Thailand Trip in Videos

We just got back from 16 days traveling in Thailand and Cambodia. It was one hell of an adventure and since I have exactly been keeping up with this blog, here are the video updates that I was making. :)

Japan! Days 0.5, 1, 2 and 3

We got to Osaka around 7:30PM on Wednesday, but still had a pretty great evening with the time that we did have. Our place was right near Tsutenkaku tower, in Shinsekai. This area is touted as being the old (which it is) part of town that is now seedy (we didn't notice this at all). We had a. Incredible meal of high quality sushi that set us back about $85 CAD. The next two days were all over Osaka and then yesterday, Saturday, we came to Kyoto. We'll be here another two full days and then off to Kobe, Okunoshima and Hiroshima.

Here are some videos that show, in a nutshell, what we got up to!

Sushi selection at a supermarket in Osaka!

 

Day 1 in Kyoto

 Day 2 in Kyoto

Affording Food in Korea

Coming from Canada, we knew it would be a bit tricky finding the particular health foods that we were used to buying at home. We eat a lot of organic, and fresh produce and it's everywhere. In coming to Korea, we expected it to be a little more difficult to find the stuff, and variety that we're used to, at the prices we're accustomed to paying. We knew it would be difficult, but because we're in a rural town, it's even more difficult. Frozen blueberries cannot be found, avocados are $3+ each, apples are $1.50 - $2.00 each... Produce (unless locally grown) is expensive here, if available at all. We're slowly developing a strategy for food and supplements that allows us to get what we need / want.

Our current strategy is 4 fold.

1 - Hwarang Mart - Our local grocery store. We get basics there like lettuce, seaweed, eggs and a few others.

2 - The local market - we get some produce here also, but still not a 'write home about it' value. Every 5 days there is an extra big market day with a TON of vendors selling pretty much the same stuff. We get fresh fruit and vegetables there often also.

3 - iHerb has been a lifesaver. The prices are pretty good. We make at least a 4 or 5 purchases a month through iHerb for everything from vitamins and fish oil to protein powder, flours, nuts and seeds. Here's a short list of what we buy fairly regularly.

Greens – http://bit.ly/1SNOwrO
       Great ingredient profile and I trust the brand. Taste is mediocre, but it's greens. 

Omega 3 – http://bit.ly/1OPKy1u
       Can't go wrong with NOW foods brand. They source the oil from small, cold water fish and it's molecularly distilled, so we like. 

Vit D – http://bit.ly/1DaCBCS
        NOW Vit D. For the winter mainly, but still good to take here and there throughout the summer. 

Chia – http://bit.ly/1Mx6al5
        An absolute staple in our diet. We go through a lot of this so we always buy in bulk for extra savings. 

Probiotic – http://bit.ly/1glb9s8
         Mercola brand is top notch. These probiotics are not cheap, but they are incredibly good quality. Neither of us have gotten sick while here (first 5.5 months) and I attribute that in large part to these beauties. 

Pea Protein – http://bit.ly/1U86CaO
        Julia's plant protein. Good value and she loves the taste.

Enzymes – http://bit.ly/1LYQC9N
          We use some digestive enzymes on occasion if we're going out for dinner or eating something out of the ordinary. 

Stevia – http://bit.ly/1DQuQwM
           I prefer stevia to sugar. :

Whey – http://bit.ly/1DaDfR5
            Brian's protein. No bells and whistles, just the basics.

Cocoa – http://bit.ly/1DaDivW
             Straight cocoa. No sugar, but nice to add to chia or smoothies. 

Coconut Oil - http://bit.ly/1LSfDSs
             If you don't fry your food with coconut oil, check yourself. 

B Complex - http://bit.ly/1IrsHIM
           B Vitamins - energy, stress etc... Good stuff. 

If interested in any of these products (or anything else on iHerb) and you're a new customer, go here:

iHerb New Customer

and use coupon code JKM400 at checkout to save $10!

4 -  GMarket. GMarket is like amazon / ebay. You can buy just about anything. We've been finding more and more stuff on GMarket that we're going to start buying. Frozen blueberries and avocados are a couple of examples. Avocados are 11 for $22, so a definite savings there! We can save by buying some things in bulk. 

Below are some random photos of the products we've bought through iHerb and GMarket as well as our local market / street vendors: 

 

Summer in SK

These summer days are hot. Like next level hot. A hot day in Canada can get quite hot, but this heat is unrelenting. The humidity is through the roof and there is no reprieve whatsoever. This is rainy season. It's apparently a dry rainy season. And even when it does rain, it's still insanely hot. It's hot even at night and early morning. It's always hot. We have air conditioning in our apartment, and for the most part at school also, so I can't complain with regards to that, but the heat that hits you when you leave is something else. We're still managing to get out on walks and do some exercise (we mostly exercise in our apartment now because the gym has yet to use AC so we cancelled our memberships) but it's certainly not comfortable!

We've also been planning our upcoming trip to Japan! From the 5th to the 16th of August we'll be visiting Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, Okunoshima and Hiroshima! We have a pretty full-on itinerary and we're keeping our fingers crossed for good weather! We've heard though, that the heat is just as intense, if not more so, in Japan.

Below are some random photos from the past couple weeks, none of which I will explain. Enjoy!

Gwangju 2015 Universiade

This past weekend we went to Gwangju to watch the Gwangju 2015 Universiade (or World University Games). It’s touted as the biggest sporting event outside of the Olympics. This is because there are athletes from all over the world competing and there are lots of events. The quality of competition is pretty high as well, but with the Pan Am games going on at the same time back in Canada, the teams from North and South America wouldn’t have had their absolute top university athletes. To qualify for this event, you must be between 18 – 28 and enrolled in at least a single, 3 credit course within the nearest semester. It’s been going on since the 4^th and we’ve even been able to watch it, in English, on television. We were pretty excited to get down there and soak up the atmosphere.

As usual, the travel was the biggest hurdle. There’s a brand new KTX (high spped train – 300km/h) station in Gongju (well between Buyeo and Gongju and so we could take that train to Gwangju and it would only be 50 minutes, as opposed to 4 hours! We had no idea how to bus to the KTX station however, and so we had to take a taxi. The taxi cost 40,000 Won. STEEP! The train tickets were 21,300 each for ‘economy class’. The trains were nice, similar feel to flying. We arrived in Gwangju at 8:34AM and headed out to the street to figure out how to get down to the main stadium where we could watch the athletics events. Right outside the KTX station there was a tent set-up with helpful ladies that gave us busing information, and then requested a photo with us. We got on the bus they told us and while it went in the general direction, as it got somewhat close, it made a series of unfortunate turns that led us in the opposite direction of the stadium. After a number of the turns, we gave up hope and jumped off. We got a taxi to the stadium, another 8,000 Won. When we finally got to the stadium and paid our 5,000 Won each to get in for the day, we were surprised at how poorly attended it was. It was a Saturday after all. It was such a big production to put on with many venues and organization, it seemed like a bit of a disappointment. Nevertheless, we got settled in right in front of the action. We were literally standing at the railing watching the long jump competition from 20 feet away. It was awe inspiring to watch their preparation and execution. It must be a heck of a lot of pressure to come all the way to Gwangju, South Korea (from anywhere) just to take 6 jumps into a sand pit and hope you jump the furthest! What was also very cool about where we were watching from is that it was also where all of the coaches stood, so we listened in as the coaches and athletes discussed strategy between jumps. Admittedly, most were not in English, but the ones in English were quite impressive. The minute details and alterations they make from jump to jump gives a whole new level of appreciation. There was a mid-day scheduled break for 3 hours that allowed us to shoot over to where we were staying and drop off all of our stuff. We decided to take a taxi as it was raining. We got to the place and found our room without issue. We booked the place with Air BNB and so you’re renting from an individual, so your place can be in any sort of building. Ours was a small apartment building. He gave us the code to get in and we were more than satisfied with the place. It had everything we needed and then some! A full kitchen and laundry even!

After dropping stuff off, we caught a taxi back to the stadium, where there was also a Lotte Mart. It’s a big department store with a full supermarket, so we headed in to get some lunch and snacks for later. It was quite busy and a very multicultural affair which was cool to see. Our snacks were kimbap, a salad and a variety of nuts and dried fruits. We got back to the stadium in plenty of time to see the events kick off again at 4:00. We stayed until it ended at just after 9PM. We weren’t bored for a minute. Lots of running events, steeplechase, hurdles and most field events also. There were a few Canadians to cheer on, but not as many as we would have liked! The time flew by and at the end of the night we walked a part of the way back to our place, but the rain really picked up and our very mediocre umbrella wasn’t cuttin’ the mustard. We caught another taxi, got in, cleaned up and passed out.

The next morning we were determined not to take a taxi. We were heading to another venue and managed to stumble across a subway system! It wouldn’t have helped us the day before, but maybe we should have researched public transportation in Gwangju before actually arriving. We got out to the Taekwondo venue in good time and settled into our seats to watch the actions. Those seats just so happened to be beside the ‘Team Leader’ of the Canadian Taekwondo team. It was great to chat with him and get some insight into the team and how it all works on the international level. The action was great, with three matches going on at any given time. Just watching closely, you can learn a lot about the strategy of Taekwondo as well as how the event is run. I love learning about these sorts of things! We spent the entire morning there and decided that we’d leave Gwangju a little earlier than originally planned. Around 1:30 we headed back to the subway and out to the KTX station on the other side of the city. We got tickets for the 2:24 train back to Gongju station and Julia grabbed a snack of Tteokbokki. This time though, we couldn’t get seats together and so we were on our own for the 50 minute ride home. Arriving back in Gongju we still had to figure out how to get back to Buyeo, and were determined not to take another taxi. We asked about buses, but as our luck had gone most of the weekend, the next bus to Buyeo was in 3 hours. We went out to the bus stop anyways to try and read the schedule. Maybe we could go to Gongju and then take an express to Buyeo, which run fairly often. While standing there, looking confused, an SUV drove by and then stopped a couple hundred feet past us. A minute later they back up and asked ‘Where you go?”. We said Buyeo. They said get in. We asked ‘Are you sure?’. They said yes. We got in. They were going to Gongju but still drove us all the way to Buyeo. Wow! Talk about our luck turning for the better! We tried to tell them that we lived in Buyeo and were teachers. That didn’t work so well, so after a while we just played up their assumption that we were tourists. They dropped us off right in front of Busosaeng Mountain (3 minutes from our place) and even gave us snacks! Talk about KINDNESS! This ride may have been the highlight of the weekend.

Home in late afternoon on a rainy day. Time to chill out.

A weekend on Muuido

We spent this past weekend on an island called Muuido with some great friends that we met at EPIK orientation back in February. Muuido is just off the backside of Incheon airport, which itself is on an island. Just getting to this island, and the beach where we were staying, was an adventure in and of itself. We woke up a bit early to catch the earliest bus to Incheon. It left Buyeo at 7:10 and took 2.5 hours to get to Incheon. We (I) assumed that it was going to Incheon airport. I don't know why. I guess I don't think of Incheon as being a legit city, just the place where the airport is. Boy was I wrong. We got to Incheon's main bus terminal and were still a ways from the airport. We managed to find an information desk in the terminal and asked how to get to the airport. We got so some information and knew where to go and which bus to get on, but quickly decided that it would take way too long to get out there. Our friends (Nick and Lanie) took a cab and we decided to also. The cab itself took around 40 minutes (and was ~$70) but took us right to the ferry, which was another bus ride from the airport. We then bought our $3 return ticket to take the ferry to the promised land. Once on the island, we caught a $1.50 bus ride across the island to our final destination, Hanagae Beach. In a word (or 4), it was worth it. The beach was great, not too busy, nice sand and the weather was absolutely perfect. Hot enough to make a day at the beach the ideal thing to do, but not too hot that we could enjoy ourselves.

We were met by Nick and Lanie as we arrived and we quickly and easily rented our hut. It's 30,000 WON ($35 CAD) per night. It's super basic, but had linens and pillows which I wasn't expecting. We dropped off our stuff and went for a walk before finding food. As the tide was out, (WAY OUT) we could walk pretty far and find some cool sea life along the way. Mostly crabs and sea slugs of some kind, but also jellyfish. Lunch was Pajeon. The rest of the day involved good conversation, playing in the water and a quick down the zip line. As it was the 4th of July, there were plenty of foreigners there to party, and did they ever. Lots of drinking, singing and fireworks. ALL NIGHT. It was a bit annoying as none of us could sleep all that well, but we managed. On Sunday morning we killed time until the convenience store opened at 8AM and we grabbed some snacks and drinks, while we waited for the bibimbap restaurant to open at 11AM. It was a long wait (and they opened late) but it was soooo worth it While waiting we went for a walk up the beach and Lanie found exactly 28,000 WON randomly in the sand. Lunch was exactly 28,000 WON and that is no coincidence, that is fate. While up at the far end of the beach, we found a huge pool of soft, slippery mud and Nick couldn't help but go for a full dip, and so I naturally HAD to follow suit. We were absolutely filthy but it felt incredible and was pretty darn hilarious. We cleaned up and headed for our free lunch. After lunch we hung out for a bit and then made our way out to make the reverse trek home. It was the same, but in reverse and this time we could split the cab fare with Nick and Lanie. We got to the bus terminal and their express bus home to Andong left in about 45 minutes, while ours left in 3 hours. Luckily the bus terminal was attached to a huge department store that had an absolutely incredible food court. To kill time, we ate and did groceries at EMart. We hopped on the bus at 6:00PM and immediately fell asleep for nearly two hours, only waking up when the bus stopped in Gongju and all but 4 of us got off.

Finally getting home around 8:45PM, completely exhausted but completely satisfied with a fun weekend.


The zipline was pretty short, but well worth the $16 or so we paid. 

 
 

 The mud was awesome, but absolutely filthy. Took a while to clean up after our dip!

These little pieces of sushi were something like 75 cents each. They were fantastic and were the perfect food for the long bus ride home.I got these at EMart. The selection was pretty awesome.

 Julia's dinner at the bus terminal. A baked squash, stuffed with a rice, bean mixture.

My dinner was a couple of these delicious Korean traditional dumplings. Stuffed with some meat, rice and veggies.

Our Story

I wrote this blog post for a friend who owns a company called Unsung Hero Apparel. I thought it would also be a good idea to share on our own blog as a means of introducing ourselves to anyone that doesn't know us and our story.

Julia and I met in 2005 while studying Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa. With a common passion for health and fitness we easily became great friends, which in no time whatsoever turned into the greatest relationship either of us could have imagined. Shortly after we started dating, Julia introduced me to the world of endurance sports. She was an avid runner, and while I was massively into fitness, running wasn’t exactly something I ever did for ‘fun’. Nevertheless I obliged in joining her on some runs around beautiful downtown Ottawa and after a couple weeks of a brand new type of soreness I had never before experienced, I actually started to enjoy it. So much so that I decided to do my honours thesis on ‘The Motivation of Ultra Endurance Athletes’. While I enjoyed running around our neighbourhood, I couldn’t quite understand why people would want to run a marathon, ultramarathon or even an Ironman Triathlon. As part of my research, I interviewed a number of local ultra-endurance athletes and heard their stories. I learned what motivated them to get started in ultra-endurance, to train day in and day out, to start an event that they know won’t be finished for many hours and to keep going when their body is screaming at them to stop. My conclusions were that these were highly motivated, ‘type A’ people who are driven to set lofty goals and do whatever it takes to achieve those goals. My interest in this sub-culture of ultra-endurance became somewhat of an obsession and within a couple years I had run my first 10k, then half marathon (21.1km), then full marathon (42.2k) as well as my first sprint triathlon (500m swim, 20km bike and 5km run) and right up to full Ironman distance triathlon (3.8km swim, 180km bike and full 42.2km marathon run) at Ironman Canada (Penticton BC) in 2008. What made this race even more meaningful was that I was able to raise over $6500 for the Canadian Diabetes association in the process. At the same time, Julia was doing running races of 5 and 10k as well as duathlons (run-bike-run) and keeping up with overall fitness.

Aside from health and fitness, we also share a passion for travel. We are fully aware that we only get one shot at life and want a life of experience rather than a life of things. In the fall of 2008 we decided that we’d move to Australia for a year. I applied for Teachers College in Wollongong, New South Wales (about an hour south of Sydney) and was accepted, and Julia went on a working holiday visa. That year affirmed that travelling the world was a necessity in our lives and that ‘settling down’ would have to wait. In Australia, Julia ran her first marathon and I did my second Ironman Triathlon. Upon returning to Canada in early 2010, we got ‘settled’ back in to life in Ottawa and we were back to work in no time (although not teaching) and back to dreaming of a new adventure. For Julia’s birthday that year I bought her an adventure travel book that featured variety of adventures from different countries over the globe. With no real special skills (kayaking, rock climbing, etc.) we settled on what was probably the craziest adventure in the entire book. We decided, with absolutely zero prior experience, that we would hike the 4,200km length of the Pacific Crest Trail, which spans from the US-Mexican border in California, to the US-Canadian border in Washington. This was a 4.5 month commitment and we had about 6 months to prepare. We also decided that it’d make for a great honeymoon, and so we decided that we’d go against the grain one more time and have a tiny wedding (immediate family only) and a BIG honeymoon.

We had a very small outdoor wedding on Julia’s parent’s property in the Muskoka area in April of 2012, and two weeks later we hit the trail and started walking north from Mexico towards Canada. This was our life for 4 months. With only a single night in a tent prior to starting this journey, there was a GREAT deal of uncertainty and a heck of a lot of learning to do. The ‘first 700 miles (~1100km) is in the Southern California desert (Mojave) and it’s hot, dry, and there isn’t much drinking water to be found. You’re constantly filthy, hungry, tired and generally irritable. A far cry from a typical honeymoon, but it was our choice and not once did we wish we were on a beach in the Caribbean. Tending to each other’s blisters, chaffing, mild giardia, mental meltdowns and every other challenge that was placed in front of us, only helped to prove what a great team we are. Every single day of that honeymoon epitomized ‘Rise and Grind’. We’d typically get up around 5:00AM, sore from the day before, and break camp and start walking within 30 minutes. We had to beat the heat and get in as many miles in the morning as possible before the heat of the day set in. After 700 miles of dealing with the heat, the lack of water, the rattle snakes and spiders, we finally reached the Sierra Nevada mountains and were soon consistently up above 10,000 feet of elevation. Finally we were treated to cooler temperatures, clean, natural spring water and hardened bodies that could deal with what the long days of hiking had put us through. We continued hiking through California and into Oregon. By this time it was August and some injuries (tendonitis in Julia’s foot) had kept us off trail for a week and put us behind schedule. The injuries lingered and we decided, after hiking more than 3000km that it was time to go home. We felt we had accomplished what we set out to do – which was to have the most incredible adventure we could imagine - and with a lifetime’s worth of memories, maybe now we could settle down, buy a home and start a family.

Returning to Ottawa in September of 2012 and finding an apartment to settle back into felt so familiar. ‘Getting settled’ has become quite routine for us. I’ve been incredibly fortunate through all of these adventures that my employer in Ottawa (Popeye’s Supplements) has always taken me back. I had worked in the stores, as a manager and headed up our event and expo team, and this time I was promoted to be a member of the head office staff as ‘Head of Business Development and IT’. It was shortly after taking on this role that I was introduced to Skyler and Pete and the Unsung Hero brand. After talking with them for the first time at a Starbucks in Ottawa, I fell in love with the brand. Its message and vision resonated with me immediately. The ‘Rise and Grind’, ‘No Quit All Hustle’ approach to life is something we’ve always aspired to and so I knew that these were the type of people I wanted to work with. I’ve only become more impressed with what these guys have grown this business into. Not only a retail clothing brand, but so much more. A brand whose vision includes serving the community and inspiring youth is one that I can certainly get behind. Since that day in 2012, it’s been an absolute pleasure to work with these guys for a number of joint projects (National expos, television commercials, charitable events, etc). Popeye’s Supplements has only benefitted from such a partnership.

In the fall of 2013, within a one week period, Julia and I moved into our new house (purchased in the Spring), signed up for a TESOL (Teach English to Speakers of Other Languages) course and ran 387km over 4 days in a relay style effort while raising $3700 for the Ottawa Mission. When we finally got ‘settled’ into our new home it felt great, but not quite right. The next year was absolutely incredible. We both continued to grow, learn and challenge ourselves in both our work and personal life. I raced three half Ironmans, as well as a number of other triathlons and running races, while Julia raced a number of 5k and 10k running races and placed at or near the top of her age / gender group each time out. Somewhere in the summer we decided that none of this was enough. We needed to see the world and we hadn’t yet done so. How do we see the world on our terms? The way we want to travel, not as tourists but as travelers? We took that TESOL course that we had signed up for nearly a year earlier and committed to moving to South Korea to teach English. But we were home owners. So, how would it work? The whole idea may have seemed way too complicated and daunting, but we had spent 4 months hiking the Pacific Crest Trail as our honeymoon, so we knew that anything was possible. There’s always a way, and with a little ‘No Quit, All Hustle’ attitude, we knew we could get it all sorted out.

I write this from our apartment in Buyeo, Chungnam Province, South Korea. We’re living in rural South Korea, where absolutely nobody (aside from ~8 other English teachers) speaks English. We’ve been here in Korea for nearly 4 months. We can read and write the language and can get by with very poor (but improving) Korean and mediocre acting. This is truly a master class in adapting to a new culture. The daily challenges we face here were exactly what we were looking for. In four short months we’ve learned more about ourselves, each other, Korea, teaching and in life than we could have imagined. We’re driven to constantly challenge ourselves and are 100% committed to being lifelong learners. We’re not exactly sure when we’ll return to Canada and ‘settle down’ (again) but likely not in the next few years. This weekend we were registered to race in the Spartan Beast Race Korea (20km running with 25 obstacles). Unfortunately it was cancelled due to the current MERS (Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak we having going on here. What eases the pain is that we’re anxiously awaiting a delivery from Ottawa that’s due to arrive this week that includes the newest UHA T-Shirts!