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(Day 195 on the road) Back in Seoul, I spent the night in one of the numerous 24-hours spas. The spa I went to (near the Olympic Park, site of the Olympics of 1988) was massive, and for 5 Euro you can use all of their facilities for a full 24h. Most of the spas here are like little independent cities, with various hot and cold pools, numerous saunas, resting areas, sleeping rooms, a few restaurants and snack counters, a golf driving range, an Internet cafe, a cinema, and a swimming pool. Not bad at all!

But I wasn't going to stay long in Seoul, my aim was to go to the Joint Security Area (JSA) about 41km north of the city. The JSA is actually located inside the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) and lies on both sides of the border. As the name implies, it is jointly controlled by South and North Korea, and has in the past been the scene for numerous incidents, some including the death of soldiers, others more harmless. The JSA is also the only place in the whole country where visitors from both sides can take a step into the neighbouring country without any visas, although quite a few countries are banned from this privilege, especially most Middle Eastern and Chinese citizens, and incidentally also citizens of both Koreas themselves.

The JSA is, as expected, a heavily guarded, high-security area. As my passport was still with the Chinese embassy, it was not at all easy for me to actually join the tour, as they typically require you to carry your passport with you. After a few telephone calls to both the United Nations office and the US army, they made an exception and let me join the tour with just my driver's license and a copy of my passport. After a briefing before entering the area ("no pointing at the North Korean side, no shouting, no showing of any brochures, no touching of any North Korean property" and so on) we all had to sign a disclaimer form that started out by stating: "The visit to the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom will entail entry into a hostile area and possibility of injury or death as a direct result of enemy action". Not too comforting, but after all, this was what I was here for!

And I was not disappointed! After the arrival in the border area we were taken into a building which the actual border runs straight through. So the front part of the building was South Korea territory, the back part is North Korean. The building is open to both parties, and often North Korean guards are present when groups visit. On my visit, however, the North Korean border guards chose to stay outside the hut, and we could see them behind the building on their side. One guy was watching our group through a pair of binoculars, on top of the cameras that monitored our every move. It was all a very chilly atmosphere.

The rest of the tour included a few more stops at various lookout points, at one where you can see a North Korean village, supposedly a propaganda village as our guide told us, but then again there is also a tiny and little used South Korean village on this side of the border, and I am sure the North will degrade it as propaganda just the same. The final stop and another highlight was a brief stop at the Bridge of No Return, where after the war and to this date prisoner exchanges take place. We were not allowed to leave the bus however, and this was just as well, as the place looked pretty scary and North Korea had in the past tried to abduct people here and drag them over into North Korea. I am not sure how real this threat is today, but the (false?) security of the bus felt good.

After all that, I spent two final days in South Korea, before it was time to move on. On the first day, I went to the travel agency to pick up my passport which now hopefully included my new Chinese visa, and indeed it did! After that, I moved on to Incheon, where, true to style, I spent my last night in Korea in another of the fabulous 24 hour spas. This one was a little smaller and more intimate than its counterparts in Seoul, but nonetheless or maybe because of that it was very relaxing. And the next afternoon, I boarded yet another ferry, this one bound for Qingdao in China.

Next stop: Qingdao (Shandong Provice, China). Also have a look at my pictures at http://pictures.beiske.com.

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