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...

Belt Gradings, Making New Friends, And Of Course, Research!

Hello All!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season filled with good times and great training sessions!
It's been a while and I have a few things to catch up on so I thought I would condense the topics into one post. Sorry for the lack of pictures in advance.

Belt Gradings

I short while back, just after returning from my Japan trip, Halloween weekend Actually, we had some belt gradings take place. Over the weekend I, along with everyone else, watched Matt Kaiser finally get his well deserved brown belt in what was an awesome display of talent and technique. There was also a group going for their blue belts, which is always a fun test to watch, Prof. Keith Owen's 'warm up' reminds me more of a punishment PT session in Basic Training. What made this test more interesting to watch was the fact that two friends who I brought into the club were finally going for their belts. This was a new experience for me, in the recent past there has been classmates who were going for their blue belt that I helped prepare for it, more so than these two, but this was different. This time it was, to me, like I was going through it all over again, I was the one who brought them in, so I felt responsible for them. Of course they both passed with flying colours!

It was cool to see others, friends from work, the 'Navy Connection' as some have said, find the same interest in martial arts as I have and not only join but progress in it. It's a cool feeling to see them promoted, I felt proud, as I always do whenever anyone in the club passes their test, but this time it was as if it were me again. Now hopefully they'll get some friends involved who will train hard and get others involved and so forth and so on...and the family grows, like our own 'Navy Connection' BJJ family tree. I look forward to watching the family, both our club's and the Navy one, continue to grow.

The newly promoted blue belts, Mike (left) and Lionel (Right) they did awesome!



The new blue belt batch, Mike, Lionel and Wes, and Coach Ari.


Making New Friends

I went home, Petawawa ON, for the holidays to see friends and family and, since when I was last home I heard of a Jiu-Jitsu club on base, decided to bring a gi and make some new friends. I contacted Evolution BJJ on Facebook and quickly we became penpals, looking forward to meet each other and train together. While I was only able to make it out to one rolling session the impression made on me was terrific! The Professor there is an amazing man to talk with as well as roll with. We talked about all sort of things, from our own experiences traveling and training to different theories on rolling to the crazy intertwining lineage of BJJ. The rest of the club were nice and friendly and happy to have a new person join them on the mats. I don't know if I was still tired from the plane flight home or if the elevation really does have an effect there but either way I got tired fighting off their strong technique pretty fast. I knew the guys back home would be pretty fit, it being on an Army base and all, but the guys at Evolution BJJ Petawawa sure play a strong game both in fitness and technique! I wish I could have spent more time on the mats with them, I look forward to visiting them next time I'm home!

Research!

I've had a lot of time to think over everything I've experienced traveling the Mini Odyssey in the summer and to Japan in the fall. The packing is going very well and there has been very little to change; everything fits and I can carry it all with ease and there has been very little needed to pick up or discard along the way. This makes me happy. I've had no problem just going from hotspot to hotspot to use my phone or tablet in order to contact people, check e-mail or mark maps etc. I think continuing to map out routes and save locations while in a hotspot in order to use them offline in my travels will continue to be my main way on getting around. Of course, meeting up with someone from the area to show me around would be easier, and maybe cheaper if they have a spot to crash for me, wishful thinking and all. I will have to remember to take the time to explore the place a little to learn how to get around and get oriented instead of rushing around and getting lost.

The main concern I have is money. While I was in Tokyo I kept using the ATM's at the 7-11's as it was the easiest way, but heavy charges comes with that and I want to avoid having $50+ a month in surcharges from withdrawals. Exchanging currency will probably be an issue as well with bouncing around a lot, I'll need to have money for things, like food, but also look to not get hit with a lot of surcharges from exchanging. Right now my answer to this is to have a sit down with a representative from my bank to see what advise they have. Being smart with money will be key, unfortunately I'm not the best in this department, I often bend to convenience. Something I'll have to work on. Anyone with advise on this, your help is appreciated.

As for starting the Odyssey I've decided to do a cross country trek on the buses, seeing the country and visiting all sorts of places to train at as I travel across Canada before heading over to Europe. I'm now starting to put together an idea for mapping out my intended path across Europe and Asia but it'll be awhile before I have anything substantial to post. As it stands my intended stops for the cross country Canadian Odyssey will be as follows:

After leaving here and visiting friends in the Sunshine Coast and Vancouver I'll catch the Greyhound bus and head to Calgary, St. Catharines/Niagara Falls, Toronto, Kingston, Ottawa, Petawawa where I'll most likely be for the holidays, Montreal, Halifax and finally St. John's before flying over to Europe. There's lots of room to see other people and places along the way so if you want me to visit or know of a good place to visit let me know.

Obviously I can't be spending a lot of money on this so I will be staying clear of any places with mat fees and would choose to visit a place that can give me a spot to crash over one I have to spend money on a hotel, but seeing as I'm visiting friends I'm sure there'll always be a couch available.

That's it for now, oh, I guess I could tell you all about the operation on my neck I just had, removing a mass of hard fat cells, Lipomas, that were causing increased pressure and stress on my neck and shoulder and I'm now out of training for another 2 week or more. If you follow me on instagram @PandasOdyssey you already knew all that and saw the pretty pictures. In case you missed them, here they are, enjoy!

All the fun I had the day off the surgery.

The next day, going to have a pretty scar from this. 

      

Tokyo! (Part 3)

I've told you all about the amazing training I did while visiting Tokyo and now it's time to tell you all about the wonderful sites I saw. This post will mostly a lot of pictures, hope you enjoy!

I had been in Tokyo for a day or two before I finally had the time to go explore and see some sites, not that I wasn't exploring every time I took the transit to a Jiu-Jitsu class.  I decided the first thing I'd do was go visit the anime center of Akihabara, I'm a fan of anime and here I am in the world's capitol of anime, so it only made sense.

Once I got out of the station the first thing I saw was Kanda river, which pretty much runs through Tokyo, it's cool seeing a river run through all the tall buildings.

Kanda River at Akihabara Station

I got to the anime district and I see a giant TV playing an anime cartoon. Of course there would be a giant TV playing anime. Around the square that the TV was playing in there was also a maid café, I'll explain it later, and the Gundam Café. Gundam, if you didn't know, is a wildly popular anime that has had several movies and TV series.

The Gundam Café

The TV playing anime in the square, but I think I took the picture during commercial.
 

    I found an actual Anime Center online that holds showcases of different anime so I decided to check it out. I was in luck, they were showing off some cool artwork from Kill La Kill, a wonderful anime about a girl with scissor swords.

A script to one of the episodes, with frame by frame illustrations.

Completed frames to an episode.

Characters of the show.  

A reproduction of the swords from the show, I kind of want to add these to my collection.

Next I wondered around, checked out some of stores like this awesome anime store, Animate, which is 7 or 8 floors of everything anime, I may have spent a lot of money there.

Animate, the entire staircase, and most the store, is covered in posters.

And every floor is stacked with manga and anime merchandise.

After that I grabbed a bite to eat at one of the many maid cafés around. The staff dresses as maids, do a song and dance for a the customers every so often, and all the food and drink is arranged into cute animals. I had a hamburger steak that was drawn up to look like a teddy bear. You also get a picture with them to remember the fun time.

The maid café from the outside, no pictures were allowed inside.

 

My picture with the 'maid' that served me.

The next time I got out to go explore I went to the Harajuku district where all the cool fashions come from, and where you're more likely to see people dressed up in the crazy Lolita style. I walked around and checked a bunch of stores out, even bought a few shirts for myself and friends. I saw some pretty crazy outfits people were wearing but it was a bit too busy for me to take a picture and they vanished into the crowds in the stores before I could ask to take a picture with them.

The start of Harajuku

 

A 'My Little Pony' café, because why not?!

 

The main strip by Harajuku station

The street got pretty busy and there's tons of shops, I probably missed half of them.

After all the shopping the next time I got to explore I made my way over to the Imperial Palace and the gardens. There's so much history there, and with the sheer size of the place I feel like I could spend a few more days wondering through there before I see everything. In fact there are a few places among the gardens I would love to go back and spend the afternoon resting in, reading a book or writing notes down while taking the view in and people watching. One day I'll make it back and do exactly that.

Entrance gate to the Imperial Gardens.

Donjon Base, an impressive piece of stonework and a great view point from the top.

The view of the grounds from the Base, there's a lot more you can see than what this picture shows.

 

The layout of the grounds of the Edo Palace, before it was all burnt down. 

 

In the gift shop, a small scale reproduction of the Edo Palace.

 

Mt. Fug View Keep one of only three of the original keeps that surrounded the grounds as both storage and defensive view points.

 

The Cellar. Apparently there are all sorts of stories of this cellar having tunnels to secret caves full of gold or secret pathways out of the grounds.

The Base again from a different view

Probably one of the more coolest places I've stood at, the Corridor. This is the very place where the infamous ambush that spurred the event, and subsequent legend, of the 47 Ronin.

One place I quickly dropped by to see was the Shibuya Scramble, said to be one of the most busiest intersections in the world for pedestrian traffic. Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift famously drifted through the intersection as seen in this clip of the movie Here I recorded myself walking through it but it must've been a slow time as there were barely a thousand people there at the time. The place really picked up as I walked around the area and by the time I headed back to the train station it was almost shoulder to shoulder traffic. 



I have a video but it wouldn't load and it's all sideways and upside down so you'll have to settle with a picture of the Shibuya Scramble instead.

I also checked out the shopping district of Ginza. Was great seeing all the different high class stores. Just about everything you could want is on that street, but you have to pay a few pennies for it, nothing is cheap in Ginza. I wish some pictures of some of the stores I went into, like the really cool Japanese steel store with all the knives or one of the stationary places. There's also a Police museum on that street, that I did get a few pictures of.

The old school motorbike they have outside the museum.

 

All the different uniforms through the ages. Having a background in fashion and fan of uniform construction I really liked this display.

Cool old guns and swords.

Old school riot gear, pretty badass.

My last night in Tokyo I decided to walk around and see the night life. While I hear great things abut Roppongi I also hear it's a better not to go alone and since I was alone and don't drink, I stayed away. There is a legendary bar I did have to check out though, The Godz Metal Bar where every heavy metal band that's played Tokyo has been to. The bar is in Kabuki-Cho, another bar district and shopping district but better known for being the red light district. All the signs and lights downtown were pretty impressive, and the crowd only grew as the night went on.

Kabuki-Cho, the red light district that everyone loves to walk through and admire the lights.. 

A random street with I took a picture of just because.

 

I think this street corner was on the way to either Shinjuku station or Shinjukusanchome station. 11 pm and it was getting busy. 

Godz Metal Bar, the only sign to find it. Of course it's in the basement. Probably would never have found it if I didn't look it up online and save the address first. 

 

Inside Godz, each of those squares is signed by a band that played Tokyo and partied there afterward, the bar is covered all with them.

Of course there's a robot restaurant in Tokyo, why wouldn't there be?! I never got to check it out but all the pictures online looks like a great time.

The last day in  town I had a bit of time to finish some last minute shopping and wonder by the Imperial Palace again. This time I got pictures of the actual Palace.

 

And that's my trip to Tokyo, there's so much there to do and see that I never got a chance at that I could easily go back and spend another week and till not see it all. I know this was very picture heavy, but I warned you. I have a bunch of pictures that didn't make this post but I think these are the best, I hope you enjoyed them!