I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by the tour. Many of my friends have been there, as it's one of the 'Things To Do" while here, but no one had raved about it, and my expectations weren't very high. However, our tour guides were knowledgeable and engaging and looking across to North Korea felt much more real than I thought it would.
We took the KTX up from Busan on Friday night and checked into a "Love Motel" around 11:15pm. We woke up at 6:30 the next morning and took a cab to the Lotte Hotel, a fancy place in the city center. Here we were picked up by the tourbus. At a second location, we transferred to a bigger tourbus and from there we drove straight north to the military post, Camp Bonifas.
We transferred there to a military bus, and the tour was taken over by military personnel, who checked our passports. We we saw a slideshow of the history of the DMZ, and a had a briefing by a fast talking, mumbling American soldier who Sandra and I both had a hard time understanding at times.
Afterwards we headed to the Joint Security Area where we were able to walk into the blue buildings that straddle the border. Inside we took pictures and were allowed "cross over" into North Korea. Photo-taking was very limited throughout the tour, especially with respect to South Korean buildings and scenery. They didn't want to risk any information leaking to the other side, whether it be about the layout of their operation or the identity of soldiers stationed there.The number of cameras pointed at the border line was astonishing. On every building and every bush, there are cameras recording 24/7. We saw a few North Korean soldiers walking by, and also a few with binoculars who were watching us.
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| Guarding the door to North Korea. |
We also visited the Freedom House which was built to host reunions between families divided by the boundary. Unfortunately, it has not yet been used for that purpose.
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| The border runs right through the middle of these blue buildings, cutting them in half . |
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| The little white posts mark the border. Beyond them is North Korea. |
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| Empty propaganda village with 160 meter tall flagpole to entice South Korean defectors over to the other side. |
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| Bridge of No Return which crosses the Military Demarcation Line (border) and was used for prisoner exchanges during the Korean War. |
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| Sandra admires some touristy photos we got taken at the gift shop. You stand in front of a blue screen and the computer projects pictures of DMZ landmarks behind you. We didn't notice until afterwards that Sandra's coat is the same color as the blue screen, and as a result she is just a floating head in all the pictures!! |
All in all, highly recommended! I'm glad I got there before I left!
