cerealjoe | DMZ - Part 2 (Reply)

In the previous post I forgot to mention that one of the keywords for these tours is "running". At most locations you have about fifteen minutes, twenty minutes if you're lucky, to look around and take photos (if you're allowed to take photos). The guide was thanking us all the time for being punctual, I think she has to deal with more "touristy" people most of the time... our group, as I mentioned previously, was mostly made up of loners like me who didn't really get into the whole looking at everything and taking photos of everything thing.

Dora Observatory - looking at the North.

If you come on a clear day you can actually see past those 4km of DMZ and into North Korea. I doubt we saw much of it that day. If the day is really clear and you're really lucky you can spot the huge Kim Il-Sung statue that's plated in gold.

It's really awkward taking photos because you have to stand behind a certain line and yes, they do check, there is a military guy who will ask to see your camera and will delete any photos you might have taken beyond the line. The official reason why you can't take photos beyond the line is that "the North Koreans don't want it and we don't want them to get upset". Or so our guide told us.

You can't really see much on the photos besides our lovely Japanese co-tourists. There were two who were with us for morning and afternoon tour and they seemed really lovely although we didn't communicate much.

Photo line. You can spot the military guard on the left of the reflection.

I don't know why the buildings were in camouflage, surely that can't deviate an attack!

After Dora Observatory we headed to the Dorasan Station. It's an actual train station and you can take a train there (after the appropriate checks, etc.) and it's connected to North Korea. The idea was that South Korea could export stuff through rail which would take much less time than sending everything by boat... but obviously when everything was going well a boat got sunk and people got accused and everything stopped. Perhaps one day you'll really be able to take a train in the UK to South Korea!

Our morning guide explaining which stations are where.

The pride and joy of this station is the fact that George W. Bush came over to look at it. Someone should tell them that in many parts of the world that wouldn't be considered an impressive thing.

There are warehouses to store goods but for the moment they are empty.

Actually all links with North Korea have not been cut, there is still an industrial complex that's located in the North that's run by South Koreans. As our guide said, as long as that link still exists, all hope is not lost.

List of South Koreans who donated to rebuild Dorasan Station... gotta love the Kims!

For lunch we headed back to Imjingak and we ate at this "restaurant" which can be called the South Korean equivalent of fast food. They set up the tables by how we signed up, so it was two peeps, three peeps, one, one and one... but us, loners, actually got along quite well even before we knew we were all on the same bus, so we grouped together.

The best part is when you order something and it comes with salad leaves because that means you can wrap whatever you're eating in them and then eat with your hands!