Machine Guns and Barbed Wire

A fascinating day.

Started off by taking the airport shuttle back to the airport, and the new express train to Gimpo Airport, then a normal metro train to the centre of Seoul. Walked a kilometre or so to the main Gyeongbokgung Palace for a walk in the grounds, back past the statues of the greatest Emporer Sojong the Great, the greatest Admiral Le-Sun Sin, and the secondary Deoksugung Palace, to Starbucks for a warming coffee. Back out into the 1 degree day, and down to the Namdaemun Market, a larger version of the Queen Vic market, for a wander. Now I know where our stuff comes from.

Back up town to pick up the afternoon tour to the DMZ no-mans land in between North and South Korea. It's barbed wire central. Razor fences line the roads with manned pill boxes every hundred metres or so. There's road barriers and tanks to protect them. No photo taking is allowed near anything, and soldiers carrying machine guns are there to enforce it. They take their security very seriously!

Firstly to the 'temporary' Freedom Bridge where the first prisoner exchanges occurred 50 years ago, then on to a secure bus and into the DMZ after a passport check. To Dora Station that they have built in the hope of trains running between the two countries one day, and eventually leading to a land route to Russia, China and Europe. Then on to Dora Observatory which is the closest mortals can get to no-mans land, for a view of the fake North Korean village they built, and the very tall flagpoles that keep getting extended to be bigger than the other sides. Machine guns ensures you didn't take photos.

Then on to the place where the third of four North Korean infiltration tunnels was found well under South Korea, and we got to walk down into the tunnel and along to the concrete barrier with landmines behind it near the DMZ line above. Supposedly the North were planning to send a brigade through as a bit of a surprise in the 70s till a defector gave the game away.

After a couple of mandatory shopping stops, we were taken back to Seoul, and we took the same two trains back to the hostel, before having a bit of tea from a local vendor.

Interesting to see first hand one of the world's true flashpoints.