Blogs
Russian House in the Philippines It has been a lot harder to find time or energy to write about this camp, i was distracted toward the end of the camp and the early part of 2019. Most of this was written on the plane on the way home, and then, sadly, it just got put
Kali Mundo SSBD Seminar… and visit. This was a very special experience. Last year I met Kit Acenas and Valerie Drckxsns at Russia House in the Philippines. Our mutual friend Philip Gelinas had mentioned to both of us, that, we would discover upon meeting, good people that we could get along with. Philip
Last Saturday we were extremely fortunate to be invited to a meeting between GM Reynaldo “Doy” Baldemor and GM Macapagal. There were many formalities to be observed and understood. These men come from a time where being polite, hospitable and considerate is paramount. GM Doy lives in a small yet famous town called Paete. It
JP Jonathan Pang has always been a bit of an enigma for me. When he arrived in my training life, he was already an accomplished martial artist. He had a lot of youthful ideas, ideals and questions about life and martial arts too. It was not clear to me at first wether Jonathan would
I’ve been in the Philippines now for a few short days. I have been hot and uncomfortable, I have become stiff and sore and I am very very happy about it. I didn’t know it, more than a year ago, when I was looking into attending Russia House in the Philippines, that I would find
The last two days of the Brunei International Intensive Training Camp focused on the art of Cakak. A highly stylized and somewhat ritual form of Silat, specific to Brunei, Cakak promotes technical exploration of the many potential refrences that can occur in silat fighting. I think anyone who is truly interested in the culture of
Three more days have passed and we have had some amazing training to show for it. Our mornings start at around 7am when we get up to find breakfast around the hotel. There are several options but i keep going back to the local spot for a traditional breakfast, Roti Telur, basically egg roti with
It would be an oversight to say that there was no training for the past two days, I feel that on this trip that the activities of this time were very significant to our understanding of Bruneian Martial Arts. The group packed up and traveled to the water village where we had an hour to
There are several reasons I prioritize training opportunities with Maul Mornie. First is the thing that drew me to SSBD silat in the first place. The movement, crisp and clean, with dramatic affect and undeniable precision. The reason I keep coming back is that the man has excellent character and it shines through
This evening we went in two busses to visit the home of the president (in yellow) of Bruni Silat Cakak, the offical martial art of Brunei. As it was the last time I was here, this was a general introduction to the art and a welcome to the participants of this year’s camp. The introduction