TDtravels: The DMZ

Hey there once again. Okay, so this week was fantastically interesting and plays into a topic we briefly covered in class a few weeks ago. I'm talking about The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separates North and South Korea. Jeeeeeeeeeez what a crazy experience. I want to say it was exciting but then have to stop myself and think of all the lives and unnecessary violence this whole situation has cost. At the very least it was interesting (and I don't mean the kind of "interesting" people tend to use these days when what they really mean is it sucked). This is the last remanence of any type of Cold War situation going on in our world, like a sort of time capsule. Theres so much to say I can't really put it all into words. How bout I just run down the process of the whole ordeal and show ya some pics?

You start off by hopping on a bus and heading north of Seoul, roughly 35 miles (can you believe Seoul is only 35 miles from the North Korean border?!) Then you start heading through all of the various check points of which there are several. You do all sorts of activities like checking out an observatory that over looks North Korea and one of it's propaganda villages (where no one actually lives), going down in some underground tunnels the North Koreans had dug, and all sorts of other stuff. All was very interesting, but it wasn't until we went to the Joint Security Area (JSA) where you REALLY felt the tension. We had to unload our bus and hop on another one, this time being escorted by a US Army soldier who gave us all sorts of information and updates to the situation. They led us to a conference room where we were debriefed and told what and what not to do. For instance, no pointing, no face making, no nothing. Also we had a dress code which consisted of a collard shirt, long trousers and, no rubbah slippahs (sorry brahdahs). I then proceeded to sign my life away, acknowledging my understanding that I could be killed at any moment and that if so, they're not responsible.. no sweat right?! After that we headed for the JSA, an area where North Korean soldiers literally stand next to South Korean soldiers, only separated by a think concrete boundary. Obviously stepping over the boundary or anything of the sort is a big NO NO, for both sides. Wow, what a crazy experience. Oh, did I mention while standing outside at the JSA (where we were only allowed to do so for roughly 7 minutes) that supposedly North Korean snipers had their sites on us and were constantly taking photographs? So thats what were told anyways... it's a bit hard to decipher at times what really is true, and what is propaganda unleashed on us, just like North Koreans have their own propaganda, only our's is a bit less harsh.

Okay wheeew, lot of talking. Here's some pics, only they can do any sort of justice to this extraordinary experience. I'll also throw in a pic from when I was on the North Korean side. Yes, I've been to both North and South Korea, but that's another story...