Today was a very early morning. When I am home, no one can catch me waking up before nine am. However, there I was boarding the bus to the DMZ at 6:15 in the morning. The DMZ is the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. It serves as protection from attacks by either side. To be honest, the DMZ was the site I most wanted to visit before the trip began.
When we got to the DMZ, our guide needed to get tickets to enter. This meant we had some free time until 10 am. During this time, the group walked through the surrounding area to get a better understanding of the pain war brings. Eventually, the time came to begin the tour. The bus had to take us to our first destination within the DMZ. Before getting there, we needed to pass through a checkpoint. At the checkpoint, soldiers got on the bus and checked our passports then sent us on our way.
During our tour, we learned history about the effects of the Korean War. After the armistice, no one was allowed to cross the DMZ. To subvert that, North Korea started digging tunnels under the DMZ and into South Korea. In the 1970’s, South Korea found four of these tunnels. It is believed that there is more that has not been found. We visited one of these known as the third tunnel. The group was allowed to walk some of the tunnel. However, nothing could be on your person, so no pictures. Before going in, hard hats had to be worn at all times. The first part of the tunnel is way more spacious than the second part. The South Koreans built the first part. The North Koreans built the second part. They used dynamite and made the tunnel very short. Often, you could hear people hitting their heads if they did not duck enough. The journey was fascinating until the way back up. The tunnel was very steep, and I was very unprepared to climb up. It was rough, but I eventually did make it up.
Next, we visited the Dora observatory. This observatory allows you to look across the DMZ. The only unfortunate part was the weather. It was cloudy and raining, so everything was faint in the sky. We were able to see the North Korean flag and a faint outline of some buildings.
After that, the group departed back to the hotel. By the time we got back, it was pouring out. Despite this, my group decided to go to the Lotus Lantern Festival parade. We did not stay the entire time, as we all got drenched with rain. I enjoyed the parade a lot. I liked seeing the different parade floats they had and seeing all the lanterns.
