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Finally – a little write up about our trip to the IFMA World Championships.
We left Adelaide on the 31st of August 2012 heading to Bangkok for a couple of days to break up the trip to Saint Petersburg. On arrival in Bangkok, we were met by my brother Nung. Got on a Taxi and headed for Salaya where Laura will be staying and training at Kiatphontip for a couple of days. The trip took a lot longer than expected due to road works and the fact it was Friday night. Dropped Laura off at the hotel near the gym. She was too tired after so she went to bed while my brother and I headed off to have some food. Met up with Bao and Yod from Kiatphontip while we were looking for a place to eat. After that we headed off to our hotel in Bangkok for a good night sleep.
Laura trained the next morning and evening. On Sunday she had a private training session with Bao before coming out to Bangkok to meet up with my brother and I. We went out shopping for some stuff in the afternoon and ate some food (like we always do in Bangkok). Then we headed to the airport for our trip to Saint Petersburg.
The first leg was uneventful. We arrived at Abu Dhabi airport after a 6 hour flight. It was too early in the morning for us to notice anything so we headed off to a coffee shop in the airport. Checked facebook and emails, had the largest cup of coffee and biggest piece of carrot cake ever. A couple of hours later we boarded our next flight to Moscow.
Again an uneventful flight to Moscow. By this time we were both quite tired as we haven’t had any sleep at all. Got to immigration and the fun begins. I got through without issues but Laura was left standing in front of the immigration for what seems like hours after handing her passport to the officer. Finally Laura asked the officer what the issue was and was told that her birthdate listed in her entry visa was incorrect. A few minutes later another immigration officer came and took Laura away. I started to panic a bit but gathered my senses together and went off looking for our luggage. Finally found our luggage and went back to the immigration area. Tried to get some help but was met with some typical Russian “speak to the hand” attitude. What a relieve when Laura finally appeared.
We wasted over an hour so we rushed off to the domestic departures area to check in for our final leg to Saint Petersburg. We were shocked to find out that we had no seats allocated to us on our “confirmed” flight. After some difficult negotiations, which was difficult as they spoke no English, we got on another flight.
We arrived at Saint Petersburg at about 11.30pm. We started the journey from Bangkok at 2.50am. Taking into account time difference we had been travelling for 17 hours with no sleep. I don’t know about Laura but I crashed as soon as I hit the bed at our hotel in Saint Petersburg.
To cut a long story short, we had a busy time at the Championships. We met the rest of the Australian team the next day. What a bunch of great people and we had some fun times. On a personal note, although I find the Russian people quite difficult to deal with, I had a great time. It was an experience and I got to meet some very nice people especially the younger Russians who were friendly and wanted to talk a lot. The whole Aussie team did their best in competition and supported each other well. We won 2 silvers and 1 bronze which is a great achievement considering that most of the competitors of other nations are more experience in this type of competitions. Laura won her first fight against a Finland girl but subsequently lost her second fight against a Belarus fighter. I can’t speak for Laura but I am sure it was a great experience for her.
Thanks to FUMTC and supporters of FUMTC, this trip was made possible by their generous donations. Looking forward to the next World Championship which will be held in Malaysia in 2014.
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