 3 months in the European Union was up, but when that would be depended on whether or not I made a stop in Morocco, which in turn dictated when I could apply for the Visa before leaving Canada. I could of course apply later but traveling while mailing my passport home and waiting for it to be returned and hoping it doesn't get lost in the mail was not something I wanted to deal with.

I decided the first step was contacting the BJJ scene in Morocco about visiting and training with them, to which I got a resounding welcome message from everyone I spoke to (read about my adventures in Rabat, Casablanca & Marrakesh). After that I then figured out what time I had left in the European Zone to determine when what dates to look into my visit to Russia. From there I then planned when I could apply for the Visa. As it happened I would be in Ottawa, by the Russian consulate and Visa Services Canada just as the 6 month mark came up so I could apply for the Visa and drop by the office and speak to someone in person rather than just mail the papers in the mail and hope everything needed is included. That was the smart plan as not only did I not notice a small but important term in my flight out of Russia (I was originally going to fly to Belarus and visit there but because of current tensions tourists coming from Russia aren't allowed to visit.), but also I needed to drop off additional paperwork, including a signed letter informing the Russian consulate as to why I was applying for a visa so much ahead of my visiting dates, apparently "because you allow me to" isn't a good enough reason.

I don't know if it was from the war or just being old but the building the hostel was in was literally stapled together. The hostel was nice though.

Once the Visa application was sent in I just had to wait for my passport to come back, I would pick it up at my friend's house as my last stop in Canada. It was set, I would be flying to London and visiting the UK and Ireland in March, then make my way down to Morocco for May, and then make my way up to Russia in July. The all stops in between, all the adventures you have been reading about up til now, I had a rough idea of where and when I'd be visiting but they were all up in the air and planned on the go while I traveled, and they changed over and over. So all the paperwork was done and I had finally made my way to Russia, in Saint Petersburg, ready to get some first-hand experience of Sambo, and hope I don't die from it.

The Many Many Sights

I knew there were a few things to check out in Saint Petersburg from doing a quick check online, and so many people telling how great the city was, but I did not expect to be so enthralled with all the old architecture throughout the city. By this point I was quite used to being around buildings that were everyday common apartment buildings or store fronts to the locals but cool looking to me and older than the formation of Canada itself. The difference with Saint Petersburg is the scale of which all these building are built. It's like every building, no matter it's function, was built to outdo Versailles. They were massive, several floor buildings covered with all sorts of ornate designs and pillars. Or the Orthodox church built with millions of multicolored tiles and spires and domes. There was a lot to see and take in for this city, here's a small sample of the photos I took.

Kazan Cathedral is impressive building, that reminded me of the ship from 'Prometheus', with a small but busy park and water fountain in front.

Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood of course reminded me of Tetris, was also very busy and I didnt feel like being in the crowd pushing my through to see inside so I only walked around and admired it from the outside.

Peter & Paul Fortress is a sizable area with all sorts of different buildings and views, like the Peter and Paul churches, prison museum and the harbour dock and fortress wall and look in towards the city.

Historical Military Artillery Museum is across from the fortress and has a huge array of cannons, tanks and other artillery vehicles displayed across it's lawns.

Old Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange and Rostral Columns are on the Spit of Vasilievsky Island and look in to the city and fortress view.

The Palace Square speaks for itself.

I have more photos of my travels and adventures over on my Flickr account, head over there if you want to see more and maybe show some love by liking or commenting on few of them, thanks!

Alexey and The Saint Petersburg National Sambo Team

When looking into the idea of traveling to Russia I asked the BJJ Globetrotters Facebook page for contacts or experiences traveling there. That's when I met Khaled, a Russian living in USA who apparently knows everyone in Russia. He set me up with Alexey, who runs AP Gym in Saint Petersburg, and also connected me with the Checkmat gym in Moscow and told me some great places to check out and had other contacts if I wanted to venture deeper into Western Russia. So I got a hold of Alexey and we began talking about me coming and visiting. Alexey was more than happy to have a visitor and was even going to set me up with a place to stay, except there was no certainty and with the language barrier I decided to go with a hostel and make sure all my paperwork was in order for the trip.

I contacted Alexey once I was settled into the hostel and we started working out when to meet up and train together. As I mentioned before he owns and runs a series of gyms around Saint Petersburg and I was looking forward to meeting his team and training with them, but then Alexey changed the plans. Apparently he had been invited out to train at the School of Higher Sportmanship, home of the Saint Petersburg National Sambo Team and decided to bring me along with him. Alexey and I met up across town at a train station and then he drove the rest of the way since the sports building was just outside of the city. I followed him through the halls and series of rooms, where I saw Judo classes beginning and ending, until we made it to the Sambo room, a big long room matted with three wrestling circles and huge portraits of Sambo legends hanging from the wall. There a number of student there ranging from big scary looking athletes that would break me without a second thought to young teenagers who could probably runs circles around me. It was an intimidating class to be a part of, but also an honour to be there.

My favourite shot of training with the Sambo team.

The class goes through a series of warm ups but mostly it's at your own pace and once you're done warming up the class is fully on your own with the head coach, Korshunov Alexander Igorevich (A honoured coach of Russia) helping if you had any questions. For the hour that Alexey and I trained it was just us working no-gi, we would roll for a while and Alexey would give me tips for my game and we would drill a technique or I would take a break and grab some water while I watched the rest of the class train. There were a group of men training Combat-Sambo on one mat, a younger group working their take downs with the coach on another, it was amazing to see. As we were training a huge guy walked in and got ready to go a few rounds with his training partner. Alexey saw him and told me he was Denis "The Russian Bogatyr" Goltsov a MMA fighter and heavyweight champ. I watched him and his partner fight round after round beating on each other, impressed and intimidated by his size and skill. Alexey jokingly asked if I wanted to go a round with him, I think-or hoped-he was joking, but I just settled with getting a picture with this giant instead.

I wasn't joking about 'The Russian Bogatyr' being a giant.

After training we went out for food and Alexey brought me a Chinese buffet, we talked more about Saint Petersburg and training and traveling and all sorts of things. Alexey has a few businesses other than his gym, he was a busy man doing the work of 6 men running all his entrepreneur enterprises, making him taking the the time to show me around and train with me all the more impressive. It was a fun night and I wished we were able to train more but that night was the only time I was able to make it out as I got head cold and was out of training for the rest of this visit. Thanks so much Alexey for everything, the hard fought rolls, bringing me to the Sambo training session, showing me your beautiful home town, it was an honour to meet you and hang out together. And thank you Khaled for connecting us.

Alexey and I with the head coach, Korshunov Alexander Igorevich.

After a short visit to Saint Petersburg and seeing all the awesome sights, a 5 day visit that went by way too fast, I was on a train to my other Russian stop: Moscow!

Until next time,
see you on the mats!
OSSS!!

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