WELCOME TO UKRAINE!!!

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Let’s continue our journey through Ukraine.
Today our way lies in the city of Skadovsk. This small, resort town is located on the Black Sea coast at a distance of 100 km from Kherson.
When there is no holiday season, Skadovsk is quiet, cozy and a small town. In the season, of course, here as in a colony of penguins, there is nowhere to fall an apple.) Many tourists.
The city is very inexpensive, but during the season, prices are rising very much. The sea here is shallow, for surfers of interest is not. Opposite Skadovsk, at a distance of 4 km in the sea, is the largest and uninhabited island of Dzharylgach. Island reserve. There are large bird colonies. From the city embankment there go regularly small private boats, water taxi. The island is open for tourists.
In Skadovsk there is a wonderful gym for BJJ. Simply huge and very convenient. Once it hosted very large international wrestling tournaments. Instructor Ivan Dibrov, purple belt. Very nice and kind person. There are blue belts in the gym. Very friendly team. You will always be welcomed, will have the maximum attention and you will have fun and usefully time. Friendliness and hospitality, this is generally a Ukrainian character trait on a par with love for fat.))
On the way from Kherson to Skadovsk you can turn slightly to the side, very close and you will get to the biggest desert of Europe “Aleshkovsky sands”. Of course, caravans from Scheherazade’s fairy tales you will not see there, but it’s easy to get lost and experience all the delights of thirst. And you can arrange safaris on ATVs in the desert, a very exciting activity.)
On the way from Kherson to Skadovsk, the city of Golaya Pristan is located, where an annual watermelon festival is held there in the summer. Watermelon is the largest berry in the world. And very, very tasty.) Even a monument to her was put in Naked Pristan.
In general, you can ride on mats and have a good rest and eat watermelons.

WELCOME TO THE UKRAINE!!!

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WELCOME TO THE UKRAINE!!!


Hello, friends. I want to introduce you to an amazing, hospitable and beautiful country of Ukraine. I will tell you about the nature, sights that are in this country and of course about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Together with you, we will be on the pages of the blog, travel around Ukraine, through the jiu-jitsu halls and get acquainted with Ukrainian cuisine. I will tell you about many halls. We will make a stop in different cities. I hope this will interest many people and travelers practicing BJJ, will definitely visit this country and include it in their routes.
FIRST STOP CITY KHERSON.
This is my hometown. Therefore, we will start our journey with him. Kherson is in the south of Ukraine in the delta of the Dnieper River. A lot of water, islands overgrown with mists and at the same time, under Kherson is the largest desert in Europe, Aleshkovsky sands. The city, by Ukrainian standards, is not very large, with a population of 300,000 people. Kherson region is famous for its vegetables and fruits, especially strawberries and watermelons. Watermelon is a chip of Kherson. Even the watermelon festival is held in the summer. A traveler from Europe who wants to visit Kherson, will pleasantly surprise the prices. A night in an inexpensive hotel will cost $ 5-10, and you can eat at an inexpensive restaurant for the same amount. And if you know the places, then you can eat very tightly and tasty, just for 1-2 $.) City transport, by European standards, very cheap, travel by bus costs 3UAH. 1 $ = 27UAH. The nearest international airport is in Odessa. It is 200 km from Kherson. Kherson airport accepts flights only from Turkey.
In the city there is a gym of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu https://vk.com/bjj.skif.kherson
I will tell a little about the creation of this gym. The club was ounded by Father Igor and his son Sergei. It happened in September 2015. Prior to that, Igor looked like a small, old, fat gnome.) I never did any sports. Previously, he worked as a diver, he was in uniform. Then retired, made friends with the sofa and computer and looked like a Kherson watermelon.)) It’s time, decided to take care of yourself and started running. Then it so happened that he went to Kiev and got to workout on BJJ. And I fell in love with him. It was love at first sight. He returned to Kherson and rented a room together with his son. They opened the club, found like-minded people and began to study. Technicians took from the Internet, visited a couple of seminars, so slowly and train. We also have the results. Son Sergei is already a champion of Ukraine. Many of us are winners of regional tournaments. The process is under way. In this gym, all white belts. There are no colored belts yet.
In this gym, everyone is always welcome. If someone wants to include Ukraine in their route, be sure to visit Kherson. You’ll like it!!!
This was the first stop. The journey continues. Soon we will be in another city and tell you about it.)

A little photo. Landscapes of Kherson. Kherson embankment at night. SK BJJ SKIF gym.

Blogging on Globetrotters!

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My first blog post for BJJ Globetrotters!
Hello everyone! Let’s start this first blog off with information about myself. I’m a 4th stripe blue belt from Canada and I love martial arts. I have been blogging on my own for a while now, talking about all things jiu-jitsu while I researched, planned, and then began my mission to travel and train around the world. I write a weekly article on my experiences and adventures as I travel and train, and sometimes even have interviews with the cool people I meet along the way. I have named this journey of mine, and the blog itself, Panda’s Odyssey. I’ve been writing about my adventures for some time now and am thrilled to be able to now post those stories here on BJJ Globetrotters, especially since the Globetrotter community has helped me so much and I’ve met so many other fellow Globetrotters along the way.
To fill you in, I started in November and have traveled across Canada, spending 4 months (during the winter!) training and meeting and making all sorts of new friends along the way.  During that time I trained at 42 different clubs across the country. Now I’m in the UK as a start to my goal of a year across Europe and Asia. I’m about 3 weeks into traveling through the UK and Ireland and it’s been a blast so far!
I look forward to posting my adventures here now as well as continuing on now own blog and I hope this gets more people following my adventures and messaging me to meet up. If you want to catch up on any of my past adventures just check my blog at http://pandasodyssey.blogspot.ca
there’s also a map that shows all the clubs I’ve been ever trained at, with contact information for each one. 

United Kingdom!

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I have been training BJJ and working in Singapore since 2014. While at work, i have always been thinking about travelling and also training(im sure this happens to many of us here). The idea of training and travelling  came up to me only around 2015 and that was before i found globetrotters. After few years of saving money, i finally embarked on my journey to travel and train BJJ! The first stop was london(the one way ticket was the cheapest from malaysia). While in  london, i managed to train at WaveBJJ under Lorenzo who unfortunately was away. 

Underground training at Wave

After a week in london, i traveled up north to Stafford where i had my first matsurfing experience under Chris Paines. He teaches at fighting fit grapplers. Obviously i learnt a ton from him and his students. I also stayed with several of his students where they took turns hosting me. I will be forever grateful for that. We also went for gymnastics which was a new awesome experience for me!  

Chris teaching kids class

As for the next destination, i headed for blackpool where i would be training at blackpool UTC under Scot. Here i got another new experience of staying overnight at the gym which was kinda cool! Luckily for me, the weather was good during my stay and i managed to have a nice stroll along the beach. Here i also crossed paths with fellow traveler Robert Barker from Canada who was doing a trip similar to mine. 

Camping at UTC blackpool

Finally, I took a train up north to Glasgow and stayed with Giles and Cristiana where we trained at Marcos Nardini BJJ. We trained almost everyday and they fed me with tons delicious food. They are both great cooks by the way!

After UK i will be moving to Amsterdam to train but i shall leave that for another post. So far i have been enjoying hospitality and warmth. I was a bit nervous before i embarked on this journey but once again it was just because off me getting out of my comfort zone. To Amsterdam for more weed! Erm i mean rolls….