Yesterday morning we got up early and walked over to the Cuzzones' hotel. It's about a mile through the downtown area. The bus for our tour of the DMZ left at 8 a.m. It only takes about an hour to get there from Seoul.
I don't know why, but I always pictured the DMZ as a barren wasteland with prison fence running through the middle of it. Instead, it was lush, green, and actually a conservation area for wildlife, since virtually no people live there. There is one small town that used to be occupied by US soldiers, but now is a farming village. The fence is still there, but the land is really beautiful. We stopped at a few different points. We had to go through a couple of checkpoints and show our passports. We stopped at an observation deck area, which was also tourist central. Many of the tourists were Korean. There is also a small amusement park here, but it has been closed for years, since the North-South relations are so bad. (Also, it was raining like crazy again.)
The second stop was at Tunnel #3. In the 70's the North Koreans dug several tunnels under the DMZ, which were routes to get to Seoul. Four of them have been discovered, but the belief is that there are more. We were able to go down and see Tunnel #3. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed, We walked down a ramp that was over 500 meters long, and at about a 20% grade. We could see where the tunnel came out. The north Koreans actually rubbed the walls with coal, so they could say they were mining if they were caught. Then we walked back up the ramp. (ugh!). We watched a short video, and then went on to another observation point, and a train station set up for trains to North Korea. This observation tower had a very strict limit on photos. You could not stand past the yellow line to take photos. So of course, the only photos you could get were of people looking out over the DMZ. The train is also out of use - Just a beautiful building sitting empty except for a couple of soldiers and a gift shop. The bathroom was interesting. There was a very modern sink, with this blue egg shaped thing hanging off to the side. It turns out the blue thing was a bar of soap. You wet your hands, rub the bar of soap, and then wash.
The DMZ is staffed by Korean Soldiers employed by the US. The US stopped sending our guys after some of them were killed. We were not allowed to take any pictures with soldiers, but a couple of them seemed to like hamming it up. From the South Korean point of view, reunification will happen sometime. NOt sure what Kim Il Jung thinks about it.
Of course, the tour had to "exit through the gift shop", which meant the whole tired hungry busload of us had to stop at a ginseng "Museum" and listen to a promotion of their products. When we returned to the hotel, we all pounced on the food court in the basement.
Chris, Lily, and Quincy went with Nick Cuzzone to see a baseball game in the evening. They said it was lots of fun.
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| Razor wire at the DMZ bus checkpoint. |
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| Good Korean soldiers. |
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| This symbolizes reunification. |
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| Do not take a photo past the yellow line! |
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| Modern, but unused train station . |
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| Hanging. |
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Baxter deciding that now is not the time to be a teenage rebel.
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| Bathroom at the train station. Note blue bar of soap. |
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| Our tour guide. |
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| A cool sculpture on the walk home. |
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| Suspended umbrellas - a piece of art. |
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| Baxter and a friend. |
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| Q and L at baseball game. |
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