"BRRRRRR!" doesn't even begin to communicate how cold it has suddenly become here in Korea :(
5 deg today, and tomorrow's gonna be even colder! Hitting zero and below! Did you know that the kids here all wear mini-blankets? Some are hooded, like the little hooded baby towels we use for baby's bath time. Others have strings that can be tied around the neck, like a strange loose poncho. They are actually quite cute, polar fleece blankies that the kids wear to school. I'm also gonna start wearing my polar fleece blanky from SA to school (the KFM one) and represent!
Anyway, so my James Bond adventure..... turns out it could have been more exciting....yes, we saw soldiers, and yes, military police had to board our bus to inspect our identification individually before we were allowed to set foot in the DMZ, and yes, it was a teensy bit exciting when the Military Police began confiscating cameras, but then a let-down when all they did was delete photos and return cameras to the perpetrators. It would have been far more exciting if someone had gotten hauled off to the barracks with a bunch of us screaming for blood! Add some exploding landmines, a helicopter or two, gun discharge and smoke, and it would have been fitting for a 'Military escapade'.
But... I'm getting ahead of myself....
So, my Provincial Education Office had organised this tour to Seoul and the DMZ for us foreign teachers in order to offer us an educational cultural experience in terms of understanding Korean history and culture. It was also a means of thanking us for working hard in their country. We were a group of approx 150 people, all expenses paid (travel, hotel, entrance fees, meals, etc.)
We drove up to Seoul by limousine bus early Friday morning, and arrived an hour early at our hotel. They were not ready for us, since we checked in and found our rooms were still being cleaned. With a busy tour schedule, we left our things in our rooms and were back on the bus soon after.
First stop was Gyeongbuk Palace and the National Folk Museum. (Now many of us had already been there 7 months ago when we first arrived in Korea. The nice thing this time was that we had 3 professional tour guides giving us more pertinent info.) Thereafter, was more fun, as we were taken to Insadong-gil which is a smaller version of St George's Mall. One can buy Korean souvenirs, arts and crafts here. I liked the atmosphere, so will definitely go back there :) I was supposed to be buying gifts for family and friends, you know, but ending up buying more for myself! (Sorry!)
Gyeongbuk Palace
The King's resting pavilion
Folk performance at the palace
Anyway, then was dinner and off to Seoul Tower. Same setup as Daegu Tower...you go to the near-top and look out over the city night lights with a 360 degree vantage point. What does make Seoul Tower special, though, is that it seems to be Seoul's version of a Lover's Lane! There are thousands of padlocks locked to the railings on the premises. Supposed to represent couples' locking their hearts together. You can even buy a small wall tile symbolising your love and have it fixed to a wall. Strange but true! As we were leaving, someone had set up a live sound stage. It looked like some performance or tv show was getting ready to film. Turns out it was some guy proposing to his girlfriend! In front of EVERYONE! How was she supposed to say NO, even if she wanted to?
Love locks
Then back to our hotel. Where we discovered that Housekeeping had obviously seen our bags in the room and so didn't replace the used towels from the previous occupants, thinking WE had used them! Some big misunderstanding. We could only get fresh towels at 7am the next morning. By now it was late, I had a headache, my friends were trying to kidnap me to go partying. I was hiding in my room, trying to sleep and secretly just wait till they had left the hotel. Eventually, when I thought it safe, I went down to the front desk to complain about the towel situation, and look for food, and BAM! I was caught out. But I stuck to my guns, stayed at the hotel, but by this time, thanks to me hiding out, the kitchen had already closed :(
This was followed by a sleepless night, thanks to a room-mate with a serious snoring problem! The next morning, I phoned Housekeeping promptly at 7am, as instructed the previous night. Half an hour later, still no towels. A second call, and voila! TOWELS! My room-mate had already had her shower (there had been just 1 towel that was usable, so she went first). So, now, with a fresh stack of towels in my arms, I head to the bathroom, only to discover that the electricity supply in our room has just died. Hey! It could have been worse...I could have been stuck in a pitch black bathroom, dripping wet! Of course, there are no windows (hotel bathroom), so when no electricity, it's pitch dark in the bathroom :( This resulted in my THIRD call to Housekeeping from Room 620 in the space of 30min. (It's almost as bad as my LEFT -SIDE MYSTERY!) They quickly sent an electrician to our room while my room-mate stood waiting patiently, wearing only a towel (hee-hee). Good, respectful Korean guy that he was, he modestly kept his head down the entire time! 5 mins later...problem fixed. Sigh of relief!!!!
Right! Back on the bus after breakfast, and off to the North Korean border! The further north we travelled, the colder it got, and eventually began raining. There was so much mist to the north, that we couldn't actually SEE into North Korea, but we at least knew that "over there" is North Korea!
Before we were allowed to enter the DMZ zone, we had to stop at a kind of border checkpoint (so espionage-ey!). Military police boarded the bus and checked our identification documents against a list of our names. (So can you blame me for getting excited and expecting some Ian Fleming action?)
We visited a railway station, called Dorasan Station, which has been built in the hope of the future reunification of North and South Korea, which would allow South Korea to travel through North Korea to Russia, China and Europe, thus drastically reducing the amount of money South Korea has to spend on international trading, cos they currently have to go all the way around North Korea. (On this note, if I wanted to go to North Korea right now, I wouldn't be able to go from South Korea. I'd have to first travel away from Korea, in the opposite direction to either Japan or China, and then come back in this direction to North Korea! Politics, politics!) My co-teacher encouraged me to visit North Korea, if I ever have the chance. Unfortunately, this is not possible right now for South Koreans, even though many have family living in North Korea. It's very sad.
Back to the adventurous stuff! I got the exciting, thrilling and suffocating opportunity to enter the THIRD TUNNEL and walk down into the earth, 73 metres deep, and for 107 metres under the landmines on the surface! I stuck my fingers in dynamite holes which had been bored into the granite for the purpose of blasting rock away to extend the tunnels into South Korea, and managed to peep through a small restricted space, over barbed wire into a tunnel that would lead straight into North Korea. South Korea discovered a tunnel some years ago, that had been secretly dug by North Korea under the DMZ in preparation for attacking South Korea. This chance discovery led to the search for more tunnels. They have since found 3 more. The tunnels all lead toward Seoul, which is the prime target for an hostile takeover. The search for more tunnels continues. Fun stuff, if you allow your imagination free reign. My co-teacher, however, seems greatly disturbed by all this 'commercialisation' of the DMZ, cos he feels it gives a false impression of the way things really are here.
The trek back to the surface was hard and physically demanding. Those who suffer of claustrophobia and asthma were strongly advised not to enter. I have become so unfit, since I have not been exercising since after my summer holiday. Walking back up to the surface at a 40 degree angle near the entrance, from the dank underground, where water runs down granite tunnel walls, and one has to crouch often to avoid getting decapitated by a low tunnel ceiling in some places (thank Goodness for those helmets! - I banged my helmet a few times!), had me breathing slow and steady, methodically placing one foot in front of the other, and constantly reminding myself to remain calm, and not let my imagination run away with me, cos it would be soooooo easy to have a panic attack in a situation like that, where you are so far underground and away from the entrance. (Can you tell what state my mind was in? After a sleepless night? That sentence just went on forever! Same as that tunnel!) Sjoe! It took about 15min afterwards for my insides to settle! The imagination is a very powerful thing!
Just writing about it has given me heart palpitations!
(Deep breath!)
Anyway, took some pictures, saw a documentary or two, back on the bus, supper, and back to Daegu. Then back to Gunwi.
It was WONDERFUL being back home and in my own bed :)
The past 3 weekends have been crazy-hectic-busy. Travelling and adventure is most certainly fun and adventurous, but oh so exhausting! I'll be taking it a bit easy this coming weekend, but there IS an international food expo in Daegu, so of course, I have to be there! :)
Mucho lurvo
Andrea
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