Yes, we are in Thailand. Yes, we are very safe.
We arrived just before the airports closed and spent a few days in Bangkok seeing some sights. We watched some Muay Thai Kickboxing, seen some amazing temples and palaces, did some aerobics to techno music with alot of thai people in a park, I held a python around my neck and Brent stepped on a big fat rat by accident on the street. However, Bangkok was to busy and crazy so we left.
We are now in Chiang Mai, which is northern Thailand. We just finished doing a 3 day mountain trek which included visiting and staying in mountain villages, riding elephants, swimming and showering under huge waterfalls and alot of hiking and trekking through some pretty legit jungle. Our guide was using a machete to open the trail in alot of places. At the end of the trek we also got to do some whitewater rafting which was incredible.
Tomorrow we are going further north for a couple days then starting to head south so we will be hitting beaches just in time for christmas.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Mountain Snakes!
This last week we spent some time traveling around the east coast. We spent two days hiking in Soraksen National Park. The first day we arrived around 10:30 and decided to do a real long hike - 22kms. It was to the top of Mt. Soraksen which is the highest point in the area. The hike took much longer then expected as the last few kilometers to the top were snow and ice covered and very physically taxing. The view was spectacular and worth the walk, but as we came down we noticed that the light was quickly fading. We ended up hiking the last 3-4kms in the dark with only the stars to guide us. It was incredibly peaceful, calm and relaxing when we were not tripping over rocks or stepping in puddles.
The next day we did another hike, this one much shorter. It ended with the longest, steepest and sketchiest staircase I have seen in my life up a granite cliff face. Something like this would definitely not be aloud in Canada. The view from this hike was amazing as well and it was a great two days of hiking with some real sore muscles to show for it.
On the east coast we also went and visited one of the largest limestone caves in Asia. It had cathedral sized openings, waterfalls and lots of interesting cave formations. It was definitely one of the highlights of Korea.
Tomorrow we are touring the Demiliterized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea, then on Sunday we are done our time in Korea and fly to Bangkok where we will try and learn a new country and a new way of living.
The next day we did another hike, this one much shorter. It ended with the longest, steepest and sketchiest staircase I have seen in my life up a granite cliff face. Something like this would definitely not be aloud in Canada. The view from this hike was amazing as well and it was a great two days of hiking with some real sore muscles to show for it.
On the east coast we also went and visited one of the largest limestone caves in Asia. It had cathedral sized openings, waterfalls and lots of interesting cave formations. It was definitely one of the highlights of Korea.
Tomorrow we are touring the Demiliterized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea, then on Sunday we are done our time in Korea and fly to Bangkok where we will try and learn a new country and a new way of living.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Island living.
In my first week and a half in Korea I met many locals and asked them where the best place was to visit in the country. Almost all of them would say Jeju Island. So Brent and I went and got some plane tickets and flew down to the southern most part of South Korea to explore this much praised Island and it did not disappoint.
On our second morning on Jeju we rented bicycles and started our journey of going around the entire coast of the island. It was 250 kms with a decent amount of climbs and some real good downhills. We covered this distance in four days at a relaxed pace, stopping whenever we wanted to look at something or take a break to grab some fresh Christmas oranges right off of a tree. The first two days were wonderful weather and shorts were needed, however the last two days were pouring rain and we were drenched from head to toe and peddling so hard. This was one of the funnest moments of the ride as we made the best of a bad situation and had a good time being soaked.
Along the coast we seen some of the most beautiful places in the world (according to me). There was many incredible lava rock formations as the island was made from many volcanos. We also seen some amazing waterfalls and the worlds longest lava tube cave. One morning we were even so ambitious to wake up early enough to climb a volcano crater (see:Seongsan Ilchulbong) and watch the sun rise over it...but it was cloudy so all we got was a slight purple glow.
The day after our biking was done we got up real early again as we planned on hiking up Mount Hallasan, which is South Koreas tallest mountain. It was raining again, but this did not stop us as we made it to the top to see the famous volcanic crater of the dormant volcano mountain. The hike altogether was 20kms and that night we had some real sore muscles from 4 days straight of biking and then hiking for 7 hours.
We left the island early the next morning by ferry to the city of Mokpo, then onto the city of Gwanju for the night. The next day we seen some countryside around Gwanju and some of the most incredible fall colors were on display. We then took a bus to Jeonju to spend the night at a Hot Spring Spa...or so we thought. We took a taxi out of town to this 'highly recommended' spa as we had high hopes of relaxing in saunas and hot tubs all night. The taxi driver dropped us off, snaked us and overcharged us big time and then left real fast. There were three buildings around, two with lights on and one totally dark and abandoned...and of course the abandoned one was where the spa was supposed to be. We now realized we were way in the middle of nowhere, it was 9:30pm and totally dark. We had no way of getting back to the city but our own two feet. So we started walking back towards Jeonju, we tried hitching a ride for awhile but it turns out Koreans aren't very receptive to the outstretched thumbs of foreigners at night time. We ended up walking the entire 15 kms and getting a real dirty hotel room just after midnight.
Our first excursion to smaller towns and villages around the country was a huge success with it being some of the best 8 days of my life. Trying to communicate with people who know no english except for 'hello' and a couple words from a Justin Timberlake song is definitely interesting. Lots of school kids would yell and point at us and a middle aged male cab driver told me I was handsome and looked like Tom Cruise. There was also an elderly man who owned a hotel who hand fed us cooked potatoes, slapped my back real hard and rubbed Brents beard. He was one of the coolest old dudes and we were friends even though we could not understand a word from eachother. Travelling is great.
On our second morning on Jeju we rented bicycles and started our journey of going around the entire coast of the island. It was 250 kms with a decent amount of climbs and some real good downhills. We covered this distance in four days at a relaxed pace, stopping whenever we wanted to look at something or take a break to grab some fresh Christmas oranges right off of a tree. The first two days were wonderful weather and shorts were needed, however the last two days were pouring rain and we were drenched from head to toe and peddling so hard. This was one of the funnest moments of the ride as we made the best of a bad situation and had a good time being soaked.
Along the coast we seen some of the most beautiful places in the world (according to me). There was many incredible lava rock formations as the island was made from many volcanos. We also seen some amazing waterfalls and the worlds longest lava tube cave. One morning we were even so ambitious to wake up early enough to climb a volcano crater (see:Seongsan Ilchulbong) and watch the sun rise over it...but it was cloudy so all we got was a slight purple glow.
The day after our biking was done we got up real early again as we planned on hiking up Mount Hallasan, which is South Koreas tallest mountain. It was raining again, but this did not stop us as we made it to the top to see the famous volcanic crater of the dormant volcano mountain. The hike altogether was 20kms and that night we had some real sore muscles from 4 days straight of biking and then hiking for 7 hours.
We left the island early the next morning by ferry to the city of Mokpo, then onto the city of Gwanju for the night. The next day we seen some countryside around Gwanju and some of the most incredible fall colors were on display. We then took a bus to Jeonju to spend the night at a Hot Spring Spa...or so we thought. We took a taxi out of town to this 'highly recommended' spa as we had high hopes of relaxing in saunas and hot tubs all night. The taxi driver dropped us off, snaked us and overcharged us big time and then left real fast. There were three buildings around, two with lights on and one totally dark and abandoned...and of course the abandoned one was where the spa was supposed to be. We now realized we were way in the middle of nowhere, it was 9:30pm and totally dark. We had no way of getting back to the city but our own two feet. So we started walking back towards Jeonju, we tried hitching a ride for awhile but it turns out Koreans aren't very receptive to the outstretched thumbs of foreigners at night time. We ended up walking the entire 15 kms and getting a real dirty hotel room just after midnight.
Our first excursion to smaller towns and villages around the country was a huge success with it being some of the best 8 days of my life. Trying to communicate with people who know no english except for 'hello' and a couple words from a Justin Timberlake song is definitely interesting. Lots of school kids would yell and point at us and a middle aged male cab driver told me I was handsome and looked like Tom Cruise. There was also an elderly man who owned a hotel who hand fed us cooked potatoes, slapped my back real hard and rubbed Brents beard. He was one of the coolest old dudes and we were friends even though we could not understand a word from eachother. Travelling is great.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Quick update.
Today I ate some octopus for the first time. Tomorrow I am flying to Jeju Island. We will be spending about a week there biking around the whole island then climbing a volcano.
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