Day Two

Hello it's Katie.

Today was our scheduled DMZ tour. Our tour guide Hans picked us up from the hostel and was really fabulous and upbeat. He told us the history of the DMZ and how it came to be while we drove an hour to get there. Once we arrived the first stop was Dorasan station. This train station was only used for a very brief time in 2007 and had only one stop, Pyeongyang, North Korea. But now it is an eerily clean empty station that is only filled with tourists. Next stop Dora observatory to look at the DMZ and on good days North Korea. Lucky for us it was a beautiful day, no rain or clouds or even a haze in the air. For 500 won you can use the binoculars to peer into North Korea. There was not too much to see. A small industrial town with only a couple of people in the streets, a village built just to say there was a village but no one has ever lived in it, and a giant flag pole.

Our last stop on the tour was the 3rd infiltration tunnel. In the 70s, South Korea found 3 different tunnels that the North Koreans were digging under the DMZ, hoping to dig a tunnel all the way to Seoul and sneak attack the city. The third tunnel is 75 meters under the ground, we were able to walk down to the tunnel and then along the tunnel for 165 meters. After 165 meters the tunnel crossed back into the North Korean side of the DMZ and the South Koreans have put up blockades to stop anyone from crossing over unknowingly. No bags or cameras were allowed into the tunnel. The tunnel is no more than 2 meters tall at its tallest point, so most of the walking was done crouching down. More so for Andy than me. It was really incredible.

Once the DMZ tour was finished our tour guide took Andy and me to a little Korean lunch place where you take off your shoes to enter and eat off of low tables while sitting on the floor. Really authentic. Hans ordered for us. I had bibimbap, which is a rice dish with leafy greens, bead sprouts, an egg and some sort of red sauce. I then mixed in boiled rice and ate. It was incredibly delicious. Andy had something I am pretty sure is called geupsam. He took a leaf of lettuce, added a piece of boiled pork, some bean paste, half garlic cloves, or some fish sauce, rice, then ate. He said it was delicious. We also had a side of kimchi, prepared "like your grandma would" said Hans. Oh, and we had soup which was yummy too. After lunch Hans left us.

In the afternoon we took a guided tour of Changdeokgung, a palace built in 1405 for the king. It was really incredible. I can't wait to show you pictures. The architecture was incredible. Really, you have to wait for the pictures. As if this wasn't enough walking and touring for the day, we headed over to Namsan park to go up to Seoul tower and look over the city. In this park is a huge hill that you must first climb up. Actually, we had a steep climb from the subway to the cable car. Then took the cable car to the top. You can walk but we were exhausted. It was a neat view of the city. We didn't go up the tower cause it was more money and we just wanted to go back to our hostel.

So back we went, but not before picking up our train tickets for our trip to Gyeoungju and the temple stay. We will check in tomorrow to let you know how it goes.