Our short trip to Malta was one of the karate highlights of the year. We were lucky enough to be familiar with Sensei Kawasoe's revelationary teaching, but we hadn't expected to be so generously looked after by Sensei Azzopardi and senior instructor Omar Azzopardi. The hospitality was never ending, with Omar taking us on a great night out in the hot-spot of Paceville on Saturday night... making training the next morning rather more 'challenging'. Omar also very kindly drove us everywhere, to and from training, and even back to the airport. This was just as well, as hiring a car could have been a disaster as we couldn't see anything resembling road signs! Malta is such a beautiful and unspoilt country, and somehow the lack of signs enhances this. We were kindly taken to dinner in the evenings, and are still talking about how delicious the fresh fish and seafood was - and how generous the portions were! Many thanks too to Lisette for the Saturday lunch in her restaurant in Marsaxlokk - the pastizzi are now legendary!

The sports centre and dojo were extremely high quality, the latter having a superb sprung wooden floor. The discipline and attitude of the students was exemplary, and even the spectators were silent and respectful during all of the classes - we were left with the impression that Sensei Azzopardi certainly runs a focused, traditional dojo.

We would like to thank Sensei Azzopardi, Omar and the whole club for being so welcoming to us, and giving us a weekend to remember, and we hope to be able to try and return the hospitality soon.

Oss!

Paddy Morrison, Timothy Ong, Matt and Ryan

(students of Kawasoe's Honbu Dojo in london)