Hello MAP. 30+year veteran of the martial arts but for the last 14 I've been exclusively practicing Pencak Silat. Instructor of Cimande (from two different lineages) and recently graduated as an instructor in Silek Tuo in Sumatera Barat. (what an experience that was! ) Frequent traveler back to the source, and i have been to and trained in Japan, China, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia in various different martial arts many many times. Just moved to Orlando in Florida.
Sounds like you've managed to squeeze in a fair amount of authentic 'source' training over the years... ...Careful though, as I understand that there is a real Mickey Mouse organisation operating here! :banana: Welcome to MAP
Jaydub, In Sarawak and in Penang at different times, but in all honesty i'm an Indonesian stylist, not a Malaysian one.
Jaydub, generally no they don't, even if they let you through the front door you are highly unlikely to see much of their system unless its a belt factory or some other very commercial operation. All of my training in south east asia has been in Kampong sasaran/padepokan and in all cases i needed a local introduction so it wasnt easy. The difference in quality of the Silek/Silat compared to the commercial operations is remarkable. hope that helps (at least in an informative way)
DSilat, Thank you for the info. Perhaps not the answer I was hoping for, but quite helpful nonetheless. I've had a little limited exposure to Silat at a couple seminars when I trained in JKD. I found it to be a very fascinating art. Maybe another opportunity will come my way again some day.
Welcome DSilat..... I'm a student from Jim Ingram and his son Raymond Ingram. Always fun to have fellow practitioners here.