Day 89 – Seoul
Today we had a to get to the City Hall Station at 7:30am which was a bit of a struggle as the temperature when we woke up was zero degrees! After buying some food from CU (convenience store) we got to the City Hall Station and awaited pick up. On time a large bus arrived and we met our friendly tour guide Jenny (her English name). We departed for the DMZ (De-Militarised Zone) tour full of excitement.
I really wanted to do the Panmunjeom / JSA (Joint Security Area) tour, but due to a recent summit between the North and South, and JSA renovations the tours were cancelled in October and November. The tour guide mentioned that after the renovations the JSA tour will most likely be modified to be better than they are now. Our tour was fully booked with 39 people. We did a no shopping tour with vviptravels. If we were to do the JSA tour in the future, I would do it with them.
Imjingak Park
The first stop was Imjingak Park which was the location that the tour guide bought our tickets. We were exploring the park which included a train from the war, a few bridges and an observation point on top of the building. We were told all the mountains we could see that didn’t have any trees were on the North side of the boarder. It was to prevent people from defecting to the South.
The 3rd Infiltration Tunnel
The next stop was one of 4 tunnels that were discovered in the 70s, that the North were digging to invade the South. These were dug while peace talks were being negotiated by the North and South. The tunnel was discovered by the south and they dug two interception tunnels. By the time the South found and dug to the North’s tunnel, the North had abandoned it.
One of the interception tunnels has a tram service which is apparently expensive and typically booked out, but the 2nd interception tunnel can be walked. Its a steep incline but isn’t too difficult. Once the South’s tunnel ended, the Infiltration Tunnel begins which is a lot smaller so we had to bend over to walk down to the blocked ends, which can be painful on the back. The end is blocked by 3 large steel gates. Tourists can walk up to the 1st gate which has a small window, where you can see the 2nd gate. Between the two gates, it was surprising to see a pool of water and shrubs growing.
The Tunnel is actually the only part of the tour that technically goes into the DMZ.
Dora Observatory
Then we went to the Dora Observatory from which you can see all the sites of the JSA, the Freedom Village on the South and the Propaganda Village on the North, and Kaesong which is a large city in the North. The JSA is actually only open when the UN says so, and is controlled by US and Swiss soldiers
The Freedom Village is the closest city to the North, and because of this the 200 residences have some benefits, which include no taxes, kids don’t need to have military service and some more that I can’t remember.
There is also a factory that was build around 2002-2004 which was run by the South with North employees. It was to help both sides, as it provided income to the North, while providing cheaper labour for the South. The South would have to pay the North’s government which would keep around 40% and pay the rest to the employees. During the 2010 nuclear testing and missile launches the factory was abandoned by the South.
A Propaganda village exists on the North which is empty. It was made to show the world that people in the North live well in modern housing. It is said to be unpopulated, otherwise the residence would defect to the South.
There is also a flag in the south, which was erected first. The North, then built a taller flag pole which created a flag pole race between the sides. The North won the battle and in the process made the worlds tallest flag pole and worlds heaviest flag according to the tour guide, but I couldn’t verify this.
Dorasan Station
From the Dora Observatory, we went to the Dorasan Station, which was built around 2002 from donations from South Koreans. This is the most northerly station in South Korea built with the idea of one day uniting the railway between the North and the South.
The station was designed by the same person who designed the Incheon Airport. The roof is designed to look like two hands shaking, to show the peace between the North and South.
After the tour was completed we got back to Seoul City Hall by 1:30pm. There was a massive protest going along the road.
Deoksugung Palace Royal Guard Changing Ceremony
We went to Deoksugung Palace Royal Guard Changing Ceremony at 2pm which was just across the road from the City Hall. The ceremony was very elaborate and had English explanations which was helpful.
Then we walked towards the Sungnyemun Gate to go to the Namdaemun Market to buy some souvenirs. We then posted them using Korean Post, which had very friendly staff that helped us with the entire process.
We then came back to Kwangjang Market to have dinner from the same store we went for the last 3 nights.