To kick off this trip, my travel companion and I started off with a long layover in South Korea. We booked a tour through Viator. When we got to the airport, and I was getting ready to go to the ATM to grab some cash, I hit my first snag. Before leaving home, I sorted out my regular debit card since I don't usually carry it with me when I travel. Unfortunately, we stopped using Charles Schwab, which is the debit card I usually carry and I didn't mentally process that that one wasn't in my wallet, so I didn't have a debit card with me at all! Had it not been for my travel companion, that would have been a terrible thing because I also didn't have any PIN numbers for my credit cards since I never get cash advances from them. She was able to get some cash out, and we settled in to wait for our tour guide.
Chance Kim with Outdoor Korea picked us up on time, and off we headed. First stop was the DMZ. On the way there from the airport, we drove near the border, including some guard shacks on the southern side of the Han River, which marks the North and South Korean border along Incheon, where the airport is located. Our guide told us that if you look closely, there are few to no trees on the mountains on the North Korean side because they have stripped the land of trees for wood for heating fires and construction. Though North Korea has been attempting reforestation, it was noticeably bare on the northern side of the river. Apparently these efforts have not reached the southern border.
Once we reached the DMZ area, we walked around the public area to see things. As expected, there were lots of historical markers. Korea had been a Japanese colony until the end of World War II, at which time, like much of the world, the peninsula was split between the United States and the Soviet Union. The goal was that Korea would eventually be reunified, but the sections couldn't agree on whether to reunify under communist rule or as a democracy. Ultimately, North Korea invaded South Korea, resulting in the first time the UN sent military force to support a member state. When the fighting was over, North and South Korea went back to their original split borders with a demilitarized zone between them as a buffer. South Korea has included a Civilian Control Zone, which expands this area. North Korea apparently has a similar zone.
When the Armistice Agreement was signed, there was an exchange of prisoners of war across the Freedom Bridge. Some civilians managed to cross from one to the other side, as well, before the bridge was closed off. Now, citizens of South Korea go to the end of the Freedom Bridge and write their dreams of reunification on ribbons which get tied to the wall at the end.
There are a couple of statues at the beginning of the bridge. They look like just a depiction of a male and female South Korean service member, and I can't find anything that discusses their significance.
There is also a small park that runs under the Freedom Bridge. It doesn't seem to get a lot of use, but that could be because we were there early in the morning.
To the right of the Freedom Bridge is a bombed out train that had been used during the Korean War. It appears to have been manufactured by Mitsubishi.
There is also large Peace Bell that gets rung periodically.
And there is a park where people gather once a year to pray and ask the ancestors to reunite the country. Most of these people who come to this park are old enough to remember family members from whom they have been separated since the end of the Korean War, so this park gets used by fewer people every year.
After walking around the park, I had to store my camera back in the car because it wasn't allowed on the military base with a tour. I did still have my phone camera, though.
Once on the base, we went to see the Third Tunnel. Since the Armistice, North Korea has continued to aggressively pursue reunification with South Korea under communist rule, which is a nice way to say they're continuing to try to defeat South Korea and dominate the entire peninsula. One way they have done this is by digging tunnels under the DMZ and into South Korea. Based on the size of these tunnels, the intent is to move ground troops, though one tunnel is large enough to transport artillery and small armored vehicles. One of these tunnels, the third one found, is open to tourists. It is large enough to transport 30,000 ground troops with light weapons per hour. Before the concrete barrier which blocks the tunnel from being used, it is over 300 meters at an 11-degree incline. Our guide told us that these tunnels were located by the South by boring PVC piping into the ground and pumping water into it. If the water keeps running, there is likely a tunnel, and they bore through the bedrock to reach it and plug it with a concrete barrier. Multiple other reports, however, state how these tunnels were discovered by accident, with the first tunnel being discovered by a South Korean troop on exercise noticing steam rising from the ground. Upon inspection, voices were heard, so the soldiers started puncturing the ground with bayonets and other items until the ground above the tunnel collapsed, and the two countries exchanged fire for a short period of time.
By the time the Third Tunnel was located, there were defector reports of the tunnels being dug along with information that Kim Il-sung had ordered the tunnels built in 1971, to be completed by 1975. The South Koreans had been searching for tunnels for several years, and in 1978, work the North Koreans were doing in the Third Tunnel caused an old bore hole to burst open. That bore hole was marked and supported with a PVC pipe in the tunnel to help keep the tunnel from collapsing in that spot. The fourth and last tunnel was discovered in 1990, but there are believed to be many more that have not been discovered. However, the North Korean government has seemed to abandon any attempts at winning the Southern part of the peninsula through ground action and has recently been working more on ballistic missiles, having detonated some testing missiles as recently as last week.
Before we entered the Third Tunnel, we had to put all of our belongings in a locker. That included batteries, gloves, and cell phones. There were no pictures of the tunnel. We put on our hard hats and headed down to the actual tunnel. It was an eerie feeling, descending approximately 73 meters below ground, passing by MOPP stations in several places along the way. MOPP is the masks and clothing worn as protection from the use of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. Coming back up that 11-degree incline was brutal, but I made it with just a couple of rest stops. And, after a short rest, I had enough energy left to take some "tourist shots" outside when I got my phone back.
After we finished the tunnel area, we headed to the Dora Observatory. We entered the 3-story observatory and looked out at the DMZ and beyond into North Korea, including into the North Korean village of Kaesong, also known as Propaganda City. This city has always been basically uninhabited, but was built as an attempt to get South Korean citizens to defect to the North. The observatory has an amphitheater with several rows of seating to look over the North and an outside section with the large binoculars for looking out. Despite signs all over the place stating there are no photos to be taken, we were allowed to retain our cell phones. So...
Taken somewhat surreptitiously, so it's not the greatest, but you can see the little town that was built to try to entice South Koreans to defect to the North.
After the Dora Observatory, we stopped by a gift shop. Our guide bought us each a rice soda. It was pretty good, but very, very sweet. When we finally got back to the car, we headed to lunch. He asked if we wanted Western food, Korean food that is intended for Westerners, or what Koreans eat. We told him we wanted what Koreans would eat on a fairly regular basis. So, he ordered Army Stew. It's a mix of broth, hot dogs, sausages, greens, hot chili paste, and ramen noodles with the necessary Korean ingredient - a slice of American cheese. It was absolutely delicious, and I'm going to have to try to duplicate it for dinner once in a while here, at home!
Then we headed to town, Seoul, to see the hanok village. A hanok is a traditional Korean house. Many of them have been demolished in favor of high-rise apartments that can house many people in the same space, but in the larger cities, some traditional villages still exist. In Seoul, the Bukchon Hanok Village exists in the center of town, between the palaces. We drove close to the village and parked, then walked through the Bukchon Hanok Village. We looked in some shops and were able to find postcards to send to the young children in our lives, but since it was a Sunday, the post offices were closed, so we weren't able to get any stamps to mail them from South Korea.
I took this driving past one of the palaces. You can see the corner guard post and the palace wall. There are 5 palaces in Seoul, and I'm going to have to go back to spend a day seeing them along with other things. You can get into one of them for free if you're wearing hanbok (traditional clothing).
One of the first walls we encountered was a tribute to many important historical figures.
Hanoks do not frequently have holes in their roofs. We couldn't come up with any reason why this one would be built this way. We thought about maybe a courtyard in the center of it, but we couldn't be sure.
The streets between the buildings (both old and new) were very small, but people still drove down them and parked.
This is the roofline of the village. You can see a few modern buildings have been built through here, but new regulations don't allow any more to be built. Also, according to our tour guide, all new construction has to be single story so they aren't bigger than any of the palaces.
Another view of the roofline
People in hanbok (traditional clothing). You can rent it at many stores in the area. Apparently, one of those stores had recently gone out of business and sold hanbok for ridiculously cheap. There were TONS of people (both men and women) wearing hanbok. Wearing hanbok also allows you free entrance to one of the palaces.
Because Bukchon Hanok Village is a residential part of town with a few stores and cafes sprinkled about, visitors are encouraged to stay quiet, and there are even quiet hours during which sightseers are not allowed in the area. There were several people carrying these signs reminding visitors to keep the noise down. She was not covering her face to avoid my photo, this was how she was holding the sign, and the picture just turned out this way.
One of the major streets (alleys?) of Bukchon Hanok Village. It was very busy!
After walking through the village, it was time to head back to the airport. We had an evening plane to catch to start our primary adventure in Mongolia!
