doing the dmz

As I mentioned in the previous post, Ken and I went to Seoul last weekend. The bus ride up there was uneventful. It took around 4 1/2 hours at the most and the bus was very nice - had seats that reclined and foot rests. We stopped around midway and we were able to go to the restroom and get something to drink and/or eat. The subway was right outside the bus station, so we hopped on and headed to the hotel. We stayed at the Lotte Hotel, which was downtown. It really is a beautiful place and was such a convenient location.



We got up early the next morning and boarded a bus bound for the De-Militarized Zone, or DMZ.
(I am not going to bore you with alot of history. But if you are interested, just click on the underlined words and they will take you to more detailed explanations of where we were.) The bus had 2 tour guides - one that translated into Japanese and the other spoke English. They both were very good and kept us entertained with little facts and stories on the 45 minute bus ride up there. After going through a checkpoint where we had to all present our passports, we arrived at the location of the 3rd Tunnel. There are 4 known tunnels that South Korea has found between the North and the South and this is the closest one to Seoul. It was discovered in 1978. A North Korean defector has said that there are 20 of them. North Korea denies it, but South Korea feels that these were built for possible invasion. We donned hard hats
and rode a monorail down into the tunnel. I had a wave come over me of "I shouldn't be doing this, it is claustrophobic for me" as we first started down the tunnel, but it quickly subsided, thank goodness. It was very narrow going down. Once we got to the bottom, we were able to walk in the actual tunnel until we got to 70 meters (I think that is right) of North Korea. We were not allowed to take pictures in the tunnel. Picture taking was limited - the guides were continually reminding us when and where we could take pictures. We then boarded the bus and headed for the Mt. Dora Observatory, where we could see North Korea.
It was interesting to note that most of the trees were cut down on the North Korean side. Our guide said that this was due to the fact that they needed the fuel and also so that spies are more easily spotted. There is also a flag on the North Korean side that supposedly is the tallest in the world.
It was difficult to take any pictures due to the fact that we were only allowed pictures from behind a certain yellow line. However, there was an abundance of binoculars to look through.
Our tour guide said that we were fortunate in that it was an extremely clear day.
We then stopped again at Dorasan Station . This is the last train station going north.
I made a couple of friends here. They don't smile much though.

Our last stop was at Imjingak Park, the site of the Freedom Bridge. This is the only bridge connecting North and South Korea. After a Korean lunch (we sat next to a man from Minnesota who was in Seoul to run a marathon), we boarded the bus back to Seoul.

Even though you really don't see a whole lot, this was quite an experience. Just to know that you are so close to a country that is so shut off from the world is something you don't do every day. It is sad that it has to be this way. Our tour guide said that there are 100 million Koreans separated between the two borders. Unbelievable.