Possibly the most anticipated part of our whole trip was the opportunity to visit the demilitarized zone and get the chance to technically step foot inside North Korea! About a month or so ago when we were thinking about the trip, I mentioned it to Laleinia and was surprised when she said she would like to go. Not wanting her to change her mind, I booked it then and there, sent in our passport information, and got confirmation on the dates. I'm not one for tours, but this was the only way we could visit the DMZ, something I didn't want to miss!
We hurried over to the meeting point at a hotel on the other side of the city, passing who knows how many hundreds of Starbucks cafes on the way (it seems Koreans love their coffee) as we semi-enjoyed being cold again! We then went to the Korean war memorial museum, which was really cool, and then visited the freedom bridge, which I think is the closest most South Koreans can get to the DMZ. It was cool to look in the distance and see the mountains over on the North Korean side, they look really amazing, kind of jagged like the Tetons. Who knows, maybe one day we will explore over there more, but for now, no way! Too much tension and too many landmines! I think the most impressive thing to see was the ribbons, flags, and messages tied to the chain link fence from people hoping for the North and South to be united some day. The colors were beautiful and you could tell there was a lot of meaning and feeling there.
As we got closer to the DMZ, we saw loads of military outposts, chain link and barbed wire fencing all along the side of the river. As we continued on, at the side of the road were black and yellow road blocks, fencing, spiky things all over the place, along with bridge-like structures that are loaded with dynamite to stop tanks, should the need arise. It was really crazy to see all that!
Once we got past some checkpoints, we arrived at Camp Bonifas, named after an American soldier who got murdered with an axe by North Korean soldiers few decades ago. There, we had a UN briefing with some quick history and some do's and don't's. We got on a military bus and headed for the blue UN buildings which straddle the military demarkation line (or the line that separates the North and South. On our way we saw a huge 100m tall flagpole on the South side, and right after saw an even taller 160m flagpole on the North side, the flag was the biggest I've ever seen. Even bigger than the ones outside some car dealerships in Utah!
After driving for a few minutes past some fields surely riddled with landmines, we arrived at a huge building. Lining up two by two, we walked through, out into the open area where the blue UN buildings were. Right infront of us was North Korea, with one single soldier standing outside their building. On our side we had a number of military personnel, who told us to not make any gestures to the North Korean side. We were allowed to take pictures as we stood in our rows. We also went into the blue UN building for a few minutes where we could walk over to the other side, technically crossing over into North Korea (I'm counting it). We took a couple of photos and then off we went, back to where we had our briefing, and into the gift shop!
I think that by far, this was one of the most adventurous things we have ever done. It was so exciting, and I was buzzing all the way back to Seoul. To go and visit the most dangerous border in the world, where millions of troops are ready to resume their war, where Bill Clinton described as "the scariest place on earth", was really quite amazing. I'd definitely do it again, and wish we could have seen more. Something I'll tell Emre about for sure!