Day 239

Day 239 - 01.07.10

Discovering perhaps one of the most random "museums" in Seoul.

DMZ - part 1

Yesterday I went on the DMZ tour. DMZ is the demilitarized zone, it's 4km of almost no man's land between South and North Korea. I went on the whole day 3rd tunnel and JSA tours and I think both are worth it and I think it's good to go with just a regular Korean tour (with an English speaking guide) and not the USO one, the point of view must be different.

I call this "hope and wishes and some army".

Basically, during the ride to get close to the DMZ the guide told us a little of history, both Korean and world history. From the start, it was clear that it was a very Korean view of world history because there were some facts that could easily be disputed but that gave me information about how to take things later on. When you go on one of those tours, you have to keep in mind that the information given is biased, extremely biased on some points. What doesn't change is the fact that the Korean people have suffered a lot and many families are still separated and this separation is hard to live, especially in the case when for example the rites for the ancestors can't be performed because the tombs are in the North. The whole trip will be separated into three posts, morning (Imjingak, 3rd tunnel), morning (Dora Observatory, Dorasan Station, lunch), afternoon (post-lunch Imjingak, JSA). ( part 1: Imjingak, 3rd tunnel, Dora Observatory ) (obviously everything I'm writing is my opinion, you're free to agree or disagree or not care)

DMZ - Part 2

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. ( Part 2: Dora Observatory, Dorasan Station, lunch )

DMZ - part 3

Some things in this world are better left unknown and one of them is the weird way we switched tour groups along the day. We started out nine English-speaking peeps and four Japanese-speaking. Then tons of Chinese tourists joined our bus at Imjingak. Then right before lunch three English-speaking peeps and two Japanese-speaking left our group. The Chinese peeps ate lunch in exactly five minutes and went somewhere. We were told to stick around and that another tour guide would come along at 1:20pm. At the indicated time a lady came up and asked our names and told us to go over to a certain bus at 1:45pm and take certain seats... and thus we ended up with others who went on another tour in the morning. During the extra time we had during the lunch break, some of us went over to explore further Imjingak because we had no time in the morning. ( more Imjingak ) I think almost everyone knows the blue houses and the guards at the JSA but how to get there is quite an adventure. So we switched buses and right away we saw that our new guide was like a teacher on a field day. She would repeatedly ask "So what's the name of the Unification Bridge?" and we had to say "cow bridge" and she would talk really like a teacher to children. BTW, it's "cow bridge" because the money for the bridge was given by the guy who founded Hyundai and he was actually from North Korea. When he went to leave North Korea he stole one cow from his family barn and sold it to make it across and with what money he had left he started Hyundai. He couldn't get in touch with his family for a long time but he always felt grateful for that cow he stole... so he gave money to build the bridge and he also gave 1001 cows to North Koreans (they were brought there through the bridge), one cow for the one he stole and a thousand cows as interest for the 50 years that had gone by. Right. So JSA. Joint Security Area. Before we even got to Camp Bonifas we were told the rules: no eating, no pointing fingers, no chewing gum, proper shoes, etc. Obviously no taking photos unless clearly told that we could. Right before Camp Bonifas a US soldier came on, checked our passports and that we had proper clothes and shoes on. Then we drove into the camp. We stopped for a "briefing" which was really just us sitting and our guides showing us a powerpoint presentation about the history of JSA and things like the Axe Murder Incident. At that point we were told to leave everything in the bus except for our wallet/camera (lens under 100mm) and the wallet had to be in our pocket and not in our hands. We then got onto a military bus driven by a South Korean soldier and still with out US soldier escort. We then got to the MAC buildings, we had a few minutes while another group was inside to take photos of the outside. Our guide reminding us again not to point (BTW, why shouldn't we point? "Because the North Koreans then would take photos of you and use them on their propaganda." Does that make sense? Not really? Should we question it? Not if we want to continue the tour.) ( JSA continued ) So is the full day tour worth 120K won? I think it's worth it, just to see how history is perceived by locals. It really made me question my reactions, actually most of the time I didn't even know how I was supposed to react!