Traveling & Training in Quebec City, Part 2: The Clubs

Hey all!

I hope you enjoyed part one of my traveling and training in Quebec city that I posted recently. I was picture heavy of all the sites in the city I saw and some good places to go for food and drink, complete with links to most of them. Check it out here if you haven't already.

Before I talk about training I must first tell you about the hospitality when visiting. I swear every time I practiced I met someone new who was interested in my blog and journey, welcoming me to their club and telling me I'm always welcome. A few even offered me a place to stay or some help planning the journey, one even telling me about his friends and family in Morocco! It's pretty easy to say I'll be heading back during my journey across Canada to kick off Panda's Odyssey. Now it's time for the clubs! No, not those clubs, I mean the Jiu-Jitsu clubs.

Yan, one of the many new friends I made on this trip, offered to at least find me a place to crash next time I'm in town, he's a good man. I wish I was able to take pics with each person who bought a patch, offered me a place to crash next time, or offered to help me out setting up the Odyssey. Quebec is full of awesome people.

First off, there are other clubs around the area that I didn't get the chance to check out, mostly because of traveling restraints. This is by no means a complete list, only some stories of where I trained. By all means, check out other clubs if you can and get back to me on how it was, i would be interested in hearing your stories.

As usual, I made sure to look places up and see what ones where in the area of where I would be staying and even how long it would be using public transit to get to them. I also sent them an e-mail or Facebook message fully detailing who I am, my purpose and length of stay. I always make sure to be look ahead and set up some sort of conversation first so I'm not a complete surprise drop in.
 
Yoseikan Jiu-Jitsu   

It looks like a small office space on the outside, but let me tell you, it's quite the dojo on the inside.

The first place I was able to get out to train at was a Japanese Jiu-Jitsu dojo called Yoseikan Jiu-Jitsu. Finding their place was pretty easy, it was just down the street a few blocks, and they have a corner spot so seeing their signs was easy enough. When I first got there no one had shown up yet so I was hanging out on the street, nothing new with this scenario, and from the outside it looked like a small office space. Once others showed up and Sensei Dominic Toupin opened the place up I could see it was much bigger than I originally thought. The 'office space' I could see from the outside was really just the front lobby, the main area was behind, looking like it was once a garage turned into mat space. There were all sorts of picture frames of different martial arts masters and old posters of katas all along the walls. The tatami mats were worn, but still in great condition, you could tell many hours of training were spent on these mats, which I find pretty cool, reminds me of my old dojo I trained in during high school. I had the feeling of both a traditional dojo and newer, open concept martial arts club. It's hard to explain and my pictures don't do it justice but I felt comfortable on the mats pretty quick.

Much bigger than an I first thought.

More of the dojo, every wall had something.

I was excited to train with Yoseikan because I don't usually get the chance to train in another Japanese style Jiu-Jitsu when I travel. Checking out their website I was very interested in their style, Aikibudo, a style similar to some combat Judo styles I've seen before. In any case, after a brief e-mail exchange I was welcomed to come train with them and was very happy that I did. The classes were an hour and a half long and they were always pretty busy, either with very active warm ups or various randori (sparring), be it stand, ground, or even with weapons, or just constant drilling. The randori I was particularly happy for, as I first started in a randori heavy Japanese Jiu-jitsu style, after training in boxing, and I'm happy to spare with good people when ever I can. They did not disappoint. It was great to be exchanging some punches, kicks, throws and even knife strikes all in good fun. The techniques taught were great, no nonsense, self defense techniques that I was happy to learn and share with my fellow classmates when I get back to class.  They were also very open to sharing knowledge from our differing lineage during randori. We would routinely have ground sparring at the end of class, it was a lot of fun, rolling with a club from a Japanese Jiu-Jitsu lineage. It was very similar to rolling with the Judo guys in Japan, very old school feel with all emphasis on traditional positions, yet again my half guard game saved me from being completely smashed.

Me with Sensei Dominic Toupin, who welcomed me into his dojo, thank you so much, Sir! (Yes, I'm wearing a white belt, forgot my orange belt that night)

The best thing about training with these guys was how welcoming they were, even to someone who primarily does BJJ, although I do have an orange belt in a Japanese style it's not in their style and not my main focus. That's what I love about traveling and training, finding a place like this where we can learn from each other, share knowledge and just be open to other styles. I loved their techniques and fighting styles, and I believe they loved my grappling style. I think we both had an edge in our own strength, them being more stand oriented and me more ground oriented, but more importantly, we respected each other for that. Great group of people I am happy to have met and made friends with, I look forward to seeing them again in the future.

My last class with the Yoseikan guys before heading back, they're a lot of fun!

BJJ Quebec

BJJ Quebec, hidden in this Muay Thai club that looks like the MMA version of Apollo Creed's place in Rocky III.

The BJJ club I spent most my time at in Quebec City was BJJ Quebec, it's a bit out of the way, especially if you are like me, staying right in down town by the river and only using public transit. It's also hidden in a Muay Thai club that totally reminded me of Apollo Creed's place Rocky ends up training at in Rocky III. In fact, watching the Muay Thai classes I wished I had more time to train and had a chance to jump into one of them, I would probably regret it afterwards and feel dead but it would be a cool experience. The BJJ mats were up top in caged loft, over looking the main area training area. Depending on the schedule the BJJ guys sometimes also trained in the main area if it was open. It's a cool set up, and feels pretty badass when you're up top doing drills or king of mat round as a bunch of lethal looking guys and girls are kicking the crap out of the bags down below.

The cage, definitely a badass feel to training in it.

Watching the Muay Thai in the main training area, again, badass feel to it all.

Getting to the club wasn't so bad, it wasn't as close as some clubs, but unlike some of the other clubs a bus went right by them, making it easier than others to get to. I was talking to the club on Facebook before coming to town and they were very accepting, which is always great, and by the look of their website they were some serious Brazilian Top Team affiliate competitors so I knew to expect a tough class. Tough class indeed, Prof. Louis Bérubé likes to jump right in and start drilling. He adds on more to each drill, making it a chain of moves, for half an hour or so before working on techniques, all involving the base moves he had you warm up on during the starting drills. I liked the pace and energy of his classes, fast paced but not so fast that you're feeling like you're in a fitness class rather than a Jiu-Jitsu class. Then the last half hour (classes are 90 mins) or so was for rolling, and man were these guys tough. 

Prof. Guy, who also teaches some of the classes, and some of the guys from BJJ Quebec.

I figured I would run into the aggressive and competitive nature of the French Canadians that we all know and love (if you're unfamiliar, look up hockey) during this visit but they were also very fit, running circles around me. After class one day I'm talking to one of the students and he tells me that he, along with half the guys there, are in the military, Van Doos to be exact (check out Royal 22e Regiment to fully understand) then it all made sense, it was in their blood to smash people! Either way, I had a great time training with them, I feel like every time I showed up to class I made new friends. In fact I've had several people from both clubs add me on Facebook, interested in following me on my journey. I was an awesome feeling, just like in Japan, bridging the language barrier to train together and find new friendships. I look forward to training with these guys in the future, after reading my blog of the guys even offered to help me find a couch to crash on next time I'm in town. We'll be keeping in touch and once the Canadian portion of Panda's Odyssey gets under way we'll work something out and hopefully I'll have stories of training in Old Quebec again.

Prof. Louis Bérubé and more of the awesome BJJ Quebec team in a serious pose.

The fun pose.

The pose where everyone jumps me, why does this always happen?

Sampa BJJ 

I was only able to make it out to Sampa BJJ once due to scheduling conflicts, also mapping conflicts. Google Maps gave me bad info and I ended up on the wrong side the highway with no way to make it to class on time the first I attempted to attend class there. Anyways, I had a fun time when I did make it out there. Unfortunately I don't have any pics of the place or people I trained there with but they were very welcoming, and very helpful when talking online and setting up when I could make it out to class and how. The place is in a strip mall and has a really nice lay out, I saw an interesting class where parents and kids trained together, like a father/mother and son/daughter type of class, very cool. I wish I had a better schedule so that I could have trained there more to get to meet more of the Sampa students. Those I did get to meet were nice people, welcoming and supportive of me visiting them while I travel and train. The classes there were fun, lots of drilling, good chains and strong rolling at the end. They had a lot of strong looking competitors, I'm sure I would have had a great time being the nail while rolling with all of them. If you're visiting Quebec City check them out, maybe you'll have better luck than I did making to their classes.

That's it for now, now to get back to working on planning the Canadian portion of Panda's Odyssey out, after all, there's only 6 months to go before it kicks off! You can help get journey started by buying a Panda's Odyssey Patch, see you all on the mats!

Traveling & Training in Quebec City, Part 1: The sites of Old Quebec

Hello all!

I've just returned from a month long stay in Quebec City (in Quebec, Canada for those wondering) that I was lucky enough to do to for work.  In the evenings and weekends I made sure to check out Old Quebec and all the history of our fine Country that it holds, and of course find some places to train at. But before I get to showing and telling you all about the great city you should visit let me first say thank you to everyone buying my Panda's Odyssey patches! Please keep it up, and spread the word, buying the patches will help me on my journey and so far it's been doing it's job, helping get this blog seen and getting more people now sending in invites to train and stay with them. Thank you everyone, only 6 months away before it starts!

Old Quebec

For those of you who don't know, Quebec City, or Old Quebec, is one of Canada's oldest cities and is a very important place in the history of forming Canada. The Battle of the Plains of Abraham was a pivotal point that led to the end of the Seven Years War between the French and the British. To be walking through this city and seeing the Plains of Abraham, the museum, the citadel, all the old buildings and the wall still lined with cannons was amazing. I could do without all the hills though, the city, being originally a fort protecting French territory, is built on a rather steep hill.

The rest of this post will be mostly pictures of seeing the sites, enjoy!

The site flying into the city, what a view. even with the cold still in the air and on the ground.

 Rue Du Petit Champlain

One place to check out when walking about Old Quebec is Rue Du Petit Champlain. It's full of all kinds of little stores and cafe's, mostly for the tourists filling the streets, but it's also very close to the Citadel and Hotel Frontenac and is a really beautiful street to walk through.
   

walking through the cobble stone street before it gets busy.

a view from a top of the wall looking down on Rue Du Petit Champlain

 Hotel Frontenac

Although I've never been in the building itself, I'm sure it was amazing views from those windows. There's also monuments outside around the Hotel in memorial of the war and you can walk through the citadel wall and see different sites of what life was like during the war. If you travel to Quebec City, it will be hard not to see any of this.

Hotel Frontenac, behind the Citadel wall with the cannons lined up in front

Another part of the Citadel wall, it lines all of Old Quebec along the water front, quit the nice walk really.

Obligatory "Check out my big cannon!" shot in front of Hotel Frontenac. I saw a little kid ride it later and thought, why didn't I do that?!  hahah

more of the wall while walking around in town, its pretty cool to walk under, too bad it's shut off to public to walk along the wall itself though.

A cool looking building that i felt the need to take a pic of but don't know anything about it..

Found this awesome cathedral one day, the picture doesn't do it justice, it's pretty much one whole block just to itself.

The Plains of Abraham

If you're into war and history the museum and the actual Plains of Abraham are a cool spot to check out, There's a movie to watch that explains the details of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham and how it ended the Seven Years War. As well there are all kinds of uniforms and old pieces of personal belongings from that time you can see and read about.
   

The movie, consisting of a curved wall as well as both the ceiling and floor being projected onto to more depth in the animation, was kinda cool to watch.

A scene from the movie, stuff being blown up.

The Plains of Abraham, a view from one of the points looking down the river, this is where the British came up

Walls of the old garrison, a lot of work was being done, my guess is to restore it.

A shot of some of the uniforms on display at the museum.

Places to go for Food and Drink

While I was staying in Old Quebec I looked up some places to check out for entertainment. First is Macfly Arcade Bar. It's got an old diner feel to it and a 'Back to the Future' theme (hence the name) on one side there is a wall of old pinball machines, on the other a hall of old arcade games, with the table top arcade games throughout the bar. Best thing, it's all free to play! They have a lot of old titles to play and somehow it wasn't incredibly packed. If you're on some down time, check this place out!

so many games to play!

Next is the Snack Bar on Rue St Jean, after reading several lists that put them on the top for best poutine in town, I checked it out and was not disappointed! They have a long list of different poutines and, as you can see by the picture, they're huge!   

fried bologna, bacon, and some other stuff I forget. This was only a medium!

 

Also, although I don't have a picture for it, Mille et une Pizzas (1001 pizzas) is probably the best pizza place I've hit up, they have an extensive list of awesome pizzas and every one myself and my classmates had was amazing! If you like pizza, definitely go to Mille et une Pizzas!

Well, that's all I have for now. I'll be writing up about my time training with all the great people and awesome clubs of Quebec City and posting that very shortly,  as well as updating my map to include the on the list, so keep watch!

Panda's Odyssey Patches!!!

They're here!!

Showing off the new patch!

The first batch of Panda's Odyssey patches are in and they look great! Even more cool is that they're selling pretty good, so get a hold of me now if you're interested in picking some up!

I think this would look good on any gi!

I'm selling them for $5 CDN +shipping, depending on where it's going. For my Canadian friends, shipping is free for 4 patches or less. For everyone else, it's a case by case basis but it shouldn't cost much, reply to this post or e-mail me here to put in an order.

The whole purpose of this patch is to get more views on my blog, in hopes of getting people to say 'hey, love what you're doing/planning to do, come stay/train/both with me!' To help get the Odyssey planning rolling. I got most of Canada planned as it is but as far as it goes for Europe or Asia or, well, the rest of the world, I got a only a few people.
Also, if I sell enough patches I'll actually make a few dollars to help me on this journey. A fun patch that not only looks great but also helps a fellow Jiu-jitsero out, how can you hate that?!
I also have a love for collecting patches from clubs I've been to so having one of my own to trade with them is also something I think would be fun. In fact I've already traded with a club while I'm here training in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada (post of that to be coming soon!)

Hopefully in the coming months I get a bunch of orders for them and a bunch of offers from people to come train too!

Phase II: Planning!!

The time has come, it's now time to start planning the trip!

This will be a short update, just letting you know where I am with planning so far, which isn't far. (Sorry, no pics for this post)

I will be leaving a lot of room for changes and really I'm only going to plan out enough to get me to Europe at this time. I figure it'll be best to only really make a rough plan and itinerary and only have maybe the next month at a time set up, too much can happen if you plan too far ahead. So for right now I'm only looking to start planning the Canadian portion of the trip, the Canadian Odyssey if you will.

I still have another 9 months to go before the Odyssey starts but with my busy schedule and an expected summer of sailing that 9 months will go by quickly. I figure it's best to start now so I have time to talk to people and get a communication started, probably better than "Hey I'm dropping by next week, do you know a place I can crash at while I train with you?" Matsurfing or floor crashing will be key to helping keep expenses down, especially across Canada and Europe where even hostels won't always be cheap. So building a correspondence friendship with new places is must in my books. I've already complied a list of places I either have friends or family at to visit or clubs I'd like to go train at. There are a few cities I need help with, so if anyone is in one of the cities, or knows someone who is, and is willing to let me come crash on a floor and/or train with you, let me know.

Here's the list of places I hope to hit up while traveling across Canada and make new friends:

Gibsons, BC (Tidal and Sadohana Kokodo)
Vancouver, BC
Calgary, AB
Winnipeg, SK
London, ON
Hamilton, ON (Ouroboros BJJ)
Kingston, ON (Tiger's Den Jiu-Jitsu)
Ottawa, ON
Petawawa, ON (Evolution BJJ)
St. Catharines/Niagara Falls, ON
Toronto, ON (Various clubs)
Montreal, QC
Quebec City, QC
Halifax, NS
Sidney, NS
St. John's NL (St. John's BJJ & Judo)

I added the clubs I do plan on making out to train at, but I'm open to train at others as well, get out and meet as many new people as possible. As you can see there's a lot of Ontario cities, that's because I have a lot of friends and family around there. There are a list of clubs that I haven't added on because I haven't yet talked to them about visiting and I don't want to publicly list 'maybe's' on here just yet.

Want to add a city or club on here? shoot me a line and let me know! I'd be happy to come train. 

Like I said, a short update, no to do a lot of e-mailing!

A visiting friend, a meeting of minds.

A Visiting Friend

Last week my friend Tom came to visit. Tom has been backpacking around the world for the past year, basically doing exactly what I've been preparing to do, but instead of Jiu-Jitsu he's been hiking and skiing all over some great places. Tom and I kind of grew up together, we weren't the closest of friends but our social circles intersected and we had mutual friends. After school we connected online and we've kept tabs on each other. As it happened, at the same time I was telling close friends about my plans to start preparing for a year long world backpacking trip he was just about to start his. For this last year we've been shooting each other advice we've found on forums or experienced ourselves, creating our own network to help each other out. When Tom said he would like to come out to Victoria BC to visit I was more than happy to lend him my couch. We haven't actually seen each other since our mutual best friend's wedding 6 or 7 years ago and a lot has changed for both of us since then. To be honest I didn't know who to expect since it had been so long and we've both changed so much. Tom had been backpacking around the world for a year and experienced so much, that changes you. And myself, I had join the military, quit smoking, quit drinking, found a new passion in life. I am not the same man he last saw, neither of us are. As it happens, with our experiences and changes in life we now had more in common than before, with lots to talk about.

Here's a link to Tom's blog, there's lot's of good stuff in there, so if you're planning a trip somewhere and want some good ideas of what to do or where to go, or even what to watch out for, he just might have something here to help you out, so check it out!

Getting ready to show Tom a small piece of my life and  introduce him to the gentle art of jiu-jitsu. (sorry for the blurry photo)

It was Thursday night, I had my friend Rob give me a ride to pick up Tom from the airport and after he dropped his things off at my place I showed him the important things around our neighborhood (grocery store and strip mall, bus stop and schedule, etc.). We picked up groceries and got back my place for Tom to get settled in. Friday Tom was left to himself to explore around the town while I went to work and in the evening I brought him out to Jiu-Jitsu. During our chats online he had expressed an interest in checking out some Jiu-Jitsu classes and I was more than happy to introduce him to the fine art that I am admittedly obsessed with. Lucky for Tom our club has classes in both Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and traditional Japanese Jiu-Jitsu, and Friday had both classes running. He did well for his first classes, I was proud of him to take the leap and try new things out. The next morning Tom expectedly pulled up a little sore, not that I wasn't but you get used to that sort of thing when you train as much as I do. After breakfast we took off to hit up a Yoga class, it was my first in a long time and proved to be more exhausting than I had planned. Tom too. As he said, you never knew exactly where it hurt until after a good class of yoga.

Tom (black gi, center) being welcomed by my jiu-jitsu family after a fun Friday night class.

Afterwards we walked around town and I showed him some good sights of the city, the island is such a beautiful place and I always like showing it off to visiting friends, not only is it showing off the beauty to someone new but it also gets me out to appreciate it all over again. Sunday was a quiet day of resting before all you can eat ribs and meeting with good friend Matt to watch the wrestling pay per view, the Royal Rumble was on. Finally Monday came and it was time for Tom and I to part ways again. I was great hosting his stay here and my couch is always open for him but now it was time for him to go see Tokyo for his self and ski the slopes there. I envy the life he has now, and can't wait for my journey to start.

A Meeting Of Minds

The entire time Tom was here we never wasted a moment to chat about experiences and advice to one another. I would say I probably learned the most out of all my research this last year from this weekend of us hanging out. Not that I hadn't learned a lot from researching but having someone who had been out there recount his tales either confirmed or corrected most of my findings. As we both said as some point during the weekend, it's one thing to read it online or have someone who's never been out there tell you some sort of advice or information, but hearing it from someone who's actually been there and done that adds a whole level of credibility. Since Tom was going to Japan next I told him everything I could about how to get around, places to see and how to eat cheap. Apparently my blog posts on Tokyo really helped him figure some site to see as well, I was glad to help. In exchange Tom told me all about his living and traveling around South East Asia and how to do it cheap. Also, all the scams he had either saw himself or heard about while traveling. That's one thing I will have to be weary of, scams, I know they're out there and the more sites I want to see the more I'll have to be careful of the scams since they usually always target the tourists areas.

Enjoying all you can eat ribs on his final night in Canada. Apparently he follow this up with a Japanese Kobe Beef steak in Tokyo 2 days later! 

To be honest Tom's talks really helped me out, with the Canadian dollar not doing so well as this point I was really starting to feel discouraged about planning the Odyssey. I was starting to think I might have to put it off another year to save up enough. After talking to Tom and getting actual numbers that someone had been living off of really put my projections into prospective. After he left I sat down and did some research, expenses estimates from what information I had gotten from Tom, and I was back on track, re-energized with all new ambition to set the journey up! With this new found energy I now have newly focused goals, and soon I'll be starting the second phase: Planning!
But that is for another post...