Whoop Gangman Style!

We were up very early this morning for a trip out to the DMZ. By 8.20am the place was packed.

This tour is done in military time. You arrive and are given a time to buy tickets, then you are given a time to come back and start the tour. Before the bus crosses over the South Korean border soldiers come on and check passports.

The tour guides view today was that the Korean War was not an internal conflict, but a World War fought on Korean soil. I found that interesting, especially after our visit to the War Memorial in Busan last week, where we witnessed the losses from 22 countries.

In 1990 a defected North Korean alerted the SK government to the digging of tunnels from the north. SK dug in pots of water ever few kilometres and when NK used dynamite to dig, spouts of water shot up alerting SK to where there was digging. Thus, tunnel 3 was found. A tunnel big enough to match 30,000 soldiers from North Korea to Seoul in an hour. Thankfully, it was halted.

We walked through the tunnel for the 170 meters allowed . The construction of it was interesting, and we only bashed our yellow hard hats about 10 times each. Afterwards the soldiers came back on the bus to check we were still all there and check our passports again. Since the recent American soldier jumped into North Korea you can no longer do into the DMZ meeting room and the passport checks are very thorough.

Through binoculars, we watched an NK farmer plough his land with an Ox. The land looks poor quality and despite the 3km difference in distance, the NK side isn't as well maintained. The buildings aren't in good condition, and the grasses are burnt. Another reminder that this part of Korea is not flourishing.

We seem to be staying in a Mega rich area, and today, a cafe near us was offering an espresso for £21, we declined.

The main road, until recently, housed the agency in charge of half of the K-pop bands, and these kittens are all up the road. There's nothing else to do but Whoop, Whoop when you see PSY.

A final meal with Tom. Tomorrow we head to Oz. I could write whole pages about Korea and Japan. The incredible subway systems and stations, the friendly people, the sense of security, the food, oh my gosh the food, the showers I have used from an upturned bucket to a whole dedicated room, and of course, the toilets. My mishaps with toilets have yet to be recorded!