A PBS mind in an MTV world. Anonymous

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Seoul -- Day 4 -- DMZ

This was my last full day in Seoul, and also the penultimate day of my month-long backpacking tour. The previous night, I had made arrangements with Mrs. Kim to take a guided tour (48,000 won) to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) 50 km north of Seoul. I had an early breakfast and waited for the pickup at 8.30 am. FYI, there are many tour companies that offer this service. Most will have common pickup points in Seoul.

For those that are not aware, the DMZ was constructed along the 38th parallel as a result of World War II and is barely 50 km from Seoul, dividing Korea into North (capital Pyongyang) and South (capital Seoul). The 38th parallel became the de facto border for the Cold War. Almost a million N Korean soldiers are stationed along the DMZ, ready for any eventuality. So, it's easy to imagine the tension that S Koreans undergo on a daily basis. In fact, yesterday, when Matthias and I hiked up to Seoul Tower, we heard sirens blaring around 1.30 pm and all traffic nearby came to a standstill. This was apparently part of the drill S Koreans go through on a regular basis to prepare for a possible invasion by N Korea.

We drove in the van northbound for an hour and in the meanwhile, the guide gave us a good background and answered any questions we had. The drive to the DMZ passed through desolate areas, where little or no economic activity takes place. Mind you, this is one of the most dangerous places on earth today. Needless to say, security was extremely tight especially exacerbated by the recent nuclear bomb trials in N Korea. We arrived at Panmunjeom, where we all switched to official tour buses and had our passports checked. Incidentally, no private vehicles are allowed inside the DMZ. Once inside the DMZ, camera use is strictly controlled.

The highlight of the tour was the entry into the 3rd incursion tunnel discovered on October 17, 1978. There are four such incursion tunnels dug by N Korea, the last one discovered on March 3, 1990. You can enter the tunnels only with a hardhat, and believe me, you really need it. The tunnels are barely 2 meters high (6'8"), bored through solid granite and not always smooth. Visitors get to walk 350 meters through the tunnel and the feeling is indescribable. Very scary and claustrophobic. You see markers indicating places where dynamite was used to blast through granite and in some places the granite is painted over to look like coal. Scary.

Once out of the tunnel, there is a 10 minute propaganda film that's extremely amateurish and crappy. I did not enjoy that at all. Visitors are given a chance to overlook the DMZ at the Dora Observatory and perchance view the wildlife in the DMZ, it having become a haven for wildlife, because no man has set foot in it over the past 50 years. Unfortunately, the smog made it worthless to look through the binoculars or take pictures. The final part of the conducted tour is a visit to the Dorasan train station still undergoing construction. Should the two Koreas reunite, this will become the final station in S Korea to Pyongyang. All pretty tragic. Strangely though, I recalled the elegiac tune in Team America: World Police called "I'm so ronery".

Around 3.30 pm we returned to central Seoul for an impromptu jewelery "shopping" for the tourists. Boring! I returned to the guest house and met Matthias again. After a little rest, we left for another walk through the city, this time to the Dongdaemun market for window shopping and to get a feel for the nighttime activities. The market is huge and very well organized. Each alley had its own specialty such as food, jewelery, meat, seafood, eateries, shoes and utensils. We tried some street food similar to egg foo yung. It was interesting. Later we found a sports bar and grill that advertised chicken (restaurant featuring chicken are rare) and had dinner. We had a bucketful of fried chicken (Korean style) and lots of beer (14,000 won). We enjoyed it. It was, alas, time to return to the guest house and bid goodbye to Seoul. Annyeng-yo haseyo (goodbye)!

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