Seeing North Korea

July 4, 2015
By Taylor
 
Saturday morning we woke up really early. We were all exhausted because we had a long day before and didn’t want to get up at first. We ate a yummy breakfast of food we had bought the night before because we knew we wouldn’t have time to eat the hotel breakfast (the food was very different for us). We caught the bus at 7:30 a.m.. I was very excited because this was the part of the trip I wanted to see the most. After a long, tiring bus ride, we arrived at Imjingak Park. There were train tracks that would lead into North Korea, except they don’t anymore because North Korea won’t let them. There was also a train engine filled with bullet holes. It was a neat stop, however I was excited for the next part of the tour.
 
In 1978 South Korea found four tunnels leading from North to South Korea. It turned out that North Korea was going to use those tunnels to invade South Korea. We entered the Demilitarized Zone or DMZ. Soldiers had to check our passports and South Koreans aren’t allowed to enter. It was where the tunnel is and the base between North and South Korea. It is the most protected border between two countries. First, we watched a short clip about the tunnels leading from North to South Korea. At first, North Korea claimed the tunnels were charcoal mines even though the ground was granite and you could see the holes where they were going to put dynamite. Then we hiked down into the tunnel. It was super fascinating and I couldn’t help thinking that we were South Koreans stopping the North Koreans from invading. (We weren’t allowed to take pictures though.) The tunnel hike was short but tiring because it was super steep. At the end of tunnel, we were within 170 meters of North Korea.
 

 
At the DMZ: the statue shows people trying to put together something broken in half
 
We went to two more stops. My favorite one was where you could see different points in North Korea including a statue of their old president, their flag, and a military base. The last stop was a train station that South Korea built for the future. Right, now South Korea is cut off from the rest of the world by land because of the closed North Korean border. The train would run through North Korea to connect them when they become one country again. So the train station was really futuristic because it doesn’t function now. It was sad to learn about families getting separated because of the division between the countries. Most people hope for reunification.
 

 
                                          Looking across the border into North Korea
 

	The Namdaemun Market

The tour dropped us off across from City Hall. We ate lunch at Burger King. It was the first American food we had eaten since we left the US. It tasted really good and we all really enjoyed it (even though some of us don’t really like Burger King normally). Then we went to a Korean market. Thankfully it wasn’t as hectic as the bazaars in Turkey – although it was still pretty chaotic.
  
Afterwards we went to a Buddhist temple built in 794. Although the building looked very different, I noticed they took off their shoes and sat on the ground to worship just like they had in the mosques.
 

 
                                             In front of the Buddha at a Buddhist temple
 
We were all super tired by then but we met up with one of my dad’s former graduate students for dinner at a very nice all-you-can-eat buffet. My dad told us we were fine the way we were but when we got there we were a little embarrassed because we realized we should’ve dressed a little nicer. I was nervous about the food but there was a huge range of food – and I found lots of things I liked. Once, I thought I was eating deep fried shrimp but it was actually deep fried octopus. Luckily, I didn’t find out until after I had already eaten it – and I thought it was good.
 
Saturday was an awesome day. It was after 9 p.m. by the time we got back. We crawled into our mat-beds and went clunk right away.
 
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