Koh Lipe…Paradise.

We have just spent the last week on the small Thai island of Koh Lipe. It is in the southernmost region of Thailand, so south in fact that it’s quicker to get there from the Malaysian island of Langkawi than from anywhere in Thailand itself. So this is what we did. We spent about 24 hours in Malaysia and it reminded us of why we love Malaysia. The people are so kind and honest and the food is an amazing mix of the different cultures that make up Malaysia. Langkawi seemed like a lovely island and if we hadn’t prebooked accommodation in Koh Lipe we would have stayed longer there.

Sanom beach

When we arrived on Koh Lipe it was everything that we had dreamed about, crystal clear waters, some of the whitest powerdery sand that either of us have ever seen and not too much development on the beach front. We were staying in a place called Sanom Beach. It consists of about 8 huts and has it’s own beach. We were lucky enough to have a hut that faced directly on the beach. Our view from our hammock was just breath-taking.  

The view from our hut

We had decided on Koh Lipe as our first destination because after a very stressful couple of months we knew we needed a place to do absolutely nothing for a week, and that’s exactly what we did in Lipe.

Our days mainly consisted of sleeping, eating, swimming, sunbathing and the odd snorkel. After the first day we just felt a huge relief in our shoulders and our minds were at ease. We were also very anti-social while here, just keeping to ourselves and reconnecting, it was great!

                                                                                                          

Something that I have to mention when I talk about Koh Lipe is the dogs. There are dogs everywhere on the island. In fact when you are walking the main beach at 5p.m. you really have to be careful where you step so that you don’t trip up on one of them. The best thing is that most of the dogs seem really well cared for and genuinely happy. They rule the island. We never saw a shop or restaurant owner shoo any dogs away when they were around, so you could be having dinner with 4 dogs lying around you. They were also extremely well behaved, we didn’t see one aggressive dog while there and they never seemed to beg for food.

We used to pass a mom and her four pups everyday and could never resist a cuddle! In fact, I think we probably have more photos of dogs than anything else!

One of the amazing puppies!

One of the many dogs on Lipe

Our favorite little guy, we named him Buddy cause he reminded us of Will Ferrell.
He was the dog at our resort

During our time on Koh Lipe, we realised that the island is actually quite small so we managed to get to see most of the beaches that it has to offer.

Sanom beach:

This is where our hut was so we spent quite a bit of time on this beach. It is a very small beach about a 5/10 minute walk from the main beach (Pattaya), using a little walkway over the rocks. Because there is only one resort there the beach is quiet, usually we were the only ones on the beach before 9/10 and after 4/5. It was really nice to wake up in the morning and have an empty beach right in front of you.

The walkway from Pattaya beach to Sanom beach

The sand on Sanom was great, very white and soft. The waves weren't big and the resort offers snorkels for rent. The snorkelling was quite good as there is a big rock with coral on it a little bit out from the beach.

The resort also has a small little beach shack serving food and drink.

Lazing on our balcony.

Enjoying the water on Sanom beach

Sanom beach

Sanom Beach at sunset

Pattaya beach:

Pattaya beach is the most popular and  busiest beach on Koh Lipe. This is where most of the expensive resorts are and is the first beach that you see when you arrive onto the island. It is a gorgeous beach (hence the popularity) It has beautiful crystal clear water and white powdery sand but honestly I'm glad that we didn't stay there.

Jason on Pattaya beach.

There are lots of longtail boats on this beach so sometimes it can be quite hard to find a good place to swim. Also while we were there there was a big ship parked on the beach where the garbage from the island was being collected. It was there for about 3 or 4 days and as you can imagine, it smelled pretty bad! We used to have to hold our breath when walking past it. But, to be fair, at least they are doing something about the rubbish and not just dumping it on the island. 

The quintessential "Thailand" photo.

Anyway Pattaya is where you'll find restaurants where you can eat fresh fish on the beach and it is also where you'll find the entrance to the walking street.

The sunset on Pattaya beach.

Pattaya beach

Walking street:

Many touristy island and beach areas seem to have a walknig street on them these days and Koh Lipe is one of them. The walking street on Koh Lipe is where you'll find tons of restaurants, bars, shops, massage and beauty shops and cheaper accommodation. This is where we used to eat as there were some great pancake and juice shops and some really decently priced restaurants selling amazing Thai dishes. There was also a tiny bar on the street that offered buy 1 get 2 free cocktails which was pretty amazing for us! 

Walking street is also how you can get from Pattaya and Sanom to the other beaches on the island.

Yummy green curry from one of the
many restaurants on Walking street.

Sunset beach:

We took a back alley to Sunset beach one day (after getting lost the day before) On this back laneway we got to walk past some local houses, lots of chickens and the entry way to another beach that has a club on it and allows people to camp.

Sunset beach is named so because it is the best place on the island to watch the sunset. We really liked the look of Sunset beach when we visited it. It's very laid back and many backpackers seem to stay here. The sunset was beautiful also. The sand is more yellow than Pattaya and a little more stoney but it's still a nice beach. If you are walking there from Pattaya on Walking street it takes about 15 minutes.

Sunset beach.

The beautiful sunset on Sunset beach.

Sunrise Beach:

While exploring the island we found the local school and had a look around. It was interesting to see the huge differences between this small island school and our schools back in Korea! 

The local school is actually situated on Sunrise beach and their playground and basketball court actually has an impressive view of the beach.

The school playground...what a beautiful view they have!

Jason on Sunrise beach

...and again.

Sunrise beach was also less crowded than Pattaya and has lovely white sand also. Like Sunrise beach, Sunset beach is named so because this is the side of the island that the sun rises on in the mornings. We never actually made it to sunrise beach in the morning so I can't really comment on if it's good or bad.

Mountain Resort beach:

Mountain resort is a resort just off of Sunrise beach and has it's own little area. The best thing about this area is that it has a sand spit right in front of the resort. The resort itself looks beautiful from what we saw of it (if only...)

The beach by Mountain Resort.

We had so much fun in Koh Lipe and would definitely recommend it, but there were a couple of things about it. Firstly, it was expensive. We managed to spend much more here than we had wanted to and we only really bought food and some sun creams.

Secondly, it isn’t really a backpacker destination. There were package tourists everywhere. Most of which were European (which meant I was the whitest person on the beach) :( It was quite funny though because Jason is American he was shocked to see topless sunbathers on the beaches. Seeing his face every time he saw one was priceless; the embarrassment that he was going through was quite cute/funny.  But other than the price of things this is a wonderful island!

Basic information:

Where we stayed: Sanom Beach

Huts off the beach: $20

Huts on the beach: $30

Ferry from Langkawi to Lipe: $40

Dinner: usually around 120 baht each.  

Sanom beach website: http://www.sanombeachlipe.com/

More yummy Thai food.

A longtail boat on Pattaya beach

Pattaya beach

The view of Pattaya from the walkway.

Footprints on Sunset beach.

The walkway between Sanom and Pattaya.

Sunset on Pattaya.

Me walking along Pattaya beach.

Pattaya beach again!

Jason on Pattaya.

Sanom beach

Myself and Jason on Sanom beach

Beautiful Sanom at sunset.

Jason on Sanom beach

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? ;)