the DMZ, or demistifying zone...
I hope that for some of you who were looking forward to this, that you won't be so disapointed.
Let me start out by saying that if you had any visions or ideas of what you thought the dmz might be like, erase those images, but they're nothing like what it really is. Secondly, any movies that you might think might be close to the DMZ, such as one of the recent Jame's Bond movies - not even close. So now that you've erased all preconceived notions of the DMZ, i'll tell you what it was like, or at least what the half-day tours consist of.
We chose the half-day tour, because like all other tours in Korea, they don't tell you whether the tour time includes travel time or not - but the only real differenc between many of the tours is the order they do the tour in, the price, or what days you can travel on - theirs not a lot of difference. Being that my cousin and I are both dutch, we chose the cheapest option; cheers to heritage. We also chose the half-day tour, because we didn't want to spend an entire day at the DMZ; when you're here, most Korean's will just shrug if you ask about the DMZ. for Korean men, military service is mandatory for minimum two years; so most of the men will spend some amount of time working at or near the dmz in their lifetime, and the women do pretty much what the men suggest to do- so the women just don't really show any desire to go.
so after our hour long ride on really rough korean highway roads, inside a bus that didn't appear to have ANY shocks or support, we arrived at the dmz (the dmz is only 45 minutes north of Seoul - its pretty close). we then hopped onto a different tour bus - in the dmz, you don't really travel with just your tour - you take your tour to the dmz, and then you hop on a bus with other tour groups, travelling on a dmz approved bus. we really only had three stops on our agenda, and all of them showed promise. our first stop was at one of the discovered tunnels from the North. North korea is always trying to find ways into south Korea, and the first stop if they were to attack would be seoul. even though the south has discovered only four tunnels, they guess that North korea is always digging tunnels, and could have more than ten tunnels all directed in the general vicinity of seoul. however, as we found out was the case in many of hte spots on the tour, no pictures were allowed in the tunnel. rather frustrating, because my description is pretty much that its just a typical tunnel, generally about five feet, five inches high, and wide enough for two people to pass through. so through the whole tunnel, you're somewhat haunched over. but no pictures. a little annoying, but still cool to experience. the tunnel itself was pretty deep in the ground, so the walk to the tunnel was interesting.
our second stop on the tour was the closest spot in south korea to the actual dmz. we saw an interesting demonstration. watching the demonstration, he pointed out a big picture window wall of glass to points in north korea, such as their closest city to the south, where their big flag pole is located, etc.
at this stop, you could take pictures outside of the demonstration room, but you had to take them behind a big yellow line - the reason being is that they don't want you to take pictures of the south korean military positions - its not as if the north doesn't know where the south korean posts are, its more rules and regulations. so not a single picture really turned out - from this spot, you could look into north korea, and see the actual land of the dmz, but not a single picture from behind the yellow line turned out at all - apologies. regardless, from my vantage point, the north looks just like the south - an east asian country.
our last stop was at Dorasan station. in the year 2000, the north and south agreed to complete a railway that would like the south all the way to europe via the trans-siberian railway. but to no one's suprise, the north hasn't completed the last 2.2km of railway. their official response is that they've run out of money. for a country that spends 90% of their budget on military expenditures, they run out of money more often than not. this station is the last stop on korea's way to becoming a superpower in Asia. without a railway, they cannot ship anything out of the country unless by ships, and that can get expensive with fuel costs rising. ironically, korea has set up a full immigration office, full train station, etc, for when they actually connect the two countries; i don't think its going to happen for a long time, but i could be wrong.....
and that was the dmz. on the way back, we had to stop at an amythist shop (right.....a dmz tour cannot be "complete" without a stop at the Seoul amythist factory......)they dropped us off downtown, and that was the whole tour. it was somewhat anticlimatic for me; i came in with really high expectations, and i somewhat left disapointed. it was nice to visit, but i won't need to go again, thats for sure. its one of the places i'm glad that i could see, and if you come to visit me, i would encourage you to go. its informative, and lets you see what its like to have a demilitarized zone. just don't come expecting to see north korean outposts watching your every move....
well, i need to go - i hope things are going well. i'll catch you all later
bryan
Let me start out by saying that if you had any visions or ideas of what you thought the dmz might be like, erase those images, but they're nothing like what it really is. Secondly, any movies that you might think might be close to the DMZ, such as one of the recent Jame's Bond movies - not even close. So now that you've erased all preconceived notions of the DMZ, i'll tell you what it was like, or at least what the half-day tours consist of.
We chose the half-day tour, because like all other tours in Korea, they don't tell you whether the tour time includes travel time or not - but the only real differenc between many of the tours is the order they do the tour in, the price, or what days you can travel on - theirs not a lot of difference. Being that my cousin and I are both dutch, we chose the cheapest option; cheers to heritage. We also chose the half-day tour, because we didn't want to spend an entire day at the DMZ; when you're here, most Korean's will just shrug if you ask about the DMZ. for Korean men, military service is mandatory for minimum two years; so most of the men will spend some amount of time working at or near the dmz in their lifetime, and the women do pretty much what the men suggest to do- so the women just don't really show any desire to go.
so after our hour long ride on really rough korean highway roads, inside a bus that didn't appear to have ANY shocks or support, we arrived at the dmz (the dmz is only 45 minutes north of Seoul - its pretty close). we then hopped onto a different tour bus - in the dmz, you don't really travel with just your tour - you take your tour to the dmz, and then you hop on a bus with other tour groups, travelling on a dmz approved bus. we really only had three stops on our agenda, and all of them showed promise. our first stop was at one of the discovered tunnels from the North. North korea is always trying to find ways into south Korea, and the first stop if they were to attack would be seoul. even though the south has discovered only four tunnels, they guess that North korea is always digging tunnels, and could have more than ten tunnels all directed in the general vicinity of seoul. however, as we found out was the case in many of hte spots on the tour, no pictures were allowed in the tunnel. rather frustrating, because my description is pretty much that its just a typical tunnel, generally about five feet, five inches high, and wide enough for two people to pass through. so through the whole tunnel, you're somewhat haunched over. but no pictures. a little annoying, but still cool to experience. the tunnel itself was pretty deep in the ground, so the walk to the tunnel was interesting.
our second stop on the tour was the closest spot in south korea to the actual dmz. we saw an interesting demonstration. watching the demonstration, he pointed out a big picture window wall of glass to points in north korea, such as their closest city to the south, where their big flag pole is located, etc.
at this stop, you could take pictures outside of the demonstration room, but you had to take them behind a big yellow line - the reason being is that they don't want you to take pictures of the south korean military positions - its not as if the north doesn't know where the south korean posts are, its more rules and regulations. so not a single picture really turned out - from this spot, you could look into north korea, and see the actual land of the dmz, but not a single picture from behind the yellow line turned out at all - apologies. regardless, from my vantage point, the north looks just like the south - an east asian country.
our last stop was at Dorasan station. in the year 2000, the north and south agreed to complete a railway that would like the south all the way to europe via the trans-siberian railway. but to no one's suprise, the north hasn't completed the last 2.2km of railway. their official response is that they've run out of money. for a country that spends 90% of their budget on military expenditures, they run out of money more often than not. this station is the last stop on korea's way to becoming a superpower in Asia. without a railway, they cannot ship anything out of the country unless by ships, and that can get expensive with fuel costs rising. ironically, korea has set up a full immigration office, full train station, etc, for when they actually connect the two countries; i don't think its going to happen for a long time, but i could be wrong.....
and that was the dmz. on the way back, we had to stop at an amythist shop (right.....a dmz tour cannot be "complete" without a stop at the Seoul amythist factory......)they dropped us off downtown, and that was the whole tour. it was somewhat anticlimatic for me; i came in with really high expectations, and i somewhat left disapointed. it was nice to visit, but i won't need to go again, thats for sure. its one of the places i'm glad that i could see, and if you come to visit me, i would encourage you to go. its informative, and lets you see what its like to have a demilitarized zone. just don't come expecting to see north korean outposts watching your every move....
well, i need to go - i hope things are going well. i'll catch you all later
bryan