I eat my breakfast on the bus. Remembering back to how psyched I was in Singapore when I discovered packaged tea eggs in the convenience store there, I'm quite happy they're here in South Korea, too. It's my first time seeing tea quail eggs though...
Our tour guide of the day is a South Korean volunteer, who warns us that the area we're going to is very dangerous and he feels for his life every time he travels there. Of course, we had to sign a waiver when we signed up for the tour (we understand that our life is in danger etc etc and USO is not responsible for anything that happens).
Based on the incident list up to 2001 (where's the list of post-2001 incidents?), yes, it can indeed be dangerous. It's like getting run over while crossing a street in Hanoi.
Pictures are not allowed on the way there and checkpoints along the way are tightly controlled with guards, as expected (and a lot of barbed wire). After 90 minutes (really close to Seoul!), we arrive at the start of our tour for a briefing of the history of and current situation at the DMZ. The briefing and the tour within the JSA are given by US army members. They warn us before we head out for the JSA that we are not to try to communicate with the North Korean soldiers in any way. No words, no gestures, no signaling of any sort.
Onward to the JSA (joint security area). I read that the USO tour is the only DMZ tour that takes you right up to the line, which seemed to be true... I didn't see any other tour groups during our whole time there.
Building where they had the armistice talks and the recent six party talks...
The line. The gray building on the other side is North Korea. The blue buildings are half in South Korea, half in North Korea. We filed into one of the blue buildings and were only told after we all got in that the conference table in the middle separated the two sides... the farther end of the building is in North Korea. Since I was one of the first people into the building and they told us to keep going past that conference table, I was in North Korea while Captain Reardon explained a bunch of stuff.
There's one South Korean soldier at the the head of the conference table dividing the two sides and another one on the other side of the room at the door to the North Korean side. We were able to take pictures with the soldier in the middle of the room but were warned to, of course, not touch him, but also to not cross behind or directly in front of him. (Going next to the one near the North Korean door would be getting too close to the North Korean side.)
600-lb North Korean flag (much much taller than the South Korean flag)...
Cameras...
Taesung is the village on the South Korean side and has population around 200+, but not everyone can live there. Only the current population and those born into it can live there. There is some benefit to living in the village... mainly a decent salary - more than $80,000 (in dollars), but residents also have a daily 11pm curfew. And one has to stay in the village 240 nights out of the year or lose their residency status, which did happen to nine people this year.
On the North Korean side is a fake village, well, one with no residents, but supposedly the North Koreans still broadcast plenty of propaganda to it. Actually, K and I did consider traveling to North Korea when researching this trip (the Lonely Planet Korea book contained both south and north info), but turns out all trips to North Korea are government tours... they stick two tour guides on you for your entire trip and you're further funding the North Korean government.
After leaving the JSA area, we see more tour groups, for example, at our next location - the observatory. Observe into the North Korean side...
We also got to go through part of the 3rd infiltration tunnel, a secret tunnel beneath the DMZ built by the North Koreans for which they pretend was a 'coal mine' (the rock there is granite!) rather than being a tunnel to use for moving troops quickly and quietly into South Korea. It's 1600+ meters long and not that high, so even I have to bend down a slight bit in some areas. We all have to wear hard hats into the tunnel, which prove to be quite useful. Unfortunately, no pictures in the tunnel. As K appropriately notes, the North Koreans build this tunnel and the South Koreans have turned it into a tourist attraction.
The South Koreans then discovered a 4th tunnel in 1990 and note that there are probably many more tunnels but they just haven't found them yet. The tunnel tour is followed up by a small museum and then a movie. The movie is a bit... very strangely hopeful for the future.
Back in Seoul, we do a walk through the city and down Cheonggye stream, an area recently restored by city. There's people of all ages and types at the stream, strolling, just sitting and chatting, etc. During our walk, we encounter *big* egg nuggets and flat egg nuggets. The big ones are like the small ones but big, so less crunch more soft whereas the flat ones actually have an egg in them!
A short walk through Namdaemun since it's now right near our hostel. The market is much more lively than what we'd seen the other evening. We stop by the hotel to check email to meet E.
Large yummy dinner with E. Another entry =)
Then stroll with E around Kangnam. Lots of bright signs...
We passed an advertising booth where people could play a short wii game (have the game character drink whiskey as fast as possible) to get some trial sizes of whiskey. According to E, there are usually a few of these game booths.
I reassured E that it's ok for him not to see us again if he's too busy, but he says it's ok, so we make plans to meet again tomorrow night, but after dinner since it's a crazy day for him. I'm happy we get to see him again though since it's hard to pinpoint exactly when we'll get to see each other again after this.
Sleep. Midnight.
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