The DMZ
For many years, I thought that if I were to visit South Korea I'd pay a visit to the DMZ. The concept had fascinated me, Seoul is an awesome city with lots of epic clubs, restaurants and endless places to shop. If you go 50 minutes up the highway from Seoul, you will get to see the border of a country that has none of that. Unfortuneately at this moment you can't go over to North Korea from the DMZ if you aren't a person with political influence. You can however go to the JSA (joint security area) which is the place with the blue houses in which North Korean officials meet with South Korean officials. I was unable to get the opportunity to visit the JSA because you need to book a tour a month in advance and I had booked my tour to the DMZ just the day before.
On the bus I knew it when I saw it, I had an unusual feeling when I saw the massive barbed wire fences and the soulless mountains in the distance. The first stop of the tour was at Imjingak park, a place to mark the significance of the division of Korea but it also had a theme park and a disney-like atmosphere.
At Imjingak park there are many monuments to commemorate the horrors of what had happened during the Korean war, statues of the "comfort girls" sitting on benches and also the Freedom Bridge which was used to return prisoners of war from North Korea. There was a somber atmosphere seeing the ribbons tied to the fences with messages of hope from long-lost relatives.
5 minutes up the road brought me to the Dora Observatory, a place where you can see North Korea. I was fascinated when I looked into the telescope I was able to see a North Korean bunker, soldiers patrolling along the fences and the surreal feeling of looking at the industrial buildings of Kaesong in the distance. At this point you can also see the town that North Korea built alongside the border to make it look attractive, however it's a town of empty buildings with no-one living there. On each side of the border there are huge flagpoles and the JSA can be seen with the telescope.
North Korea dug tunnels on the border as they were planning to make a surprise attack on South Korea, one of the tunnels can be visited and it is not for the faint-hearted. You cannot take your phone into the tunnel and taking pictures is prohibited. To go in, you must wear a helmet and be prepared to walk down 20 minutes and at the end I was the closest I could ever be to North Korea without properly visiting. At the end there is a load of barbed wire fencing in front of a door which possibly leads to North Korea. The walk back over is definitely a test of cardio in a very enclosed tunnel with rocks getting in your way and water leaking.
Once I got out I went over to the gift shop to buy a magnet for my grandparents and saw that you can buy very unique tourist tat. You can buy a piece of barbed wire from the DMZ, chocolate that was exclusively grown in that area and even whisky which comes from North Korea. In this place there is also statues of the border guards you can pose with which I find very amusing
The last stop of the tour took me to Dorasan Station, a place which as said by the tour guide will become famous in the future because it will be the place where people can possibly take trains to North Korea and if that's possible you could take the train from Seoul all the way through Russia into Europe. You can even pay 1000 Won or 68p to go onto the platformed which is patrolled by four South Korean soldiers. The imagery of Dorasan Station creates a positive image for whatever the future may hold.
On the bus I knew it when I saw it, I had an unusual feeling when I saw the massive barbed wire fences and the soulless mountains in the distance. The first stop of the tour was at Imjingak park, a place to mark the significance of the division of Korea but it also had a theme park and a disney-like atmosphere.
At Imjingak park there are many monuments to commemorate the horrors of what had happened during the Korean war, statues of the "comfort girls" sitting on benches and also the Freedom Bridge which was used to return prisoners of war from North Korea. There was a somber atmosphere seeing the ribbons tied to the fences with messages of hope from long-lost relatives.
5 minutes up the road brought me to the Dora Observatory, a place where you can see North Korea. I was fascinated when I looked into the telescope I was able to see a North Korean bunker, soldiers patrolling along the fences and the surreal feeling of looking at the industrial buildings of Kaesong in the distance. At this point you can also see the town that North Korea built alongside the border to make it look attractive, however it's a town of empty buildings with no-one living there. On each side of the border there are huge flagpoles and the JSA can be seen with the telescope.
Once I got out I went over to the gift shop to buy a magnet for my grandparents and saw that you can buy very unique tourist tat. You can buy a piece of barbed wire from the DMZ, chocolate that was exclusively grown in that area and even whisky which comes from North Korea. In this place there is also statues of the border guards you can pose with which I find very amusing
The last stop of the tour took me to Dorasan Station, a place which as said by the tour guide will become famous in the future because it will be the place where people can possibly take trains to North Korea and if that's possible you could take the train from Seoul all the way through Russia into Europe. You can even pay 1000 Won or 68p to go onto the platformed which is patrolled by four South Korean soldiers. The imagery of Dorasan Station creates a positive image for whatever the future may hold.
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