"Champions" in Andorra

A short travelogue of Sampo, Teemu and Petter's trip to Andorra to meet Master Mun Dong Kun (Kukkiwon 9th Dan).

The "champions" set off on Thursday, and on the way to Andorra they stopped first in Munich and then in Barcelona, where Spain's own product Seat Ateca became the passing game. We got there around eleven in the evening. The drive went comfortably, as the roads were quite empty at that time. On the other hand, we didn't see much of the scenery, when we were traveling in the dark. The champion was still greeted from the evening and it was agreed that we will start training on Friday at 11:00. Hotel Yomo Mola Park provided the refreshments. The hotel was really good and the breakfasts were better. The "masters" sincerely recommend.

Andorra is a pretty epic place for trampers, even in rainier weather.

The morning workout was a really good idea. We managed to get out of the jams of traveling on our own. In addition, we did movement sets with the master. In the evening, we continued with the master and the master's students, who became familiar with Zu-zu, Marius and Erika. The master's son Carlos also joined the training. At the end of the evening's training, we thanked ourselves when we had done the morning jumps carefully. In the training, we did - in the words of the master - "little pal-chagi". Loosely translated as "a few basic kicks", i.e. kick and punch series until exhaustion. Finally, shared meals with the master, Carlos and Marius, and at the end of the evening it was agreed that we would continue again at 11:00 the next day.

Sweat dripped from Petter onto the carpet.

In Saturday's morning training, the champion had a new gear in mind. The master kept the kick goals himself and made sure that the pace was sufficient. When it was over, the whole group was, in one word, "done". Petteri came up with a suggestion at the end of lunch that we start the evening workouts today at six, which suited everyone. Petter's idea was that if we start at six, we can finish at eight. It didn't quite go according to plan. At nine o'clock the master said that we shouldn't stop, that we should eat something.

Teemu had a slight oxygen deficiency.

On Sunday, we continued again at eleven, and through the repetitions, the movement sequences were memorized. The end result is that now we know all the movement sequences of the memory belts, or at least Petteri and Teemu do. On Sunday evening, having learned from the previous day, the training started just from the standstill. First we did the warm-ups and then we went through the movement series and finally the champion said "little pal-chagi", and even now the lack of oxygen was not avoided. On Sunday evening, the atmosphere could again be described with the word "very ready".

Master Mun put steak on the table so that the boys could sled.

A very nice surprise was that a very honest Finnish sauna was found in the master's gym and Carlos turned out to be a very enthusiastic sauna user. What's better than tiring yourself out in training first and then a sauna and a cold shower.

"Champions" on the rafts

On Monday, I traveled home and arrived in Helsinki shortly before midnight. The trip was very rewarding and the following plans were already started during the trip. More about them soon, so stay tuned. All we have to do is keep ourselves nimble and flexible.

We really trained a little, so that it didn't turn out to be tourism. Warm-up and stretching to go.

A very happy summer to everyone who read this far!

Petteri, Teemu and Sampo

Fact box:

• Master Don Kun Mun 9th dan
• Gimnasio Escaldes 1050m above sea level
• Taekwondo practice on the trip approx. 13h
• About 20 hours of travel in total
• Andorra has 80,275 inhabitants (200th largest country in the world