2014 The Best Parts

2014 was a great year for myself and Jason! Here are a few of the memories that stick out in my head:

We got to go to Ireland twice in one year! 

This was so wonderful for me. Since we'll be moving to America next year I know that I won't be able to visit my family as often as I have while in Korea. The first trip was taken a couple of days after Christmas and happened because my sister won a free return flight to Ireland for me in a competition! Myself and Jason were just newly engaged (on Christmas day last year) and kept it a secret until we arrived in to Cork airport. It was so nice to be home in Ireland during the winter (although I forgot how dark it gets) and we spent our entire time drinking champagne and celebrating with the people that I love most!

I got to bring my nieces and nephews to the panto.

I love Ireland so much!

We got a car and were able to take some fun road trips.

Right before Willys surgeries we realised that we would need a car since the surgeon was located in Haeundae in Busan which is about an hour and a half away from us. Having the car allowed us the freedom to take trips and not worry about if Willy will be allowed on the bus or having to find a sitter for him. Now he gets to come on all of our adventures with us! 

Jason and Willy on one of our adventures!

The beauty! As you can see Willy loves
to chill in it.

Our puppy had a surgery to help him take adventures again.

When we rescued Willy his front paws turned inwards. This didn't cause him any pain in the beginning but we gradually started to notice that he couldn't walk for long distances. It got to its worst point when I brought him for a hike and he just layed down after about 15 minutes and couldn't go on. Since then we found a specialist orthopedic surgeon who managed to remove Willys joints completely (they were what was causing the problem) and replace them with some of his stem cells, cow bone and blood. Amazingly his body grew new bones where his joints were and he can now do everything that every other dog can do.

This was Willy in the vets office after his second surgery.

His first walk after being stuck in doors for about 6 months!

We got married!

What can I say, it was an incredible day and a day that we won't forget for a long time to come. To read about our wedding day click here! 

Happy, happy, happy!

We signed our last contracts in Korea.

In September we signed our final contracts in Korea (we hope!) So that means that as of the end of August our time here in Korea will come to an end. We are both excited about what new adventures America will have in store for us.

We became debt free.

This actually only happened at the beginning of December. It was such a great feeling to pay off our final debt and know that when we move to America, whatever money we have will be ours! I cut up my Irish credit card also. We have both learned to live modestly while here in Korea and are hoping to bring that lifestyle with us to America. Which means no more loans unless it's for a house!

We bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate becoming debt free.

I hope you all had a great 2014 and an even better 2015! Merry Christmas everyone!

I got to see this lovely lady twice in one year!

Willy is back to hiking like a pro!

Just after arriving in Ireland and surprising
my family with our engagement!

Beautiful Baenaegol

Last weekend our friend Derek invited us on a little road trip around Yangsang countryside with him and his girlfriend. With the weather being so beautiful we could hardly refuse. So we set off for an eye-opening day.

The drive to Yangsan itself was quite frustrating as we were stuck in traffic on the highway...not the best way to spend a Saturday. But once we met up with Derek we quickly got off of the busy roads and in to the countryside. I have to say that this area was probably the most beautiful area that I've been to in Korea!

Our first stop was at Gayajinsa which is a beautiful temple area along the Nakdong river. There were quite a few people cycling on the beautiful bicycle path along the river there. We went to meet Dereks two friends who had found a beautiful secluded little sandy beach area along the river. We spent some time just relaxing there and chatting before moving on to our next spot.

The beautiful Nakdong river.

Myself and Jason enjoying the beautiful sun!

Amy testing out the traditional swing at Gayajin

After leaving the beautiful riverside behind it was time to head to Baenaegol. Baenaegol is a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains on either side. It is filled with apple orchards, temples and pensions (Korean B&B's) It's a hugely popular place for Koreans to go during the summertime as it stays a bit cooler there than in other place in Korea and well it's absolutely beautiful there!

We had to drive over some beautiful mountain passes there and myself and Jason were both in awe at how beautiful the area was and how we had never even known about it before today!
After driving for a while we decided to stop off for lunch at a small family owned restaurant. We ordered some Samgyetang (Korean chicken soup). We were told that it would take about an hour to prepare but luckily for us they were situated right on a beautiful river so we were able to relax on the river bank while waiting.
It was the perfect day!

The river beside the restaurant

Jason and Willy walking along the beautiful river

Derek and Amy

A man and his dog.

I'm so lucky to have married him!

Me and Wil...

We enjoyed the peacefulness of Baenaegol so much that we decided to try and book in to a Pension next March with some friends to celebrate Jason's 30th. So without a doubt we'll definitely be back to this little slice of Korean heaven!

Enjoying the sunshine.

We got to witness this beautiful sunset on our way home.

Korean road trip!

Buddhas on our road trip.

A couple of weeks ago we were lucky enough to have a 4 day weekend here in Korea as the Monday was Childrens day and the Tuesday was Buddhas birthday. Also the Thursday before was a day off too because it was Labour day. That Thursday myself, Jason and our friend Ian went in to Busan to make a Costco trip. Costco is this amazing American wholesale store that sells many foreign products that you can't find anywhere else in Korea. We stocked up for the road trip that we'd be taking for the long weekend.

We didn't really have any plan as to where to go, all we knew was that we would drive up along the East coast, find a nice beach and set up camp. We had decided to wait until Sunday because no doubt the roads would be crazy busy on the Saturday. We were right, they were crazy busy, but they weren't much better on Sunday either. We ended up in a huge traffic jam all the way up to Ulsan. From Ulsan we decided to take the coastal route and look out for some nice beaches. I have to admit that we were a bit disappointed at the beginning. Every beach that we saw was littered and if they weren't littered then there were a ton of people already camping there...not our idea of fun camping!

Myself and Willy in the car. (Willy's not a fan of selfies)

We had been driving for about three hours when we finally came across a beach that looked quite nice. We got out for a closer look and found that it didn't have too much litter on it and there were only about 6 or 7 other tents pitched on it.

The beach that we chose.

We unloaded our stuff and set our tent up away from the other campers. Also I must add that Willy was with us too. This was only his second time on a beach and would be his first time camping! After we were all set up we decided to take a walk along the beach.

Jason preparing the campsite.

All done! (Willy's chilling in the background)

Taking a walk.

The beach. (maybe Najeong beach…near Gampo anyway)

Jason skimming stones, Willy scavenging for food.

Once we got back we cooked some dinner and were having a nice relaxing time when all of a sudden a huge family comes along and props their tent up right next to us! We were quite pissed about this as they were really loud, so made the decision to pick up and move everything to a spot further down the beach away from everyone else...best decision ever! We spent the rest of the evening just relaxing and drinking some beer (Jason) and cider (me).

Jason cooking burgers.

There were a few patrols along the beach while we were there.

Getting settled in.

Later in the night it started getting windy so we decided to get in to the tent. Willy was a little scared at this point as the wind was blowing our tent and there were people up along the beach setting off fireworks but he managed to get in to my sleeping bag and cuddle up with my feet and was content staying there for the night.

Willy and Jason in the tent, Willy was a little scared at this point.

Before he found the loveliness of the inside of my sleeping bag.

After a restless sleep we woke up at about 6am. I opened the tent to let Willy out to do his business. It was so nice being able to trust him off leash. A year ago we could never have done that but now he knows to never go too far from us.

Willy on the beach bright and early.

Unfortunately that morning the wind was still pretty bad and started blowing our tent down completely, and broke one of the rods in the process. We were tired and frustrated at this point so we packed everything up and put it back in the car, then bought some snacks and enjoyed some alcoholic beverages on the beach at about 9am.

We then decided to make the trip back home stopping for some delicious duck and some photos at a beautiful temple along the way.

The beautiful temple near the beach that we stayed at.

It also had this huge gold Buddha statue.

It was an amazing weekend and definitely one to remember! We are already planning our next camping trip :)

The epic drive from Leh to Manali.

This journey is something that I've read about many times before doing it. If you ever google the top ten drives in the world this is usually up there. The thing that makes it exciting is that the road between these two places is closed for about 9 months of the year because it's completely covered in snow. It is only open during the summer months so it suited us perfectly. We knew that it would be tough ride but also one to remember. It's a crazy road that passes over numerous mountain passes one higher than the next. Luckily for us we choose to drive back to Manali instead of driving to Leh as people can get pretty bad altitude sickness while climbing the high mountains getting to Leh. I think our time in Nepal helped us out a lot too.

Anyway this drive goes through the Himalayas and is truely beautiful. We left our guesthouse at about 10 p.m. to meet what we though was a jeep. Unfortunately the jeep got cancelled and we ended up having to drive in a minibus with a very obnoxious couple in front of us that insisted on pushing their seats fully back which left us with NO space whatsoever. I'm not going to lie, I plotted their deaths a couple of times during the trip. As we began in the dark we didn't really see much for the first couple of hours, this was when we were driving over the mountain passes. I also didn't get much sleep that night so I got to witness the sun rise. By the time the sun rose we were driving along vast open areas with a couple of yurts here and there. We stopped at one for breakfast and got to take in the views and then were off again (I was way too tired to take photos unfortunately).

After another while the scenery turned to a very desert landscape with beautiful rock formations and sand cliffs. Unfortunately I couldn't get many photos from this raod trip so my memories are all that will suffice. After another while we began to go into vast green spaces with fields everywhere. This was where we stopped for dinner and once again were off. As the sun was setting we climbed another mountain and were on the final frontier towards Manali. The other side of this mountain pass is where many Indian tourists go to for a day trip and it's where many of them get to see snow for the first time. While driving there we got to witness a few familys having snow ball fights. The way down from that mountian pass was astoundingly beautiful. The sun was setting and we were above the clouds so got to see the beautiful mountains lower down completely covered in clouds.

Further down again we were getting closer and closer to Manali and the scenery changed again, this time to beautiful greenery and forests. Soon it got dark and we had been going for about 24 hours we were all exhausted and dying to get to Manali when the unthinkable happened...the bus broke down! We had two options, either wait for god knows how long for someone to come and help or drive with no brakes, we decided on the latter as long as we drove pretty slow (this guy had been driving so fast throughout the entire trip)

Everything worked out in the end and we managed to make it to Manali in one piece, although the traffic coming in was absolutely crazy that we ended up having to sit in it for about an hour...absolutely torture!
Once the bus stopped it was about midnight and we had no place booked, we were absolutely shattered and all we could think about was jumping in to a bed...any bed!

We left in search for a place to stay with a Korean girl that had been on the bus with us. After searching for quite a while we realised that nearly everywhere was fully booked. Our taxi driver said his uncle had a guesthouse that we could stay in, we had mixed feelings about this but didn't really have a choice so decided to go with him. He parked the tuk-tuk on a road and made us follw him down a really dodgy alley (during the daytime it turned out to be a wonderful alley...but not now!)

We reached his uncles place and his uncle wasn't the nicest of men and only had one room available, so we decided to share the room with the Korean girl and find another place the next day. Then we finally got to fall into the bed!