Touring the DMZ

Today C, Mom and I joined a tour that went up to the DMZ. It was interesting to learn the history of it, but my general impression of the tour was that everything we saw was completely propaganda-ized. The bus stopped in three places in/ near the zone. The first was the currently empty train station that will be the last stop in South Korea on the Trans-Korean Rail if/ when re-unification occurs.

Next, the tour went to the Third Tunnel which was discovered in 1978. This was the third of four N. Korean infiltration tunnels discovered, hence the name. It was pretty far underground and the entire length extended slightly over one kilometer, though most of it was barricaded. The walk down in a South Korean built tunnel to connect to the end of the infiltration part was very steep, so the walk up was tiring. You were not allowed to take pictures in the tunnel.

Lastly, we stopped at a lookout point where, off in the distance, you could see the JSA area, the flag pole of the S. Korean "Freedom" village (which is a farming village), and the flag pole of the N. Korean ghost village (which no one actually lives in). You could only take pictures from behind a yellow line, fairly far back from the wall, so this is the best one that C got. Also it was sort of hazy in the morning when we were there, so you can't see much. The hills in the background are in N. Korea.
When we drove back into Seoul, the tour stopped at an amythest factory before dropping people off at various points. We didn't buy anything there, but it was fun to look at the beautiful settings for the purple gems.

After we got dropped off, the three of us subwayed to Itaewon for a late lunch, early dinner (linner) and shopping. Itaewon is a very international district. I saw more Americans there today then I have all the rest of our days here. Also there is a ton of American restaurants as well. We had our linner at an Indian restaurant which was very yummy. The shopping was good, though the prices were not quite as cheap as in the South Gate Market, which is more of a wholesale area. I was able to bargain for a set of celadon pottery vases though, and brought the vendor down by over half before I gave in to buy them. We also got more gifts for family.

Although it was still early in the evening, we called it a day after getting some Cold Stone ice cream and came back to Eastern. Mom and I held babies in the nursery for two hours when we got back. Now I'm typing out this blog, sitting next to Jill of The Growing Henson Family, as she writes her post for the day! What a small world to be at Eastern at the exact same time as a fellow blogger.