Come stalk us! Social media update time!

Our Spot device

We have come to realize that the easiest way to update our feeds is actually through Twitter. We have tried to avoid it like the plague, but since it ties in all our social medias together, we might as well use it. And we'll use the crap out of it!

So to announce our Twitter feed, we have also created a new page for you guys! Check out our new page on our blog "Stalk us!"; but please don't be creepy about it - haha.

If your'e ever missing us and wondering how we're doing and where we are, check this page.

Stalk us page!

We included a "how to" section to put your own Twitter feeds and Spot updates into your own blog. (We're so cool!)

Also, ontop of the Stalk Us page, we've put in a map that tracks our location using Spot. A GPS device that allows you to follow where we are in the world. However, if you see a "No message to display" message, it means we haven't updated it in more than 7 days - which at the time of writing we haven't updated.

We're doing this because everytime we come home people always ask "How was your trip? What did you do?!" Not that we hate to tell you, but we just experiece so much it's difficult to share everything in one sitting. This way you have a general idea of what we did and you can interrogate us about that! =)

And P.S - this video is hilarious.



HOW TO PUT TWITTER FEED IN YOUR BLOG
This next part is for those who also want to know how to put Twitter in your blogs. Putting the feed needs a widget.

Seasons Greetings!

Now that we survived the end of the world in our own little ways, it's time to for us to wish you all a very merry happy holiday! Wheeee!! Snowball fights in Canada and braais in South Africa, enjoy the snow and enjoy the sun wherever you are in the world!

Much love from Christa and Ian

A week in North Korea in 9 minutes

In front of Kim Il Sung's statue

As it were, fittingly enough, I post this on South Korea's presidential election day; to announce a new video. Explorations sneak peak into one of the world's most secretive countries, North Korea. Aka, D.P.R.K. (Democratic People's Republic of Korea)

Yes, you are allowed to go in. Yes, you are told where to take pictures. Yes, they confiscate your camera in certain places. Yes, you can laugh and jeer at the tourists on the South Korean border at the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone).

Click this link if you just want to see the video and  Picture gallery. Otherwise you can see it at the bottom of the blog.

This is Ian's North Korea story... condensed and highlighted:

The summer in 2010 was retardedly hot in Seoul. Or so I thought, 2012 beat the crap out of 2010. I decided to hit up somewhere northern and cooler. The original plan was to head to Mongolia, but given a week, there were too many things to do. Last minute switch of airplane tickets from Ulaanbutar to Beijing. My second visit to Beijing that year. And this time, I didn't miss the flight.

To get to North Korea, I had to fly into Beijing, then take an 18 hour train ride (which I didn't know at the time). We arrived at the North Korean border at Dan Dong (no joke) and had to take a train across the river and into North Korea. This bridge is the opening shot in Explorations original introduction video. Once across the border, armed guards boarded the train. The Chinese tour group went ahead leaving the white people and the token Asian guy behind on the train.

Rock climbing in Korea: Where we climb

Climbing in Insubong

Climbing in Korea has become such an extensive part of our lives here in Seoul. If you followed us, you know we continuously post these pictures up with us on this mountain. We have a few rambling videos on climbing on "Insubong"; here and here. We have several albums of pictures dedicated to climbing in Korea on our Facebook pages. We even have an album of climbing pictures here. We think it's about time for us to release some more information of what we're doing here, climbing-wise.

The information isn't by any means secret. But if you're wondering what we're climbing or if you're reading this blog sniffing out climbing routes in Korea, keep reading! This could be a great round the world idea for you to start your outdoor travel adventures!

WHAT IS THERE TO CLIMB?

Climbing Insu-bong in winter via Go Deok Gil

There are a lot of climbing gyms in Korea, but most of them are bouldering gyms. We're not really gym rats... Korea is a very mountainous country. Dont' know where to go in Seoul? "Bukhansan", on the northern edge of the city, a city which few would think of as an "adventure getaway". Rock climbing in Seoul is actually very accesible. The city literally wraps around this mountain which is in a national park called "Bukhansan National Park". This is a very popular park for Seoulites. The peak in the mountain we climb is called "Insubong" which is across from the main peak called "Baegundae". From the summit of Insu, when you look across, it looks like an ant hill. Easy access (but complicated to get there) and a plethora of different routes attracts a lot of climbers to Insubong.

Everest trek with peak climb

A view of Lobuche peak

As time is drawing faster to an end to our chapter in South Korea, our plans are starting to come to a more solid fruition. Explorations leaves South Korea in February 2013 and as some of you know, our first stop is India. We'll spend 2 months stomping around India. Starting from Chennai we head down and around the cape. Then we head up into the desert, through central India and east toward Nepal where we'll possibly walk across into Nepal. At which point, it'll be some epic outdoor travelling adventure!

This Nepal trip is decked out to the max. We'll be doing a himalayan tour with a trek up to EBC (Everest Base Camp) and then a push to an altitude of 6,100 meters. To give you an idea, EBC is approximately 5,700 meters and planes fly at approximately 9,100 meters. The peak we're climbing is clocked at 6,100 meters. We'll be heading up to the Eastern Summit, via the Southern Ridge.

It's snowing! Videos!

Ian shredding some dirty pow in Niseko, Japan

It took a long time, but finally the back breaking work is done! Well more of finger breaking, eye straining, computer crashing and a lot of frustration later we have our newest travel video out! As Christmas is just around the corner and we've been gone for so long, some of you might forget who we are! This is just in time for the holiday spirit! Reminding you we're still around.

We have a few updates which are all video related! Keep reading!

We started a library of our vidoes of great places to travel! Mainly because we went there and thought it was pretty damn cool. You might find some interesting tourist destinations around the world that you might not have considered checking out, or see some interesting mash of cultures you wouldn't expect!

This library of video can be found in two places. First our YouTube site (dur) and second our video page on our blog! Our video page is now updated! Go check it out! The only difference on YouTube; you get to see a thumbnail of the video you're going to watch.