DMZ Tour

Continuing on, a couple Sundays ago was the day of our tour of the Demilitarized Zone, or as I like to call it, the Neutral Zone. We went with two buses with Adventure Korea, along with English-speaking people from the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and even South Africa, I think. There was a guy who had a shirt from South Africa that was very funny, though I don't think he was from there. The shirt said "I are wearing a jean pant" and he said you have to read it with a South African accent, and he demonstrated. There was also a Malaysian couple on our bus.

Our first stop was Imjingak, the farthest point north civilians can go without permission. There was a Freedom Bridge there.



Notice that the shape of the fountain below is the shape of the Korean peninsula. It looks like a rabbit, but you can't say that to Koreans, because they find it deeply insulting. It's what Japan, the enemy, says about their country.

Here is the music that was playing at the bridge. It was very eerie. The bridge in the background of the shot is not actually in North Korea. We thought that at first, but we weren't even that close to the border at this point; it's just as far as we were allowed to go without being processed.

This is the fence near the end of the bridge, with ribbons and such with wellwishes and hopeful messages:

This is the truck of soldiers behind that fence:

This is me, sticking it to The Man:

On the path to the bridge, there is a long wall of ribbons that you can buy and write on for like a thousand won or something cheap:

A memorial by the bridge:

This is the Compass of Hope. It tells how far major cities are in different directions:

There was a little train that I guess gave some sort of tour around the area, but we weren't at this stop long enough to do something like that.

This is a memorial specifically for American soldiers who fought in the Korean War:

After Imjingak, we got back on the bus and had to give up passports or alien registration cards to be checked so we could be admitted past the line toward the Demilitarized Zone border. Then we went to a little Unification Village called Tongilchon for lunch. Here is what the Adventure Korea had to say about it:

"You can notice the life of the people who live near the border.The thieves cannot sneak into the village. Therefore each house doesnt have any gates and addresses.The village is famous for rice, soybean, Jinseng especially the rice and Jinseng are popular among the people."

This is the building (next to the buses) where we had lunch. Lunch was a traditional Korean meal, with most or all of the foods being grown right in the village. It was terrible: tasteless vegetables and beans, oversalted soup, and some colorless mush, plus the obligatory white rice and kimchi. Actually, the mush was the best part, but it was only okay at best. We hung around there for what seemed like forever, because they wanted to give everyone time to have a leisurely lunch and look around at the little store with crappy souvenirs and the few goats and chickens.

After lunch, we went to the Third Tunnel, a tunnel that was constructed by North Koreans across the border, and was the third of at least four found by South Korean military dudes. Apparently North Korea adamantly denies having dug the tunnels and asserts that it was South Korea that did it (they're like bickering four year old siblings), but the physical evidence shows that that's a big fat lie.

Before entering the tunnel, we were shown a "video documentary" (read "propaganda film") about the DMZ. It was mostly about how creating the zone and some other diplomatic endeavors has helped bring North and South Korean separated families together and foster a sense of peace between the governments. It was especially hilarious considering the bitching that has occurred between the two sides over the past few months and the ridiculous threats Kim Jong Il has issued to bomb the shit out of South Korea. Not to mention that we were in the midst of buzz regarding North Korea's expected (and executed) missile launch, carrying what they said was just a satellite for their tv and radio broadcasts.

Then we went into a little museum where I took a picture of a model:

The tunnel was the only cool part about the tour, really. We had to walk down a steep underground pathway, wearing hard hats, to get to the actual tunnel. Then we walked through the tunnel in single file, maybe like a quarter mile, until we were stopped by a pile of razor wire in front of a wall. The wall had a window in it that looked into some sort of chamber, but it seems like that was constructed just for show, since the tunnels were built for speedy travel of thousands of soldiers at a time to infiltrate the South. The tunnels were fairly low in most places, and I saw a lot of people scrape their heads or smack them on the ceiling. They were all glad of the hard hats. Cameras were not allowed inside the tunnel, so I don't have any pictures. There are some pictures of some of us after we made the steep, tiring climb back up the path, but none were taken with my camera. If I get a picture from someone else, I'll post it.

After the tunnel we just hung around for way too long. By this point, I'm extremely bored and just want to go home. We stayed at the tunnel for so much longer than we should have. There wasn't even anything to look at.

Next we went to Dora Observatory where we were not allowed to take pictures within twenty feet or so of the ledge of the viewing landing. Here's the stupid photo line:

So this is the best shot I have of North Korea:

You can see there are viewfinders there, but I didn't bother looking. I was fed up and bored. I don't understand why taking a picture of something that is available for anyone with an ID to see is prohibited, especially since the picture couldn't be taken any closer than a few steps beyond the photo line. Shit like this is why I hate authority.

Our final stop was Dorasan Train Station. This is a working train station that is the last stop in South Korea, but it's motto is that it's not the last stop in South Korea, it's the first stop to North Korea. The hope is that once the two sides reunify, the trains will be ready to go immediately to reunite people and encourage people to visit across the border.

For now, it's just a tourist trap, with the only train running twice a day to and from Seoul for tourists wanting to visit the station. This is a sign out on the track, which you pay 500 won for a ticket to get onto:

Nearby is a big picture of George W. Bush doing something that looks like signing a pile of pipes or poles or something. But he's got the marker backwards. It's really bizarre, and there must be more to it than Bush being retarded enough to try to sign something with the wrong end of a marker. Anyway, one of the tour guides was really funny and he said if you put your hand up to the picture, you can look like you're shaking Bush's hand:

Here he is doing a jump so people could take pictures of him in midair over the train track on the billboard. He was doing this for like ten minutes:

Then I had a good idea:

If only I had some rope, it would have been a pretty funny classic shot with a twist. But that's okay.

In conclusion, except for the tunnel and the above photo, this was not a worthwhile adventure. Adventure Korea, and probably other tour groups, give a two-day tour which involves more stops, planting rice, digging up pretend land mines, staying in a guesthouse with a campfire and a movie outside, etc. That seems like it might possibly be worth it, so anyone looking to do a tour like this, but don't want to be bored out of your mind, try the two-day one instead. Of course, you do risk being bored out of your mind for two days in a row...