DMZ

On Sunday I visited the de-militarized zone between North and South Korea. It was interesting and definitely worth seeing. It is pathetic how little I know about Korea's history. I knew next to nothing about the Korean War until one of my friends here gave me a mini history lesson. Koreans here often ask me what Americans think of Korea. I tell them they think of North Korea's hatred for the U.S. and that they think Koreans eat dog. I knew a bit more than that about South Korea before coming here, but as far as history is concerned, I am ignorant.

The trip consisted of a stop at a ginseng festival with some quality photo ops, a traditional Korean lunch, visiting a tunnel, seeing into North Korea, and visiting the train station that runs into North Korea. The tunnel and museum was probably the most interesting part, but sadly cameras were not allowed in the tunnel. After the Korean War, North Korea built many tunnels into South Korea with the intention to invade Seoul. These tunnels have only been discovered within the last 30 years. The most recent and fourth tunnel was found in the 1990s. It is thought that there are many more tunnels in existance that have yet to be found. The tunnel was quite a hike, we walked down 500 meters into the ground. The walk down was not so bad, but the walk back up 500 meters at a 45 degree angle was a workout.

At the observation tower, we could see into North Korea. Unfortunately we could only take pictures behind a certain line, so I don't have any quality photos of North Korea. Also, it was kind of hazy so it was difficult to see the propaganda town North Korea has set up for tourists to see from the observation tower.

I have pictures which you can see here: DMZ pictures Just a note, my cousin Stacey sent me her daughter Lilli's flat Stanley. That is what I am holding up in most of the pictures. Our tour guide thought that I had an imaginary friend I was bringing with me on the trip.