DMZ

Sunday we started our day of with Honey Butter bread.  We had been turned on to this by PK during our Bangkok visit.  So when we spotted a placed that sold the deliciousness in the Coex mall, we made a mental note to fit a visit in.  We sat down and anxiously waited our goodness.

Doesn’t it look amazing?  Sadly the taste did not live up to the image.  It was nothing like our Thai version.  In fact it was like very dense white bread with a small amount of butter topped with warm chocolate and whipped cream.  I mean don’t get me wrong, I ate it all and enjoyed it but it didn’t hold a flame to our sweet thai honey butter bread.

Socialite MR had one of his friends join us.  They went to highschool and hadn’t seen each other since.  CL is teaching English in Seoul and arrived less than a month ago.  The adjustment has been tough for her and she gladly took the opportunity to hang out with Americans and join us on our DMZ visit.  She has all sorts of stories about her experience recruiting into the English teaching program, her school assignment, and her daily life but I will let her tell that story via her up and coming blog – Soulless Seoul.

It was a 2 hour drive to the DMZ area.  We were escorted by Richard Geare, that was his English name.  His real name was Cho Chung Wong.  But he would also answer to the Korean word for poppy.  Interesting.

Given the recent concerns with North Korea, heading to the boarder of North and South Korea may seem stupid but what do we have to lose?   Any last shred of fear was utterly reduced when we arrived at the entrance to the military base and saw a giant childrens amusement park and kite park, that was packed, simply packed.  It was like seeing the Del Mar Fair at the entrance to Camp Pendleton.  So weird.  Once on the base, we made three stops.  The first was at the train station that is the last stop for South Korea and it continues onto North Korea.  Only two trains come through on a daily basis and the place is dead, straight twilight zone style.  

After that we went to the Dora Observatory, where you can look over into North Korea.  It was smog (common issue in Korea) so the view was minimal.  They have all sorts of rules about where you can and cannot take photos because they think some could be sold as intel to the north!?!?  At the Dora Observatory you are only allowed to take pictures behind the yellow line.  I opted to take this straight creeper shot of MR and CL and got yelled but they didn’t take my camera. 

Worth it.

The final spot we went to was the 3^rd infantry tunnel.  We started the visit with a propaganda video discussing how the DMZ area is a great thing that allows nature to prosper.  Super random.  After that we headed into the tunnel that was supposedly created by North Korea as an way to infiltrate South Korea without it being noticed.  Of course, North Korea says they were mining tunnels and have no intention of invading, right….

We donned yellow construction hats and placed our valuables in a locker. There was also no photo rules in the tunnel which we opted to ignore because how many times do you walk into a tunnel between the two Koreas!?!?!  I mean come on, if you can’t take photos how will instragram or facebook ever know you actually went there.  We were extremely cautious with our phones and cameras at first until we realized no one was down there and there weren’t any cameras, so then we did straight photo shoots.  Also, for the record the yellow helmets are completely necessary. I cannot tell you how many times it connected with the choppy, jaggedy ceiling.  Another affirmation that I am taller than the average Korean.

We made it back to the lobby and pulled our bags out of the lockers.  MR – “oh sh!t”.  CL and me “what”.  MR – “look”.  We turn around to see the sitting area in the lobby that has a giant tv.  On the tv is live feeds from about 24 different cameras that line the tunnel way.  So not only did the security there see our bold and cheeky photo shoot so did every person resting in the lobby.