DMZ and Insadong Market/Friday

Today we had to get up pretty early because we had to meet a shuttle bus at the Koreana Hotel. We thought they would be the bus taking us to the DMZ, but apparently we had like 4 more people to pick up in 4 different places and on top of that we had a guy directly behind us who wouldn't shut up! I am not kidding when I say he talked nonstop from beginning to end. Finally we arrrived at the REAL bus that would take us to the DMZ. It was a nice bus with a tour guide who could speak good english and she was full of information. The first place we went to was Imjingak Park where you could see freedom bridge and a train that was once used to go to North Korea during the war. It had over 1,000 bullet holes in it and the wheels were bent out of shape from the enemy trying to stop it. Our next stop was the 3rd infiltration tunnel. This is a tunnel that the North Koreans dug almost to Seoul and which they blamed on a coal miner looking for coal. But it is obvious that it was to be used for other purposes. There was fake coal painted on the wall, dynamite holes drilled in from the North Korean side and the tunnel was slanted up so that any water gathered in the tunnel would run towards North Korea not Seoul. It is sealed on the end with 3 cement walls and we could walk all the way to the first one. After the tunnel we went to Dora Observatory where we could actually see North Korea and the tallest flag pole in the world! North Korea has to try to one-up South so their flag pole has to be taller than South and we could see their fake village they set up. It was a little drizzly and hazy so we couldn't see as much as we wanted but we saw the North and that was pretty amazing. After that we went to Dorasan station which is a train station that was built in anticipation on reunification with the north. It is a beautiful building but completely empty. I think it was sad. After that we headed back to Seoul and to the Amethyst factory which was not very interesting and they had the most annoying sales people so we left and went shopping to Insadong Market. Insadong Market is a very pretty place and had more antiques and better quality stuff than the other markets. We had lunch there and tried Bibimbop for the first time. It is a dish of rice, vegetables and egg and some sort of sauce. You are supposed to mix it up and eat! Not as good as bulgolgi but still ok. After shopping we walked home and came across a memorial set up for the korean war. It had a bunch of pictures with descriptions, very interesting. It had started to pour by than so we scurried off home and crashed. Tomorrow Seoul Tower, Jess

last train to North Korea

Bimbimbop

freedom bridge

wall of prayers for families

Dorasan Station