Friday 21 December 2012

Stepping into North Korea.

Last month we completed, by far, the most intense tour either of us have ever experienced. We were lucky enough to take a trip to the Demilitarized zone (DMZ) of South and North Korea.
This is the border of the two Koreas and unlike the name suggests this is one of the most militarised places in the world!

As most of you know, North and South Korea have technically been at war with each other since 1950. No agreement was made and tensions are still strong on either end. The tour that we went on began quite early. We drove from Seoul towards the border. I immediately noticed that once we were out of the main city area there were high wire fences with spikes on top around the rivers. There were watch towers spaced frequently along the fences. It felt so different from where we were 20 minutes before. The closer we got to the DMZ the more sparse the area got. We arrived at our first army check point.

The DMZ area itself is about 4km long (2km in South Korea and 2km in North Korea) But there is another 5km on the South side that is heavily guarded and there is also a ban on anybody living in this area (bar one village that I'll talk about later).

Our tour began in Panmunjeom at the Joint Security area. This is where North and South meet and where most buildings on the line are.  Like the rest of the DMZ it is very heavily guarded and before entering the area you must sign a declaration saying that if you die, it is not their fault! After a briefing from an American solider we made our way closer to the line on a bus driven by a South Korean solider. From here we got our first glimpse of North Korea (well their flag)

Before arriving at the JSA we first passed one of the two villages that exist within the DMZ. Tae Sung dong (freedom village) is a South Korean village that is just about one mile from the border. To live there you must have been living there prior to the Korean war or be of direct ancestry to someone that lived there. In exchange for living in one of the most hostile areas in the world, the South Korean government gives the residents lots of land to grow rice. The town is guarded 24 hours a day and when the farmers tend to their crops they are also guarded. There is a curfew on the town, so at sunrise everyone must be indoors. But because they are located on the DMZ they are technically not in South Korea so they don't have to pay taxes and get paid a relatively high income.

North Korea then decided to have their own version of the freedom village and built a bigger more extravagant village on their side of the DMZ. But of course, North Korea being North Korea, nobody lives there. They pretend that people do, but the windows are painted onto the walls of the buildings and there are no floors in the buildings. But they do have one of the largest flags in the world flying. South Korea built a big flagpost so they had to go one bigger.

 In the distance you can see the giant North Korean flag
 Another view of the North Korean "village" on the border

Once at the JSA we got to go to the border. There were about 7 or 8 South Korean guards guarding the border for our protection, but only one North Korean who was standing quite far away. We visited the buildings where peace talks between the North and South happen and got to cross over the border into North Korea. (literally step into the North)





From here we went to a point where we were surrounded by North Korea on three sides. We got to have a closer view of Kijong-dong (North Korean town) and of the mine infested border. For somewhere so dangerous and volitile, it was really beautiful. There were so many birds peacefully in the sky away from humans and North Korea looked so rugged and beautiful. We also got to see the bridge of no return. This is the bridge that crosses the line and where both sides exchanged prisoners.

 You might notice that there are no trees in the mountains, all of the mountains on the Norths side were bare due to the famine.
 The bridge of no return. This is where many lives were exchanged after the war.

After the intensity of the JSA we drove to the Dora observatory. This is on a mountain on the South Korean side, they have telescopes that you can look into to get a closer look at North Korea. There is a city right near the border where South Korean companies manufacture goods in the North, thus giving jobs to North Korea. It was interesting to see this city and the cars driving around...even if it was just through the scope.

The next stop on our tour was the third infiltration tunnel. During the 70's the South Koreans found four different tunnels that the North had built as a way to attack the South. When these tunnels were found the North gave the pathetic excuse that they were mining for coal and actually painted the walls of the tunnels with coal. There is no coal found anywhere in this area!

 You aren't actually allowed to taae photos...so these couple of sneaky one's are all that we have!




We got to walk down the tunnel, it was quite small and cramped, quite interesting to see it though and the coal was still on the walls!

Our final stop of the day was to the Dorasan train station. This is the train station at the border. It's the last station in the South. If the Koreas ever reunify then you could travel all the way from Busan to Portugal or England by train! Maybe someday this will happen...but for now this is a beautiful new train station that is never used.


 Next stop Pyeongyang!

 I don't know if you can read it, but it says "not the last station from the South, but the first station towards the North"
 A beautiful new building that is ready to be used...someday


The DMZ tour was such a great tour. It really brings it home to you that you really are living in a country that is still at war and that anything could happen at any time. I hope someday that the people of the north can be freed of their agony and poverty, but unfortunately I don't think that day will happen for a long time.

*I have just finished reading Escape From Camp 14. It's a great book about the only known person born in a North Korean prison camp to have escaped. I would definitely recommend it to read.

Thanks for reading everybody, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas,
love Grainne, Jason and Willy




Wednesday 28 November 2012

I think I'm turning Japanese!

I'm sorry this has taken so long, I started writing it just after we got back from Japan but life got in the way and I couldn't finish. So here it is...

We are back from our amazing 4 day trip to Japan. I don't think I can do Japan justice for it's awesomeness in this blog...but I'll try my best!

I didn't get too excited before going to Japan, we had a very busy month before and didn't have much time to get excited and I also just presumed that Japan would be very similar to Korea...how wrong I was.

I noticed the differences between Korea and Japan almost immediately after stepping off of the plane. Firstly there weren't many high-rise apartments. In Korea, we are so used to seeing high-rise everywhere, in fact our apartment building has 15 floors and that is the normal height here. There are few houses and the few that have survived are usually deep in the countryside. Japan on the otherhand is full of houses, both traditional styles and modern styles. Another difference, a breath of fresh air actually, is that the Japanese are very orderly! Even at the subway stations there are queues for each door and nobody skips. My friends here in Korea will know that it's somewhat different here...in fact not getting injured while trying to get on the subway is considered a success! The major downfall of Japan was the cost. I knew it would be expensive, everybody told me so, but it still shocked me just how expensive food was compared to Korea.

On our first day we travelled to Kyoto. Kyoto used to be the capital of Japan a long long time ago, because of this there are temples and old architecture located all over the city. It is the main city to visit to discover "old" Japan. We stayed in the Khaosan Kyoto Guest House.
It was a great hostel, here is the link to it's page on hostelworld:

http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Khaosan-Kyoto-Guest-House/Kyoto/45698?source=adwordskyotonames&kid=701179&aid=2&gclid=CJaN4fDO8LICFU9V4godVWQAag

We were lucky with where we stayed because it was right in the centre of everything. We had bus stops/ subway stops/ shopping and temples all nearby. On our first day we decided to go and visit a bamboo forest. We had heard that Arashiyama was a nice place to go to so we set off. When we got off of the train we couldn't believe where we were! We were in the countryside with a gorgeous river nearby and lots of beautiful shops and temples everywhere. It was the nicest surprise. We found the bamboo forest and it was really cool, unfortunately our canon lens broke before coming to Japan so we just had my point and shoot which is fine, but terrible for photos in the evening/night. So our photos really don't do this place justice.

That night we went to a huge shopping area looking for a place to get a drink. We saw a place and decided to wander in, and I'm so glad we did! It was a basement bar with a waterfall and very traditional setting. We ordered some duck and it was by far the most amazing duck I've ever had in my life!

The next day a massive typhoon decided to hit Tokyo, even though we were quite far away from it it was still lashing raining in Kyoto. Since this was our last day and we really wanted to see the golden temple we set off in the rain. I'm so glad that we went because it really is a sight worth seeing. The whole temple is gold plated and no matter what the weather is like it looks amazing. We found a little place to drink some green tea and take in the beautiful location...all the while talking about how lucky we are that we get to do this.

When we got back we went to a small ramyeon place down an alleyway. As with the duck, it was unbelievably good! (expensive but good) It had noodles, a lot of pork, a gravy like sauce and a soft boiled egg among other things in it...I'm still dreaming about it!

During the evening we took a stroll around Gion. This is known as the Geisha district of Kyoto. Geishas still roam the streets here and if you are lucky you can spot them. Unfortunately we didn't spot any but it was a great area to just stroll around anyway. All of the buildings were traditional and we were the only 2 people wandering down these little alleyways.

Afterwards we found a sushi place (you can't go to Japan and not have sushi) and we ordered some sushi and sake. I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of Sake, but it is much nicer when it's served hot and sipped. (not shots like these 2 morons were doing for a while!)

The next day was time to leave Kyoto and discover Osaka. I was a bit apprehensive leaving Kyoto because it was such a wonderful place and we knew that Osaka was a big city. Luckily we were staying right in the centre of Osaka, right down the street from Dotonbori. Dotonbori is a famous area that is full of restaurants and over the top advertising...if you want to see the bright lights of Osaka you come here!

Once again we proved lucky with our guesthouse. It was quite cheap and only a 1 minute walk from the subway station. We were met by a really nice Nepali guy who works/runs the hostel. While we were waiting fro our room to be ready we chatted to him about our plans to go to Nepal and what it's like to live in Japan. His wife got pregnant so he had to move to Japan to make money and send home to his family. His daughter is 2 years old now and he has never seen her. It really makes you realise how lucky we are just because of where we were born!

We were very pleasantly surprised with our room. Usually rooms in Japan are TINY! But this room had 2 double beds, a couch, a big widescreen tv and ceiling to floor windows, it's quite new as well. Here is the website:

http://www.la-kongo.com/en/

After we were settled in we went in seach of Osaka castle. This is a beautiful castle that is right in the middle of Osaka. It has a wonderful park all around it. We made the mistake of paying to go inside the castle...instead of finding an old castle we found that they had completely refurbished the inside to make it into a modern museum, the only good thing was the view from the top.

The guest house also had a Nepali restaurant and even though we were in Japan the smell from the restaurant was too good to resist and we were both intrigued as to what Nepali food was like so we ate there, and were not disappointed! I think it made us both even more excited to go to Nepal next year.

That evening was spent walking around Dotonbori and taking in the sights. The next day we set off for the pier area of Osaka. This is a very touristy area that has a massive aquarium and The worlds biggest ferris wheel (during the years'97-99). The ferris wheel was cool, we got to see just how big Osaka is and the sky was very clear for us. The aquarium was also great, it had dolphins, seals, penguins and a whale shark! Of course no visit to Japan would be complete without a visit to a games arcarde. These places are just downright crazy! Lights colours and noise everywhere! So much fun!


Overall we had a great time in Japan. It really is a country with no comparisons. I was surprised that we both experienced a little bit of culture shock in a country that was only an hours flight from where we live. But it really is so different from it's neighbours. I would definately reccommend for all of you to visit Japan at least once in your lifetime!

Note: Sorry, I have been waiting to publish this with my photos, but I lost my wire for my camera and then tried putting the memory card into Jasons sd slot in his computer and it's now stuck...when we get this sorted out I'll post some photos for you!

Friday 28 September 2012

Jeju Island

As I said in my last post, last weekend was our 2nd anniversary and as a surprise Jason organised a weekend away for us. I had no idea where we were going, I was just told to meet him at the lightrail station after work and that I had to be on time.

So after work, I went straight to the station and we were on our way. Stop after stop passed and we were still on the lightrail. Next, we stopped at the airport stop, we sat while the doors opened and at the last second Jason jumped up and said "this is our stop". It was so exciting, from that point I knew that we were on our way to Jeju.

Jeju is a volcanic island just south of Korea, it is also known as "honeymoon island" as this is where most Koreans go on their honeymoon. It is supposedly not like any other part of Korea. Many Koreans compare it to Hawaii...we didn't get to see Hawaii that weekend but it was still fun!

Our flight arrived at about 6pm and the directions for our hostel told us to get a bus there. We found the right bus number and asked the driver if it was going to the 시 청. He said no, but we just presumed he misunderstood us and got on anyway (this happens a lot in Korea), the directions DID say this was the bus afterall. The bus driver was right...we went in the complete opposite direction, a journey that took us 10 minutes on the way back on Sunday took us an hour and half that evening!! We had to get the bus to the furthest point possible, just to turn around get it back to the airport and THEN get it to our hostel area. As you can imagine we weren't the happiest of people that evening!

But things turned around when we arrived at our hostel. We stayed at a nice little hostel called Jeju backpackers in Jeju. It cost about 100,000w for a private room for 2 nights between us and we had a private bathroom. The best part of this hostel was that it had breakfast included, the owners made homemade bread, yoghurt and jam. It was delicious! And things got even better when we realised there was a mexican restaurant just around the corner from us!

The next day we rented a taxi for the day. It was expensive (130,000w) but neither of us had an international drivers licence and we couldn't rent any cars/bikes without it, so if we wanted to see any bit of the island this was our only option. Our taxi driver was great, we gave him a list of all of the places we wanted to see and for the next 8 hours he would drive us to each place and tell us a bit about it. He also brought us to this amazing seafood restaurant for lunch, we had the nicest seafood stew. It had crab, squid, abalone and lots of other shellfish in it. It was probably the best seafood I've had in Korea so far.




Anyway, back to our day in Jeju (food seems to sidetrack my thoughts quite often), we started the day with a trip to loveland. Loveland really needs to be seen to be believed. It is basically an indoor and outdoor "museum" all about sex, it has graphic sculptures all along the walkway and then once you get into the museum it has every type of sextoy imaginable. To say that we were shocked is an understatement, as Koreans are normally very reserved this is the last place you could imagine seeing here! But it was a lot of fun and we knew we would probably never see anything like this again! We got our friends back in Gimhae some lovely ,ahem, memoribila. My favourite part of the place was at the entrance, there were some toilets and to get into these toilets you had to pull a very questionable handle (I'll leave it to your imagination...this is a family blog afterall) Once inside the toilet, the first cubicle had a peephole to look through to which you see some cartoon images.
(the photo's below are a bit crude so if you don't want to look just skip ahead!)








So after leaving Loveland our next destination was the Manjanggul cave. This is a cave that was formed from lava, it's really cool to walk through and see all of the dried lava that is still there and at the end of the cave is the largest lava stalactite in the world. We went for lunch after this and as I said above it was an amazing seafood stew. The next stop on our list was Sunrise peak. This is a volcanic crater and got it's name because it's the first place in Jeju where the sun rises each morning, it was a steep climb to the top but not as bad as we first imagined, before the climb we went down to a beach to see the "famed" female divers of Jeju. It was a massive tourist trap with tons of Koreans taking millions of photos so we didn't stay there too long. The top of the peak was nice, but I think you really do have to see it from the air to get the full effect, it just turns into a flat area that is covered in grass. It started raining a little on our way down from the hike and to our surprise we met our driver on the way. He had hiked up just to bring us some umbrellas! It was such a nice gesture.
 The many tourists trying to get photos of the divers.


                                                    Us on top of Sunrise Peak.



We spent the rest of the day going to a trick art museum and miniland which were both fun, but we were wrecked by the time 6:30 came. After such a long day we decided to go hunting for a black pig restaurant (another thing Jeju is famous for) We found a great little spot, and the pork was great!




                                        Us getting our photo with the mini Trevi fountain

We probably picked the worst time to go to Jeju, as there was a huge typhoon on the way, which hit the Monday after we left. Because of this the weather was very overcast and we had torrential rain on Saturday night, which meant that we didn't get to see the  natural beauty of Jeju which everybody raves about (the beaches and waterfalls are supposed to be beautiful). But we still had a great time, and came home to 2 dogs instead of 1...but that's for the next blog ;)















Wednesday 19 September 2012

Our story so far...

So here it is, our first ever blog!
We decided to write this blog because over the last 3 years we have been to some awe-inspiring places and done incredible things, but although we have documented it with photos (...and lots of them) we have never really written about our experiences.
We are about to embark on a new life in March and thought it would be great for both our families and friends to share not only our photos but also the stories that go along with those photos. We are also doing this for us, so that we have something to remind us of the great times :) We have just under 6 months left, still enough time to have plenty more adventures here in Korea.
This is Grainne writing right now and I just wanted our first blog to explain a little about our lives, past, current and future.  

Soon we will be leaving Korea, which will have been our wonderful home for about 3 years. I have so many mixed feelings about this significant change in our lives, excited for what lies ahead, sad for what we leave behind, both all of the places, people and things that remind me of us meeting and the beginning of our relationship here and of course Willy the wonderful dog that we have been fostering, not to mention the great friends we have made along the way.

What a great ride it has been, there have been tough times, lonely times, exciting times, frustrating times, happy times, sad times and exhillirating times but no matter what having somebody that loves you standing at your side throughout it all makes life in Korea much easier. This weekend we will be celebrating our 2 year anniversary and what a great 2 years it has been. I don't know how or where we will be celebrating it as Jason is keeping tightlipped about it but I have no doubt that it will be a great weekend!

Right now, I'm trying to keep myself busy with planning and organising our travels after Korea. I know that if I don't keep busy I will be a whimpering mess as the day is slowly approaching when I have to say goodbye forever to my sweet little Willy. He has been my life for the last 7 months, he has dictated how I live my life, where I go, what I do and who I see. But I've never been happier just looking into his little face and knowing that we've helped him, if only by making him a more adoptable dog. Of course he has helped me too, by forcing me to learn what responsibility is and showing me that I can do something if I put my mind to it, no matter how hard it may seem (It was a very hard first 3 months!) I don't know how I'll be able to say goodbye, I wish with all of my heart that we could keep him, but both myself and Jason have discussed this possibility a million times and cannot think of a way that would be fair to him or us. But saying that, we have hopefully found him his forever home and know that whatever happens he will always be loved and well looked after.

Anyway, enough of Debbie Downer (a nickname I have picked up here in Korea for my tendencey to find a way to bring even the most upbeat conversation down with a sad story or 2) We have a lot of exciting things coming up in the next couple of weeks, we will be going to Namhae on a day trip with all of the foreigners in Gimhae Public schools (no school for a day!!) and during Chuseok (Korean thanksgiving) Myself and Jason have a trip to Japan planned. All of which we will keep you updated with.

I hope you enjoyed this first blog and I look forward to writing many more (with Jason) I promise we'll put more photo's into the next entry. :)