On our 6th day we had to get up early because we went on a tour to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). A small shuttlebus picked us up to drop us off at our tourbus. There were many people that went on the same tour as us from all over the world. Some where from China, Malaysia, The Netherlands and more...
The first place we stopped by with the tour was called " Imjingak tourist resort".
This is a place developed for tourists right after de South-North Korea's Joint Communique was declared in 1971...
At this spot you can see that is a railroad track that goes from South to North Korea. This track is mainly used for freight trains. In the picture below you can see the train that is used in the past....
From the first stop, we headed towards de DMZ. To get there, we first had to pass the militairy checkpoints. For security reasons the MP did a passenger check before we could continue to head for our second stop. We went to this museum (Tongilchon) where they show how North Korea was preparing an Invasion on Seoul by using man made tunnels to pass the DMZ. So far there were 4 tunnels discovered by South Korea, as the 3rd was the most threatening one. The 3rd one was the closest one that almost reached Seoul.... Because of the short time we spend our time there, we couldn't really take pictures. With the tour, they took us underground to check out the 3rd tunnel which lies 75 meters below. It was an impressive part of the tour, but also good for exercise. It's because it was a steep slope downwards and a lot of bowing to get trought the small tunnels. The main challege was getting back topside...
Then it was time to get to our 3rd stop our the tour. We went uphill with the bus to get to the " Dora Obervator area. From there you can see the DMZ and DML line. And past these areas you can see North Korea. This place is located within the DMZ and the nothernmost observatory in the South where you can see North Korea the closest. You can even see the city area of Gaeseong and Gaeseong Industrial Complex of North Korea...
Because of security reasons you can take pictures till some point of the borderline. But you can make pictures of it as long the picures are selfies...
Lilia & Kurisu with North Korea in the Background...
So close, yet so far way... XD
We were really lucky with the weather on our Tourday, because it was all so Sunny all the Way!!! Hello my good friend Mr. Sun, please don't be to hot today! XD
Here you can see the tourbusses at the observatory. The DMZ area has a village where people live and also work to keep the DMZ area of the South in check. So because of the restrictions, only tourbusses and members of the village and army can enter the DMZ area. In the picture above, the Red and Blue bus was our ride for the day...
Then it was time to head for our 3rd stop of the tour. We went to this trainstation, which is actually the last stop from south towards the north. This is the Dorasan Station and is the nothernmost international station located over 700 meters from the Southern Boundary line of the DMZ. It's not only a symbolic place of division, but also with the completion of the Gyeong-ui (Seoul-Sinuiju) railroad line connection, it has another historical meaning as a gateway of interchanging between the South and the North...
Here you can see our Tour Guide 'Michelle' explaining the history, purpose and plans of the Dorasan trainstation and the railroad line towards North Korea... The idea of this railroad was meant to open for the trip to the Olypics in Bejing in 2008... with this railroad South Koreans can travel to Europe for example Germany in 11 days. It's much cheaper than taking a plane. But because of the situation with the North and ofcourse political reasons... this station is never officially opened yet....
Then we headed towards the main hall of the Dorasan Station.
Because the station isn't in use for the public, some parts of the station aren't accessible. But you still can see a lot of the station...
As you can see Lilia is paying a lot of attention to our Tourguide, telling us the story behind the Dorasan Station...
Here we are infront of the entrance to the platform that goes to the Capital City Pyongyang of North Korea. If the North and South ended the conflict situation and when there isn't a DMZ anymore, you can take the train here to the North from the South...
To make the tour memorable, you can take some stamps of the station
on a stampcard to bring home with you...
Then it was off to our 4th stop of our tour. We went to the village within the DMZ area of South Korea. This village is called the Tongilchon (Unification Village), which lies within the nothern area of the Chivilian Control Line. It harbours around 162 families and has a total of 453 residents...
We went to the village to learn more about how Tofu as we know it has been made. The villagers showed us what they did with Soybeans to eventually make it into tofu.
As you can see here below, we had a big bowl of some kind of soybean liquidish soup. Then we needed to add some salty water to it and stirr it around. By adding the salty water and stirring it, the tofu started to get a more solid structure. So eventually we got tofu chunks that we can tast, and it was very good home made tofu so far XD
After some tasting, all the bowls that has the tofu crumbles in it in liquid was all brought together in one big tray. From there the liquid will be extracted and the tofu will be compressed in one big block of tofu as we know it. After that we all can taste tofu we've made by ourselfs...
After some tofu snacking it was time to head back to Seoul with the bus. During the ride we had an amazing view of the country outside of the city...
When we arrived at Seoul, we stopped by a Gingseng center. There you'll be getting a tour about the history of Gingseng and Korea. At the end of the tour you can buy some Gingseng products.
Our final stop of the tour was a restaurant Miss Lee somewhere in the district of Insagong. There we had our late lunch with Bulgogi, rice and many side dishes as you can see below. It was yummy to the max!!! XD
To walk off our late lunch, we explored the area of Insadong. We checked out this temple area that's called "Jogyesa". Because people are preparing the celebration of Buddha's birthday, you can see lanterns all over the place...
They had lanterns in all kinds of forms,
like deers, birds flowers and more...
They even had a tree with Lanterns as leaves
with the colors of the rainbow...
After walking around in Insadong some more, we headed back towards Dongdaemun. There we went to the Hyundai Department store to eat some cake at the Dore Dore bakery.
There they have a Rainbow Cake that Lilia wanted to try out, and it was yummy good. The cake consists out of many layers of colored cake, with layers of whipped cream. It kinda gives you the feeling that the whipped cream are clouds in the sky you can taste...
After snacking and walking around the area of Dongdaemun,
we headed back to our hotel...
We started this 6th day pretty early in the moring and came back late. So it was actually a long day, but an impressive one. With this we end our sixth day of our vacation in Seoul, South Korea. To everybody we wish you all Goodnight and see you soon with our next blog...
From LC & CL
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