DMZ, DML, And Rainy Days.

It was raining Tuesday morning as we huddled in the hotel lobby, preparing for our journey onward. I was once again channeling Julie the cruise director. I wanted to go to the DMZ, other people wanted to go to the DMZ, but no one would take the initiative. So I just got a head count, had the nice concierge book the excursion and here we all were.

Again, there was still a bit of a language barrier with the concierge. He told me to just meet in the lobby at 8AM, but didn't tell me where or what to do after that. So we milled about waiting for the 8 o'clock hour to roll around.

"Are you waiting for the DMZ tour?" a timid little voice asked. I responded yes and she introduced herself as Sophie, and she was going to be our guide for the day. We all piled into the "tomato tours" bus and off we went.

I'm sure most of you know what the DMZ is, but for those who don't, here's the scoop. DMZ stands for "DeMilitarized Zone." Technically, the Korean war is not over. All there is a ceasefire of sorts. An armistice was signed setting up a DML (DeMarcation Line), and 2 kilometers on either side of the DML is the DMZ. You can enter the DMZ, but you cannot cross the DML, for that you get shot.

As we bounced down the rain soaked road, Sophie spoke on the microphone telling us what are day was to consist of. There were no real stops in the DMZ, but rather three stops near the DMZ, the 3rd Tunnel, the Dora Observatory, and the Dorasan train station. The rain kept coming down but that didn't really dampen our spirits, we were about to witness history.

We left the city of Seoul and headed North to the DMZ. As we got closer, and the city thinned to rice paddies, we began to notice a tall fence with barbed wire and observation posts every few kilometers. Beyond the fence was a river and the other bank. Were we looking at North Korea? Sadly, no, the origin of the river was in North Korea, so they fenced both sides of the river so that no one could invade without warning. But this was our introduction to the DMZ.

But it was the strangest damn thing, when we approached the entry area there was an amusement park!The ticket booth for crossing into the military controlled area was next to an amusement park! we are probably 5 kilometers from North Korea, and there's an amusement park. I didn't know what to make of it.

Because we came up short on our head count (I booked 25, and only 17 showed up) we were forced to buy tickets and ride on another bus, with other tourists. I guess the rule was, only "approved" buses could enter. If we had 25 people, we would have had our own bus and did the tour in our own time. But since we were only 17 we had to be on the "timed" tour. Kind of a bummer.

But the real bummer was waiting for us at the guard gate. From that point on, no unauthorized photography. You could take pictures at certain designated places (as you'll see below), but that was it, you couldn't just snap away.

An armed South Korean soldier entered our bus and began to check everyone's passport. Of course, Mel, Jason and I were fascinated with his assault rifle, which Sophie told us was a Korean made K1 or K3. They used to use M-16's, but decided they were "too bulky". After we were all check out, off we went across a bridge and into the military controlled zone. The bridge was lined with barriers and tank traps, so the bus driver had to slalom left and right to avoid them. The first stop, the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel.

I won't go into too much detail, this blog is getting long, but I will say this, The 3rd Infiltration Tunnel was dug by the North Koreans as a way to invade South Korea by surprise. It's about 75 meters underground, which is as deep as a 25 story building is high. And to hide the fact that they had dug this tunnel, they rubbed the walls with charcoal, so that if it was ever discovered, they would claim it was an old coal mine. How slick is that?

No pictures were allowed at or in the tunnel. We had to watch a 7 minute "propaganda" film (that's what Sophie called it) about how unification of the two Korea's was just around the corner. And then we walked down a 350 meter tunnel that was at an 11 or 12 degree slope to get to the official 3rd Tunnel. This is the one thing I wanted to see, the tunnel, I've got a little bit of claustrophobia, so this was going to be a real challenge. But I had to do it. It helped to have 16 other people with me, but what sucked was the journey down, the journey to the end of the tunnel (which is blocked 150 meters from the DML), and the journey up.

My legs hurt all the way down. It was damp and I was afraid of slipping down the super steep slope. My back and neck hurt all they way through. The tunnel is 1.6 meters long and only about 5'10" high, so I had to stoop over the entire way down and back. My heart and head hurt all the way up. My legs were already in pain from the trip down, but now my heart was beating like crazy. I breathed heavy and got dizzy from the walk up. Basically 25 stories, on a slope, all uphill. Good times. But this was the only point on the tour where were were officially in the DMZ. Granted it was 75 meters underground...

After I caught my breath, we got back on the bus and headed off to the Dora Observatory. It was situated on top of a hill, which always makes for a good observatory. But on this day, not so much. It was raining so we weren't able to see North Korea and it's barren hillsides immediately. But for a brief moment the showers passed and we were able to see the tallest flagpole in the world (on the North Korean side), and it's counterpart flag on the South Korean side, as well as the hills where the North Koreans had cut down all their trees. Why did they cut down all the trees? So there would be no place for an advancing army to hide. And there would be no place for defectors to hide either.Here's the only picture I could snap during the brief stop of rain. You could only take a picture behind a yellow line painted about 25 feet from the actual edge of the observatory. I had to wait for people with umbrellas to move.

The final official stop was at the Dorasan Train Station, this was a very bizarre place. Here, the South Koreans built an brand new state of the art train station with tracks built right to Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. But the station is never used. The tracks are used because South Korea does a fairly active trade with North Korea for goods, but no passenger trains are allowed into the country. Here, you were allowed to take pictures so I snapped away.

The entry gate to Pyongyang. Obviously not open.

The waiting area. Obviously not used.

The arrivals hall from North Korea. You get the idea.

And three handsome gentlemen. The only guards you are allowed to take a photo with.

Our final stop was at the tourist trap, uh, I mean gift shop, where you could purchase barbed wire from the DMZ fence, North Korean bilberry or ginseng wine, and produce from the neighboring Unification Village. The Unification Village is located within the military controlled zone. Less than 500 people live there, most of them farmers. They live tax free because if South Korea was ever invaded, they'd be the first to go. Tax free is a pretty good incentive don't you think?

It was an interesting day. Sort of surreal, like being in Nigeria, but not feeling as helpless. We were technically in a war zone and lived to tell the tale.

FYI, it looked nothing like M*A*S*H.

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