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Published: January 2nd 2012
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First, a belated Happy New Year! The last month was the one I had been semi-dreading—because of being away from family around the holidays. My friends here worked together to make the holidays as positive as possible, and I got to vicariously experience Thanksgiving and Christmas via Skype, so I did thoroughly enjoy all the holidays.They were as good as they could have been away from my wonderful family.
This blog should be mainly about my visit to Seoul at the end of November, so let me tell you about that. Well, I had some grand sightseeing plans, most of which didn’t turn out. Friday, we basically just had beers outside the convenience store while it rained (actually, it was enjoyable anyways because of the company), then ate at TACO BELL. Yes, it was exciting to eat it, but I had to settle for a Crunch Wrap Supreme, because they didn’t have Chalupas or Gorditas : (.
The main part of our trip was going to be seeing the DMZ (de-militarized zone bordering North Korea). What I’d heard was that it was THE thing to see when in Korea. You can’t just show up for one of these tours;
you have to schedule it in advance, provide your passport numbers, and make sure to follow the dress code (ex. no flipflops). We booked a half-day tour to start early in the morning, but unfortunately it was booked out, and we had to start the tour around noon instead.
The DMZ is a couple-mile-wide fenced area on either side of the whole border with North Korea. From Seoul, we took a bus along a river, and at some points North Korea was right on the other side. The tour guide told us these stories about how North Korea constructs ‘propaganda villages’ and other things, and how South Korea sends balloons over and has Christmas lights that are visible from North Korea. To me the stories seemed really tit-for-tat and juvenile. It must be different for both of the governments, but I doubt either country’s doing these things actually influences citizens on the other side of the border.
After driving for about 1 ½ hours, we got to the DMZ, where we then had to wait for UN (?) and Korean soldiers to check our passports and give our bus the okay. The main ‘attraction’ inside the DMZ was
Inside Panmunjom
The middle of the table is the dividing line between the countries. Panmunjom, which is the area of buildings where North and South Korean representatives meet, if necessary. Within the DMZ and on our way to Panmunjom, we passed a tiny South Korean village, where people still live and farm. These civilians have to be escorted by soldiers when they go to work in their fields, for their safety. The rice is apparently known in Korea for being healthy, because of the lack of pollution (it’s true that few people live in that area, I guess). I found it ridiculous that people continue to live there. It’s almost like they live in some alternate world where it’s just them and soldiers. Also visible from the road was a bit of a North Korean ‘propaganda village’, complete with a huge 525 ft. flag tower they built to one-up South Korea’s 323 ft. one.
We eventually got to Panmunjom and were allowed to get off the bus. We could only carry our cameras (not even the cases). The tour guide told us we should have as little as possible in case we had to run for it (seriously). We walked through a nice-looking South Korean building in double-file lines, and then we were
outside and facing North Korea. This was all escorted by soldiers. Once outside, we could see the Panmunjom buildings and a North Korean guard building. This was the most exciting part because we were all ready to see North Korea and North Koreans! But there was no one in sight except South Korean soldiers. We were then allowed to go inside one building, staying only on the half closest to South Korea. Soon, though, we were given the go-ahead to walk to the other side of the inside of the building (technically on North Korea’s half of the border, but also perhaps considered a neutral zone). It was pretty crazy to be there. But we were only allowed to stay inside that building for about 2-3 minutes.
Once back outside we lined up again, and saw that across in North Korea, a soldier had come outside with his binoculars to look at us. It was pretty exciting. The tour guide and soldier told us that usually no soldiers stand outside; only when North or South Koreans come to tour the Panmunjom do soldiers go outside to stand guard. After Panmunjom, they gave us about an hour-ish to shop in
Outside Panmunjom 1
That white building is North Korean. the gift shop which had some things from North Korea and the South Korean DMZ village for sale. Finally, we got back on the bus and headed back to Seoul. Overall, it was an interesting trip, but a lot of our day was wasted just waiting, as opposed to doing anything. Also our tour guide did give us some good information, but he also was just plain boring and strange. I’d recommend USO tours (not the one we took).
Surprises about the DMZ trip:
-“DMZ” is a stupid acronym—it’s very militarized as far as I can tell.
-Someone at some point decided to let tourists go there, which defies rationality. The Korean government does not charge money for this, by the way. However, only some tour companies have the license to do it, and they charge a lot.
-I learned also that South Korean companies have factories in North Korea, in which they pay North Koreans very low wages, and in Choco Pies (a South Korean snack like a MoonPie, but not as tasty) and ramyeon (Korean version of ramen). I’m not making this up. The workers usually, instead of eating the Choco Pies, try to
Zoom In
Those are South Korean soldiers. sell them on the black market, where they make good money on them.
We had planned to go to a lantern festival in another part of Seoul when we got back, but we were pretty tired and just wanted to stay around the area our hostel was in. So we went for dinner and a drink, and went to sleep. Sunday, we went to Itaewon. This would be the last trip to Seoul for the couple we were with, so we did what they wanted to do (as opposed to actual sightseeing). Itaewon is a famous part of Seoul with a really big foreigner influence. There are supposed to be foreigner shops, bigger clothing sizes, and almost any kind of international food you could want. To me, there wasn’t really anything special about it, but we did have a good lunch in a restaurant there. It was a fun weekend, but the next time I go to Seoul I’m definitely going to be more of a tourist. Feel free to post comments if you have questions about the DMZ especially—I was really curious to go there, but didn’t know what kind of tidbits people would want to know.
Christmas Tree
My friend sent it and ornaments all the way from the US, so I set it up in my school. Sorry I don’t have many pictures. It becomes harder and harder to be a tourist the longer I live here. And other friends have better cameras, so they’re the ones usually taking the pics now. Hope you’re all in peace in the new year. Miss you!
PS: A note about the death of “Mr. Kim”, leader of North Korea: some friends and relatives at home asked me how the situation seems over here. At first, it was really good news that he died, but at the same time it created uncertainty over the new regime. His son is really young, especially to rule in a country so grounded in Confucianism (where older people are given a lot of respect and young people, hardly any). There was a bit of worry about if there would even be a coup (which could still happen, I suppose). The other big problem is how little is really known about the country. The fact that no other countries’ intelligence agencies realized he was dead for the almost 2 days before it was announced is worrying. However, Koreans in general don’t seem to be stressed about the situation. This may be because every man in the country has to join the military for about 2 years. Honestly, more Koreans talked to me about Steve Jobs dying than Kim Jong-Il.
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