On the hunt for the North Korean's !! (and Suwon)

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Day 44 (Sat 20^thOct)



I got up early to be made breakfast by one of the girls from last night’s sit on the floor and drink occasion. Toast with jam on and a fried egg on top, was a little apprehensive but gave it a go and surprisingly it works. Ate up and fetched my bag to head off to Andong intercity bus terminal. Got my ticket and got on the bus when it arrived. Think it took around 3 and a half hours to get to Suwon but it was a limousine bus so wasn’t uncomfortable in the slightest.

On arrival in Suwon I followed the directions google had my hostel at. Bad decision as this had me roaming around for the best part of 2 hours in the wrong part of town. I gave up and headed back to the station, and after showing the address to various taxi drivers who said no, one finally knew where it was. Right in the middle of town in a very famous area, but for some reason others didn’t know it or weren’t willing to take me.

After checking in and having a shower I wandered around the fortress area a little. Suwon has a fortress wall all the way around it, running about 6km in length. I was smack bang in the middle of it so had a brief walk around to get my bearings as I wanted to walk the wall the next day. I didn’t do a lot else with my evening, just watched some football and caught up on some tv.



Day 45 (Sun 21^st Oct)



After breakfast headed off to explore the Hwaseong Fortress Walls that surround Suwon. These walls protect Hwaseong Palace, where I believe royalty would come and stay a couple times a year to get out of Seoul. It’d be Seoul’s version of Beijing’s Summer Palace, but nothing like it.

The wall is around 6km and pretty much flat apart from 1 steep section which is where I started to get a good view of the city. The steps are steep but at least they only last 5 mins or so. The views both directions are very impressive and so too is the wall and the turrets, pavilions, gun towers and everything else that is associated with the fortress wall. There was a guy doing archery and you could pay for a go but considering I did it a week ago in the temple I didn’t bother. He was however shooting a target which must have been 100 metres away and nailing it, was unreal how accurate he was.

Headed back to my hostel, into the room, sat on the bed and crunch. Pulled back the duvet to realise I’d sat on my computer screen, not a wise thing to do. As it was off I didn’t realise it was broken until later on when I wanted to use it. Safe to say I wasn’t too impressed with myself. Spent the remainder of the evening on the hostel computer trying to find repair men in Seoul. After this I watched super Sunday on the huge hostel tv after everyone had gone to bed. Drank a couple 1.6l hite beers and went to bed feeling sorry for myself, due to computer situation and the fact Everton didn’t win.



Day 46 (Mon 21^st Oct)



I left Suwon first chance I got, which took a little while. I had wanted to walk to station but due to it hammering it down with rain this was delayed. Left it half hour, the rain got worse so I took a cab to the station. Got the subway from Suwon all the way into Seoul, it’s a very large subway/metro system indeed and found my hostel nice and easy. As it was still lashing down and with little research done on Seoul I had no idea what to do so I walked round in the rain near my hostel until I got fed up then went for a kip. I went out again in the evening to get some food and generally look around the area. I’m staying near Hongik University so it’s quite a busy and popular area with plenty going on it seems. It was however a horrible night, wet and very windy so I went back to hostel and was in bed by 9pm, totally lost without my laptop.



Day 47 (Tues 22^nd Oct)



Met a guy, called Jeff at 9am, who I’d emailed about trying to fix my computer. Turns out he wasn’t going to be able to do it but he said he’d accompany me to a huge electronics market in a place called Yongsan. He didn’t have to do this at all but took what was 3 hours out of his day by the time I got it sorted. Every now and again it seems you meet a really genuine person who is willing to help someone out and Jeff certainly did that. He even had a print out of a few shops/blokes selling from units, which might be able to do it. We went around them and Jeff spoke to them, asking how much and how long would it take, and got it all sorted. This was done by just after lunch so I headed back to the hostel to drop off my laptop, 100 quid lighter than I was, certainly an error I hope not to repeat again, certainly eats into the budget. With it being early afternoon I ruled out doing anything major touristy so I went instead out to the World Cup stadium, which is large. It holds around 66,000 I think and I was going to do a stadium tour but due to a lack of battery on my camera decided I’ll go Saturday morning instead with a full battery. Tomorrow is the day I go to the DMZ/JSA north Korean border so it means an early night as I’m due at a hotel in town at 8am for registration. I hope the North Koreans are ready for me !!



Day 48 (Wed 24^th Oct)



Only just woke up in time to leave the hostel and get the subway to a hotel in town for registration for my trip. Realised my ipod is on silent so the alarm just didn’t happen, what a clown. Got there anyway with a couple minutes spare, paid my money and got on the coach. Sat down in my seat to be then moved seat a couple times so people could sit together. On an hour long trip, that is all and people moan they aren’t in a group, get over it. Anyways got sat next to an American man probably in his 50’s. With his look and his accent he sounded like a mafia boss, it was class and made the journey up quite enjoyable.

After the tour guide got our tickets from a place called Imjinak Park, we headed off for the morning tour of the DMZ. This took in the 3^rd infiltration tunnel that the North Korean’s dug to attack the south, and the Dora Observatory, which is a sneak peak view into North Korea.

To get to these though we had to go through passport control with the Korean army, as well as cross the unification bridge, which crosses a river I’ve forgotten the name off, that basically splits the north and south towards the west coast of the Korean peninsula. The DMZ is a 2km zone either side of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) which sort of runs in line with the 38^th parallel.

We first did the tunnel and with my dashing yellow hard hat on descended down a very steep and slippery path into the tunnel. The path lasted around 350m, but seemed to go on forever, Watching people come up as your going down is good as they’re all struggling with the gradient. Got to the bottom where the tunnel massively narrows and shrinks and moves into the actual North Korean tunnel. It’s at most 6ft high and 5ft in places so the hard hat got used plenty of times, by everybody. There’s constant oww’s and damn’s and Korean expletives (I imagine) said along the tunnel. It’s quite damp and the bit open to the public is around 300m I think, then there’s a blockade and lots of barbed wire. They have 3 blockades in case the North decides to storm it or use it again. Turned around at the end and headed back. The climb out was easy enough after some of the hills I’ve done recently was a breeze.

On to the Dora observatory, reached by coach and avoiding the landmines either side of the road, we got our first real glimpse at North Korea. For 500 won (30p at a push) you could use a set of large binoculars for 2 minutes. Well worth it as I loved every minute of peering into North Korea, felt a bit like a spy. One of the towns visible, being the closest is a propaganda town and no one actually lives there so its eerie looking at it and the huge 160m tower with the North Korean flag flying is also pretty special to see. Overall looking into the north was brilliant. That was the morning pretty much done, bar a stop off at Dorasan Train Station. This station has been built for when Korea is unified, a little optimistically in my view. It is not used at all except for tours and is there to join Seoul and Pyongyang whenever that may be, certainly not soon I wouldn’t have though . We had a proper look found Imjinak Park after that. Then we went to lunch. Bulgogi and rice and too many side dishes that aren’t nice at all.

In the afternoon we did the JSA tour. We took in Camp Bonifas and the Freedom House in the JSA itself. This was a slow process due to Army checks and being so close to the north. We headed to a town called Panmunjom to get to Camp Bonifas, a UN governed army camp, with both Korean and US soldiers, who accompanied us through the afternoon.

At Camp Bonifas and after another passport control, we watched a short slide show, with a bit of history about the war and the JSA since then. There’s only been a few incidents so I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to get shot. I still had to sign a waiver in case that did happen, to remove them from being responsible. After this we went inside the DMZ and JSA to the freedom house I think it was and out the other side. Now within meters of the MDL, there were 3 UN buildings with a North Korean one either side and the main North Korean building straight in front of us. We were allowed to take pictures of anything North Korean but nothing Southern, I suppose in case we then went to the north and gave them ideas. There was one solitary guard on the north’s side but you could easily spot a few sets of binoculars in the windows, we were clearly being watched, which felt strange. I didn’t see any red dots on anyone so felt safe enough though.

Took a little driven tour around the south’s side of the JSA, seeing a couple guard command posts and the Bridge of no Return before heading back to Camp Bonifas and away back to Seoul. It was quite an experience being in technically a warzone but tourism has definitely lessened what years ago was probably a truly unique experience. I am though now curious what it’s like from the other side. Maybe for another trip!!



Next – Seoul itself

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