Our first day

February 28, 2013

So today was the big day. The day we’ve been planning for such a long time, neither of us can believe that it has finally come! Right now we’re on the flight from Seoul to KL. Then we have another flight from KL to Langkawi.

But to even get this far we had to go through a couple of high-pressure days of clearing out our apartments, going to goodbye dinners and meeting up with friends. Yesterday was very stressful. We had a train booked from Busan to Seoul for 11:30p.m and we managed to finish moving everything by 9:30p.m (just in time!)

The train was surprisingly ok, a sweet little toddler got on and we instantly became best friends so I was playing with her at about 2a.m. She was so fascinated by Jason, he was wearing his eye mask and sleeping and all she could do was stare and point at him. Once my little friend left I managed to get a little sleep and we arrived into Seoul station at 4:30a.m. It had been quite hot on the train so Jason took off his socks. A lovely Korean man started chatting to us and had just returned from travelling around Asia for 9 months. He was so nice and when he noticed that Jason didn’t have any socks on he went into his own luggage and gave Jason a pair of his own socks. This right here is Korea! You could be having the most frustrating day and then something like this happens, and it happens a lot more than you can imagine! Even though Jason had his own socks it is considered impolite to refuse so he took the socks graciously.

We haven’t really booked much for our travels, in fact we don’t have any accommodation booked for tonight or our ferry booked for tomorrow (which we are now regretting). But we did book a weeks accommodation on the Thai island of Koh Lipe which we will hopefully go to tomorrow. We just wanted to relax on a really nice beach for a while…Well imagine our disappointment when we checked the weather earlier and found out that it is supposed to rain for about 5 of those 7 days, including tomorrow, the day we are supposed to get the ferry there. We are hoping that it won’t be raining for the whole time and that the sun will come out at some stage (praying really) and that we manage to get on to the island at all!

We’ll keep you updated J 

                                                                Us on the plane

                                                The lovely Dasher helping me pack :)

Our expectations...

So for this blog entry I’m going to be getting a bit of help from Jason (yes he really does exist!)

We have a week left until we begin our much anticipated travels so we have decided to make a list of things that both of us are looking forward to the most. Then, when all is said and done we can make another list of what our favourite things turned out to be.
I thought this would be an interesting way for us to look back on and see what lived up to the expectations and what just came from nowhere and blew us away!

I guess before we start I should tell you where we are going. We are going to Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, Northern India and Sri Lanka. (although our plans are constantly changing so who knows where we'll end up actually going to)

First question, What country are you most excited to visit and why?

J: Nepal. I’m intrigued by the prospect of meeting tibetian refugees and I’m excited to hike in the himilayas.

G: You stole my country, I would say Nepal too, because the people, the country and the scenery all seem out of this world. I’m also excited to complete a personal challenge of hiking over a 14 day period. I have never hiked longer than 2 days and that nearly killed me, so this should be interesting!

                                  A village in the Himalayas in Nepal

What country are you most apprehensive about visiting?

J: (instantly) India. why? The filth, the pushing, the leering at my girlfriend, the possible thieves and not being able to go to the bathroom in private. Oh and the heat.

G: Once again my answer is the same as Jasons. I’m nervous about India because of the extreme poverty that we will more than likely encounter. I have been to some poor countries but none quite like india! I’m also worried about the food, I love indian food…just a very mild version of indian food.

                                         

What man made structure are you most excited about seeing and why?

J: The Taj Mahal, because of the sheer grandure of it and the story behind it.

G: I would say the temples of Angkor because they really are works of art, but since I’ve already seen them I would have to say the golden temple in Amritsar. It looks so beautiful in every photo I’ve ever seen of it. It is also a very spiritual place for many Indians and any person, religious or not, can spend the night there and eat meals there in exchange for a small donation of their choosing.

What animal are you interested in seeing the most while travelling?

J: its gotta be tigers in india. Because I’ve never seen a tiger in the wild and I just think it would be breath-taking.

G: I have been researching recently about Sri-Lanka and I found a place where every evening hundreds of wild elephants congregate around a big watering hole (or a lake, I can't remember) and I think that this would be just an awe inspiring experience to see all of those elephants free and wild.

 What recreational activity are you most excited about and why?

J: I would have to say the safari in the Corbett national park in india. Because it would be a truly primal experience 

(this is where we will hopefully have a chance to see tigers in the wild)

G: I’m excited about doing some kayaking in Thailand or Cambodia. But also super excited about doing the trek in the himalayas and just seeing the beautiful snow-covered peaks.

What city/town are you looking forward to visiting?

J: I would say Leh (in india) because it’s real high up in the mountains and it just looks really peaceful and beautiful

                                    The beautiful town of Leh

G: I’m actually looking forward to seeing Varanasi (in India). This will be our first experience of India as we will be entering overland from Nepal so I’m sure it will be a shock to the senses. But I’m really interested in seeing the Ganges and all of the excitement that goes along with the world reknown river and city.

                                  Varanasi, one of the oldest cities in the world.

What country’s beaches are you most eager to visit?

J: I have to say Sri-Lanka because all of the beaches look so beautiful…from what ive seen on google images and we all know that google images are 100% accurate! haha

                One of the images that came up when I typed Sri Lanka into google. haha

G: I’m really looking forward to Koh Lipe in Thailand. This is going to be our first destination and after a stressful couple of months I’m so excited to just laze on the beach and drink some cheap mojitos.

                         The walkway to the bungalow that we've booked in Koh Lipe

What are you least looking forward to about travelling?

J:  The actual travelling, trains, buses, planes etc… and people trying to rip you off often.

G: The last time that I went travelling I had no expensive items. This time around we are going with laptos, cameras, kindles etc. I’m really dreading my need to try to keep all of these items safe all of the time.And of course I'm dreading having to spend 4 months without my wonderful puppy Willy! I question myself every day wondering if I'm doing the right thing leaving him. But I mean it from the bottom of my heart when I say that we couldn't have found someone better to take care of him and give him love! I actually trust his sitter more than I trust myself!

              I love this little monster!



So there it is.
All of our expectations about travelling. I'm excited to redo this when all is said and done and see what places lived up to our expectations and what places stole our hearts without us knowing it would ever happen.

2013...the year of changes.

Yesterday was the beginning of my three week holiday from school. While most people in the west had  a nice time off during Christmas, I, like most other teachers here, only had Christmas day off. It wasn't too bad though as most of our coursework for this year was finished so "work" involved going to school and watching a movie with the kids...I'm pretty lucky really. The best part is that now when everyone else is depressed to be back at work, now, I get to relax!

I guess relax is the wrong word for my holiday plans. For the first time in a long time both myself and Jason are going to stay in Gimhae for our holidays. We simply have too much to do and money that badly needs to be saved. This next three weeks will mainly involve selling and getting rid of most of our belongings, packing up the leftovers, study grammar and do a pre course grammar test for our CELTA course, plan our travel plans, sort out visas, find travel insurance and a million other things that I can't think of right now! Yes I think "relax" was definitely the wrong word to use!

...Oh, and did I mention that we have three dogs and a cat right now too? luckily for us most of the animals are great and very easy to look after, and most will return to their own homes by the end of the month! (In fact as I write this, the lovely Blue is looking at me from the other side of the computer screen)

When we leave here we will have about 3 months of travel (while job searching) to look forward to. As most of you know, I love to travel, I have been planning this trip for about a year. You could almost say that it's a hobby of mine to plan routes, look up towns and cities and find the best places to go. The plans that we started with about a year ago have completely changed and now we are left with a very loose plan. Our travels will involve Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal and India. I am so excited for this trip to happen, I am even more excited to be doing this trip with Jason. I really can't think of anybody else that I would rather travel with. But once on our trip we must job search and make sure to find a suitable job, in a suitable country for us and especially for Willy. Right now our two main options seem to be Turkey and Taiwan. Turkey because it would be closer to my family (practically on the same continent!) and some of them could and would come and visit me. I could also take short trips home and I think both of us would love to have a chance to live in a country that has so much history, beautiful architecture and delicious food!! 

We only started thinking about Taiwan a couple of weeks ago. I'm not going to lie, the reason that we became interested in Taiwan is the fact that they don't really have a winter. South Korean winters are tough. They are dry and cold and this Irish girl really cannot handle those two factors combined. I always thought that Taiwanese weather was quite similar to Korea and Japan so I was quite surprised when I found out that you don't need a big winter jacket there! Taiwan is also quite tropical with some amazing beaches (yes, I have been stalking your Taiwan photos Erica!)Taiwan also has quite high salaries for English teachers compared to most other countries, even Turkey. You also must find an apartment for yourself, which is ideal for us as we have decided that this is the perfect time to move in together and live in a bigger apartment, for both us and Willy.

The third option, which is only if we are desperate and cannot find a job elsewhere is to stay in Korea and get a job somewhere else in the country. The fact that one of my bestest friends in the world(that's you Lou) is considering moving to Korea in the summer makes this option a little easier to swallow, although neither of us particularly want to do this. I think we are both ready for a change and ready to learn a new culture.

I don't think we will be adding other options to our immediate future as we need to make sure that Willy gets all of the right shots for a certain country and passes all of the regulations so by only having these three options it means that Willy can get prepared well in advance for his big move.

I'm slowly learning that over planning is never a good thing because when those plans change or fall apart I usually get over-emotional and upset, so this year my new years resolution is to be less of an ocd freak and try to let the world decide my fate for me. (ALTHOUGH some things must be planned for, Jason Elliot!) 

but before I can think about the future too much, I have the horrible task of saying goodbye to this wonderful country and equally wonderful people, February is going to be a tough month!

Christmas in Korea

This is my 3rd Christmas being away from my family. All three were very different from each other but each special in their own way. As much as I enjoyed Christmas here in Korea, absolutely nothing is going to stop me from going home for Christmas next year. Christmas is my favourite holiday and I miss everything about our Curtin Christmas, even the fighting!

We usually get up in the morning and my amazing mom already has the turkey in the oven and the fire lighting, the day then consist of eating, drinking, laughing, fighting and mayhem!

Here in Korea, this Christmas probably most resembled a typical Christmas as such. There was too much food and drink, laughing, lots of mayhem and some fighting (among the dogs)

Myself and Jason decided that Christmas wouldn't be complete without a turkey and wanted to try and cook one this year (how hard could it be?!) So we picked a frozen one up in Costco. This was our first time to Costco here in Korea, For those of you at home, Costco is an American supermarket that sells things in bulk. It is THE place to go for foreign foods here in Korea!

As I said the turkey was frozen and not knowing a whole lot about turkeys I just presumed that I could take it out of the freezer on Christmas eve and let it sit overnight...how wrong I was!

After doing a google search I realised that it takes up to a week to defrost a turkey the right way, with less than 24 hours before dinner time I panicked a little. The only other option was to immerse the turkey in cold water for 7 hours, changing the water every 30 minutes. We began this process at 8:30 on the night of Christmas eve! Even though we were facing a night of no sleep we decided to make the most of it, we got a take away from our favourite Italian restaurant, lit some candles, played Christmas music, drank some wine, skyped home and played with the dogs. (we are minding our friends dog while they are home for Christmas) .

So 4am came and we decided to remove the packaging and check the turkey, we were getting pretty tired at theis stage and there was no wine left so we were both heartbroken when we discovered that the turkey was still completely frozen in the middle. A panicked phone call to Jasons dad (the one good thing about family living in different time zones) and we solved the problem.

By 7am it was all completely thawed out (finally) and it was time to cook it. Our oven only has up to one hour setting so we were able to sleep for 45 minutes at a time for the next 3 hours. By 10:30 it was finally finished and we managed to get 2 more hours of sleep!

                                                        The finished turkey (finally!!)

But it was all worth it. We had a great day with great friends. Everybody brought food and there was wayyyyy too much for us. We ate, drank and were merry...what more could you want on Christmas day. Whatever happens I think myself and Jason will always remember that first time we cooked a turkey.

                                                      Our wonderful Christmas crew!

Oh, and did I mention that it was delicious? ;)

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

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!