The DMZ

A few weekends ago Lauren, Chris and I ventured to the demilitarized zone. This is the area between North and South Korea and it is heavily fortified. On the drive north barbed wire fences and camouflaged outposts lined the road. Some of the outposts were even maned with soldiers. Our first stop was the bridge at Imjingak, this is where the North returned some South Koreans and also where the families met after years of separation. At the furthest end (in South Korea) there was an altar filled with hopes, wishes and memories for those still in the North. The bridge was in the same area as a Peace Bell, a few monuments and a collection of rocks from battlefields around the world. Oddly enough, the rock from the Civil War was taken from the state of Nevada. Nevada became a state in 1864, near the end of the Civil War and as far as I know, no battles were fought there. The rocks were pretty cool though. Our second stop was the Reunification Village where we had lunch and Lauren and I got a bit adventurous as we ate tiny fish, eyes and all. After lunch we headed to the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel where we were able to trek through the long, musty tunnel. The climb up afterwards was not so fun, but it was quite interesting nonetheless. After the tunnel we headed to the Observation area where were were able to look into North Korea. We had to stand behind a line to take pictures of North Korea, but we were able to look into binoculars. Both Koreas have propaganda villages in the DMZ and North Korea flies a gigantic flag from atop their flagpole. The flag is so big and heavy that it doesn't really flap in the wind like a flag should. I heard that it cost around $100,000 to make that flag, not sure if that is correct, but I wouldn't doubt it. After the observation area we went to the Dorasan train station where trains leave weekly for Pyongyang. The station was very modern, brand new in fact, and it is the last stop in South Korea before hitting the North. We were able to stamp out passports and buy a ticket for the platform.