The infamous Siesta.
The next morning we visit Seville for some sightseeing and shopping for the visiting Team Mexico. It is a nice day and everyone enjoys the walk through downtown Seville, after lunch we head back to Alcala del Rio.
Wandering through downtown Seville.
*Side Note* One of the interesting things about this part of Spain is the timing. It is common to have breakfast around 11am, lunch around 3pm, a snack at 6-7pm and dinner close to 11pm. Couple this with a Siesta commonly held from 3-5/6pm where the locals eat lunch and close up shop makes for an interesting experience.
An Audi convention as seen through some of Seville’s ever present orange trees.
I took a double take at menu, Bull croquets have Bull Meat, what do the Grandmother croquets have…
I get to teach a class, this time working on Knife Defence, Hand Attacks and Ki Power. I wrap up the night with some Q & A and celebrate a successful week of the Chingu Festival. BSBN Jose adds the Australian flag to the wall of his Dojang to celebrate my visit and after the compulsory group photo we head for a late dinner. During dinner plans are made with SBN Hugo to include a visit to his Dojang during my World Tour in 2013, I am looking forward to my first trip to Mexico and spending some time with SBN Hugo’s excellent students.
The Aussie flag takes pride of place on the wall.
The final class group photo.
My last day here is a rest day with lunch at BSBN Jose’s parents’ house for some true home cooked Paella, in the afternoon we present the local children with their certificates and some small gifts. For dinner each group gets to cook some of their home country dishes, I side step having to do an Aussie one and get to enjoy the range of dishes cooked by the Mexican team. It seems there is some stress in the air as a lot of the local Spanish are planning a protest against the government the next day. Last time they did that it included stopping people from heading to the airport, so plans are put in place to drive to Madrid if there is a problem with the flight.
I couldn’t miss the chance for Authentic Spanish Churros and Chocolate. It was the only thing this little shop made and that bag was 1€ or about $1.30.
The Mexican feast as prepared by Team Mexico!
An early morning and we head out to the airport, it is early enough that we don’t see an protestors until we get to the airport where there is a small group chanting outside the airport, there are almost more police on hand there as well. The flight goes well and I get into Madrid where I have to recheck in for my next flight to Dubai. I see more of the protestors in Madrid airport but again they are only a smallish crowd chanting and blowing horns, etc. Team Mexico gets delayed as Iberia changes their flight; they now get to spend over 12 hours in Madrid airport, ouch. I say my good byes and grab my first of 4 Emirates flights this one to Dubai.
It might be hard to see, but there are only Iberian airlines planes here, about 40 in all.
Inside Madrid airport, this terminal is long.
Some of the Spanish protestors in the terminal.
Seville – Madrid - Dubai
FT – 51 Hours (Flight #15 & #16)
TT – 112 Hours
The view from my hotel across to the centre of Dubai.
The flight with Emirates is a smooth one and their inflight service is good, almost too much as they tended to check on an almost too regular basis if I wanted anything. The flight landed at 12:30am, Dubai airport has flights arriving and departing until 3am and apparently midnight is a busy time for arrivals. I get to the hotel at 2am and grab some much needed sleep. I have 1 day to take a look at Dubai and first up is a visit to the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. The Burj Khalifa has the Mall of Dubai as its base so I spend some time wandering around there as well.
Looking up the Burj from the base.
The man-made lake in front of the Mall of Dubai, as seen from the Burj observation deck.
Looking down at the huge roof of the Dubai Mall.
The Dubai skyline.
*Side Note* Burj Khalifa Facts: It is 828 metres tall, the next tallest building is the CN tower at 553 metres, it has the most floors of any building with 162 (the observation deck is on 124), it has the fastest elevators at 64 km/h (under a minute to get to the observation deck), it cost US$1.5 Billion to build and is twice the height of the Empire State Building.
The world’s highest open air observation deck, 124 floors.
Inside the Dubai Mall.
Doesn’t every Mall have an ice rink.
The Aquarium inside the Mall.
The same view from my Room at night.
A quick 1 day stop in Dubai and it is another early morning as I head back to Dubai airport for the short flight across to Kuwait. This flight is just under 2 hours so it is not quite enough time to get settled in or get any work done before the plane lands.
Dubai - Kuwait
FT – 52 Hours (Flight #17)
TT – 116 Hours
I arrive into Kuwait and there is a travel guide waiting to meet me at the gantry to the plane. Ralph arranged for assistance in getting through the Visa process that is part of entering Kuwait, from what I could see it entailed getting a ticket, collecting a form, filling in the form, buying some stamps for the form (not easy as you need Kuwait Dinar and there isn’t anywhere here to get any!) then attaching those stamps to the form and handing it all in, answering some questions and then getting the visa.. Luckily the guide does it all and then walks me straight past immigration to collect my bags. The Bags are then x-rayed as all bags are (they are looking for alcohol). After getting my bags back I head out to meet Ralph, a quick stop at the Bogan Bank (well it was Burgan) to exchange some money and we are on the road.
Anyone want to buy a used Mustang?
Some more used exotics, check out the office.
The Kuwait Towers.
One of the first things you notice about Kuwait is the sheer amount of expensive cars on the roads; Porsches seem as common as fords. The cars here are incredibly cheap when compared with what we pay. Apart from all the Euro cars, it seems that the local Kuwaitis favour American Muscle Cars with Mustangs, Camaros and Chargers very common. It seems that 1 in 10 cars are American muscle, and we swing by a roadside car yard, well it is a dirt lot with a bunch of cars for sale including 4 recent Mustangs. The Shelby 500 is around $35000 here and in Australia it would be closer to $170,000. I get the quick tour of Kuwait and the main road that runs along the coast could be confused with cruising along Miami or Venice beach with the many American fast food chains, palm trees and cars.
No it is not a Commodore, it is a Chevy Lumina here.
Popping a mono, a normal occurrence in Kuwaiti traffic.
Kuwait traffic is not as crazy as some other countries until you hit a roundabout, where it seems there are absolutely no rules apart from go fast and commit to a straight line, they call them circles of death here. Apparently Kuwait has the worst statistics for road deaths in the world, part of that has to be the amount of people racing and doing crazy things like popping a mono on their motorbikes. It is a really common thing and the Police ignore it.
That is a Mosque in the centre of a Roundabout, interesting to get to.
Water on the road, strange enough in Kuwait that people want a picture of it.
*Side Note* Kuwait is an oil rich country and every Kuwaiti (there are about 1.2 million) are given many different generous financial allowances from the government, that money allows them a lot of freedom without even having to get a job. The pastimes that are common are nice cars, dining out and shopping, so the country is full of expensive cars, many restaurants and lots of Malls. You have to remember that Kuwait is an Alcohol free country.
Now that is a Tea with a taste explosion.
It seems you can do everything here, even Dancing Karate!
I check in at my Hotel and dinner with Ralph at a nearby Armenian Islamic restaurant that serves Arabic food. It is a good meal and the weather is excellent, with around 20 degrees and no humidity. The first day I am on the mats with Ralph (Provisional Black Belt who visited us for a month recently) and Martin (a member of the Austrian Consulate who volunteered to help) working on White, Orange and Yellow Belt material. The plans are to work through all the colour belt material during the week and for Ralph to test for 1st Degree. Martin will be testing through some of the junior colour belt material. Lunch during the day is at a nearby Japanese restaurant (Japanese is very popular in Kuwait) and the food is very good.
Crossing = Death, got it.
Kuwait Towers @ night.
Over the next couple of days we work through the Green/Blue/Brown/Red belt material and start the Provisional Black Belt material. The plans are to wrap that up tomorrow and then give some time for more revision before testing. My feeling about my time so far in Kuwait is that it is a country with a lot of people who have large disposable incomes but little to do with it, so you see lots of crazy car driving, racing, motorbike tricks, etc. Also a lot of shopping for crazy items, watches for over $100k are common in the shops, and everyone eats out a lot. I am impressed overall with the food quality I have had and of course apart from one day when it rained (in the desert, go figure) the weather has been excellent.
One view of the Huge Kuwait oil refineries.
Another view of the Kuwait oil refineries.
It was time for testing and Ralph was put through his paces working towards earning his 1st Degree and Martin tested through White – Yellow belt material. I am happy to congratulate Martin on earning his Green Belt and for welcoming Ralph to the IHA Black Belt family as a 1st Degree.
Congratulations new 1st Degree & Green Belt.
The Kuwait training was sponsored by Deep Heat.
After the results now CGN Ralph decided that I should experience a local Kuwait style haircut, I had mentioned I needed one and I think this way he could get some revenge. Apparently it is the norm to add some waxing to the hair cut experience and there was a discussion between the barbers about making it hotter as I didn’t show any fear to the whole process. Let’s just say that I can tick off having an authentic Kuwait haircut, and possibly avoid doing it again, at least the wax up the nose.
No Grandmasters were harmed in taking this picture (or crazy Kuwaiti hairdressers either).
It is my last day in Kuwait, and as a bonus I work with Ralph and Martin on some Dan Bong and Cane techniques. They seem to enjoy the vast pain that comes with both these great self-defence weapons. After the training we head to a nearby restaurant called slider station known for its Mega burger, Ralph & Martin share the Red Dragon Burger; it is almost as big as Martin’s head. Needless to say they were unable to finish it and a chunk was taken home for later. During the day we also filled up one of the cars and the 73 litres ended up being 4.75 Kuwait Dinar or $16.25 so that works out to 22 cents a litre…
Anyone want some cheap fuel?
This is for those VVIPs, only in Kuwait.
Time for the Red Dragon burger challenge!
Just another Ferrari on the road, common like Hyundai’s
It has been a great first trip to Kuwait and with CGN Ralph at the helm I am looking forward to good things locally. There is a lot of potential for Kwan Nyom Hapkido in this area and I think that the future looks good. I head back to the hotel to wrap up this part of the trip report and order some delivered Japanese food that gets delayed due to the first driver crashing, well that’s not strange to here considering what the local traffic is like. The next morning is an early one as I head to the airport for the first of my 2 flights today, Kuwait to Dubai with a small layover before heading from Dubai to Madrid.
Kuwait – Dubai - Madrid
FT – 61.5 Hours (Flight #18 & #19)
TT – 130 Hours
I have a day free in Madrid to have a break. I take some time to walk around the nearby streets and visit the nearby Mayor Plaza as well as grab a nice lunch at a good restaurant. When on the road one of things you quickly have to deal with are lots of time issues with late nights, early mornings, time zone changes and flights. I had to grab a picture of my phone with the combination of time zone, time in the morning and amount of alerts received over one night. While I am grabbing some sleep on one part of my trip I am getting e-mails and other notes from the other IHA Dojangs around the world. The free day goes quickly and I am back up early to head to the airport for my second last flight of this tour. This time it’s the long haul from Madrid to Bangkok with a flying time of around 12 hours.
\Too early and too many notifications!
A photo from Madrid, taken in Plaza Mayor.
Madrid - Bangkok
FT – 73.5 Hours (Flight #20)
TT – 145 Hours
The flight goes smoothly and I arrive into Bangkok airport just after 5:30am, I head in to my hotel and get checked in just after 7:30, time for a couple of hours of sleep to take the edge off the flight. I have a couple of days free to unwind from the trip and to work on some plans for 2013 before heading home on Wednesday night, arriving into Sydney on Thursday morning. I expect to update the trip report one last time with the final flight timings and then the statistics. If I come across anything strange or worth writing about I will add that just before I leave Thailand! See you all soon.
Lunch on the 53rd floor. The Table can be seen in the bottom left of picture, you sit next to the window.
Bangkok - Sydney
FT – 82.5 Hours (Flight #20)
TT – 157 Hours
This concludes the European & Middle East Report.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Countries on the tour included: Thailand - Finland (Helsinki/Lapua/Nurmo) - Netherlands (Tilburg/Hoogvliet/Hellevoetsluis) - Scotland (Glasgow) - England (London) – Egypt – Spain (Barcelona/Seville/Madrid) – Dubai – Kuwait.
Still its one of those experiences that you have to try once at least, I would say that the Finnish Sauna and cold River Dip fits into that category for many of Team Australia at the Finnish ITS.