Seoul and the Demilitarized Zone
Trip Start
May 04, 2007
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Trip End
May 07, 2007
Seoul,
Korea Rep.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
me at a memorial wall near dmz
Our guide took us around a bit and showed us the freedom bell or peace bell or something that they are supposed to ring every day but supposedly have not actually rung since New Years Day 2000.
the peace bell
When it was our time slot we boarded our big red bus and headed in to the actual DMZ. At the checkpoint an armed North Korean soldier boards the bus and checks everyone's passports. They have some huge gun strapped to their backs an dour guide made it very clear to everyone on board that we were not allowed to take picture of them or anything that we were not expressly told we could take picture of. Nonetheless, of course, some idiot on our bus tried to take a picture of the soldier and there was a little chaos. What was she thinking? I mean, we are in the Korean DMZ here! I don't know. Luckily the situation was diffused and we moved on into the DMZ where we saw the last train station between North and South Korea which they someday hope to use to connect mass transit all the way into North Korea. Apparently the station is currently used for some special passengers but mostly this place served as a memorial. We took pictures with a South Korean guard and Chris bought some souvenir pieces of barbed wire from along the DMZ.
chris and i with a korean soldier
After this we headed the Third Tunnel of Aggression: one of many tunnels dug by North Korea into South Korea and subsequently discovered by South Korea. This particular tunnel was the largest one discovered thus far- big enough to move small tanks and thousands of troops into Seoul in just a few hours. The funny story behind this place is that when the S. Koreans discovered it in the mid 90s the N. Koreans painted the walls black and tried to tell S Korea that it was just an old abandoned coal mine! When they didn't buy that, they that tried to say they think S. Korea actually dug the tunnel- even though it comes form the North!
north korea is in the background there!
Before actually entering the tunnel you visit a guarded center where you are given a little spiel a to what each of the visible landmarks on the Northern side are including a propaganda village in which no one lives (built to showcase the prosperity of the North to those looking in from the South) and a 200 kg N. Korean flag facing the South- one of the largest flags in the world. Outside we were able to look over through binoculars and flag, some military vehicles patrolling, and even a giant statue of Kim Jong Il. It was wild but we were not allowed to take any picture except for behind a designated yellow line behind which you really could not see the North. Very weird. Finally we put on our hardhats and entered the tunnel where you take a long and somewhat steep trek many feet below the ground and enter a really leaky and uneven tunnel which requires a lot of crouching at some points. Lots of people were smacking their heads constantly. The interior of the tunnel featured a few plaques about its discovery and how they believe that there are still many more undiscovered tunnels from the North to the South. Plaque inscriptions (which were also translated into English) often ended in phrases such ash "and that illustrates the two-sidedness of the North". This particular tunnel was discovered after information was given by a deflector from the North and they hope to discover the others in the same way. The tunnel accessible to tourists ends at some point and the remainder is used for some kind of military guard and you turn back and make the somewhat strenuous trek back up to the top. After our DMZ tour was over our tour guide took us to an amethyst factory- South Korea is famous for amethyst. Finally we were dropped back near Seoul station and were on our own for a few hours in Seoul. The weather was beautiful and it was the last day of the huge HiSeoul festival which featured some great orchestra music in an outdoor pavilion. First we visited large castle in Seoul the name of which I cannot remember and enjoyed its pagodas and gardens.
castle in seoul
From here we set out to try to find a place to eat dinner. Out tour guide had told us that fried chicken and beer is a famous and popular meal in Seoul, we didn't believe her at first but apparently it was true because we saw chicken and beer places everywhere. We settled on one in a fun little alley of restaurants with international flags all hanging everywhere and plastic eats set up outside on the street.
little restaurant alley in seoul w/ flags
We took a seat next to a rowdy group of people and one who introduced himself as Mr. Kim approached us as the sole English speaker at his table. He told us about how he teaches Tae Kwon Do at a local military base and learned English there. He communicated with us on behalf of his table who had many questions about where we were from and how we liked Korea. One of them gave be a great wooden beaded Buddhist bracelet! The chicken was good (standard fried chicken and beer) and after some antics from Mr. Kim including a Michael Jackson impression and a martial arts demonstration in the street we had to get going back to the station to get our 10pm train home.
me @ chicken and beer!
The train ride home was uneventful and we got a little sleep before getting back to our Busan hotel shortly after midnight. What a day! 
