Blogs from DMZ, South Korea, Asia - page 4

On April 11th of this year I boarded a coach bus mixed with Americans, Canadians and Koreans and headed North only about 65 miles to reach.....the DMZ! Interesting and fun mixed with a definite fear and adventure. Here are the pictures (some not..so..ah...) you figure it out. For those of you who don't know, the DMZ is the DeMilitarized Zone between the two Koreas. Basically No Mans Land. I never did actually set foot in North Korea, but I was able to see it and walk where North Korean soldiers had tried to invade in the past. Take a look, but step lightly, there are still active land mines! Elisa... read more

After the Korean War (1950-1953) the parties agreed to a truce that call the 38th parallel north the line of demarcation between the two Koreas, North and South. In between the two countries an area was established to separate them. In my opinion, the highlight of the tour was the first stop, the Third Infiltration Tunnel. This tunnel stretches for 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) starting in North Korea and running under the DMZ into South Korea. It is 2 meters high by 2 meters wide (6’ 6” X 6’ 6”) and is capable of moving 300,000 troops per hour. When first discovered in 198, the North Koreans claimed that the South Koreans had built it to infiltrate the north. Upon examination, the dynamite borings run from north to south. Oops said the North Koreans, I guess ... read more

WARNING: THIS MAY BE HIGHLY EDUCATIONAL The Korean Demilitarized Zone is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea. The DMZ cuts the Korean Peninsula roughly in half, crossing the 38th parallel on an angle and is the most heavily armed border in the world. And that is where I was last weekend. Kinda. A few friends and I decided to do something different for a change and went on a day trip to the DMZ. We started off going to ImjinGak, which is as far as civilians can go to the North by themselves without permission. It was built to console those who had to leave their homes in the North. In ImjinGak there was the Peace Bell which was put there in ... read more

(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 ... read more

As I settled into the "love motel", I still had a few more things to accomplish before leaving on Saturday -- shopping and the DMZ tour. I spent most of Thursday shopping on the south-side of the city. While the area I picked to stay is good for the evenings and dinner, there isn't much shopping around here, so I headed to another part of town. I still didn't have much luck. There were lots of luxury brand stores like Prada, Gucci, Boss, but not much else other than for teenagers. The department stores had tonnes of suits, but little in casual wear. I walked some of the sidestreets around the high-end malls, and I was able to have some better luck, but most of the clothes were still too trendy and too expensive for this ... read more