THE DMZ

hiding in my cave.

Friday after work, I caught a longer than I expected bus ride to Seoul. I didn't arrive until after 11. I couldn't stay in a hostel because I missed the check in times and all the couch surfers willing to host me were too far to get to before the subway stopped running. I decided to test my luck at a jimjilbang. Now I once posted about Spa Land and how whack it is but in the spas in Seoul, they have sleeping rooms. They're open 24 hours and only cost about $10, so I thought why not? This spa was AWESOME! Yeah, they had the creepy Roman baths filled with naked people but on the entire second floor, there were different sauna rooms and people were fully clothed in the provided clothing. Each sauna room had a different theme. My favorite was the salt "kiln" as the rooms are called. First, I thought I'd try and sleep. They had "cave rooms" which consisted of a space long enough for a person to lay down in. There was a mat on the floor and the floors are heated. There were only a few and I was lucky enough to get one because it was your own personal space. I couldn't sleep for the life of me so I decided to explore. They had massage rooms, an arcade, places where you could get food, snacks, alcohol, and coffee..then of course, the saunas. I went into each one for about fifteen minutes. Very relaxing. In the main area, you could find people sleeping on mats all over the floor. It was really interesting. I came to the realization that I wasn't going to fall asleep here but at least it was a warm place to keep shelter. I braved it into the bath section so I could wash my hair. I kept my clothes on and everyone probably thought I was nuts. But I'm all set with being naked in public. I freshened up, changed, and looked for a place to charge my phone.

Seoul is really the city that never sleeps. I never understood why people say that about NY because I've been there spur of the moment at like 3am and everything was closed. There were people everywhere in Seoul and they have 24 hour coffee shops all over. It was packed and it was like 3am! I even saw some people sleeping in there. Coffee shops here have a little room for smokers too. So weird, yet kind of cool. I waited for my phone to charge and by that time the subways were running so I was ready to get to my destination and wait for my tour bus to the DMZ.

The tour bus was filled with foreigners. It was fun to actually speak English without having to repeat myself. I sat next to a boy from Japan with excellent English. The tour was amazing. The first stop was Imjingak, which is the farthest North people can go without permission to go further. It had steam engines and a part of a train that got shot out by the north Koreans while it was in route. There were pictures from the war and a lot of information. Next, we had lunch. A lot of restaurants here make you take your shoes off before entering and you sit on the floor. The place we had lunch was in the town where the best soy beans in South Korea come from. The food was good and I made conversation with a girl from Nigeria. Did you know that English is the main language in Nigeria? I didn't until today. After lunch, we were off to the third tunnel. North and South Korea made a treaty dividing their land but years later, FOUR underground tunnels were discovered... All leading to Seoul. The third tunnel alone could transport 30,000 soldiers to Seoul within one hour. How freaaakinnn crazy! The walk through the tunnel was long and steep and we had to wear yellow hard hats. No pictures were allowed. At the end, you could see into North Korea. The walk back up the hill was BRUTAAALLL. People have been taken out by stretchers before because they couldn't make it. I made though. Thought I was going to have a heart attack but I made it.

Next was the Dora Observatory. Here, you could literally look over the wall into North Korea. It was foggy so I couldn't see much. Each country had their flag hanging in this area. They used to fight on who could hang theirs higher and who could play louder music. Like seriously? It was interesting. If you want to enter North Korea, you have to go through China. And when you get there, it's literally like "1984" in real life. People follow you and people watch you. The citizens are literally only allowed to view the media that is showed to them... That's IF they get to see any at all. It's just so crazy to me how these people don't understand that they're being controlled. An average worker makes $120 a month and 30% gets taken out for the government. The world is really a crazy place.

The DMZ is the most heavily militarized border in the entire world. It's the border, however, there's still two check points. 2KM north of the DMZ is the North Korean checkpoint and 2KM south of the DMZ is the South Korean checkpoint. If someone wanted to escape, they would have to pass basically three different borders. If you get caught, you get shot on the spot.. No questions. It's just so mind blowing to me that shit like this happens in this world. We're all human beings, calm down. Did you know that the ruler of Burma (next to Thailand) sells children to the sex trade. You sell your own citizens? Wtf.

The last stop was Dorasan Station. This station works and the train runs to North Korea. They use it to transport workers and goods. It was built in hopes of one day reuniting.

All in all, the tour was extremely informative and beyond interesting. Totally worth the no sleep I got. After, I ventured into Hongdae, which is a popular shopping and party area in Seoul. I did some shopping and found a Hello Kitty Cafe. It was so cute inside. The walls were all pink and the decor was bright and fun. The chairs were shaped like Hello Kitty and super comfy. My coffee was delicious too. After, I waited for my friend Ian, who I met during training when I first arrived in Korea. We went out to a bar and this bar was literally a foreigner bar. I felt like I was in America. There were tons and tons and tons of foreigners. It was pretty cool. Seoul has the biggest foreigner population. There's even one town that is consists almost entirely of foreigners. I'm really glad I live closer to Busan though. I'd compare Seoul to NYC and Busan to Boston. NYC (Seoul)  is more crowded, overrated, faster paced, what have you. Boston (Busan) is more laid back but still has lots of things to do. Plus.. Busan has beaches!!! My friend mentioned to me that he hasn't done any site-seeing because he's been too busy partying. I do wish there were more foreigners in my area, but I really am glad that I haven't wasted away my time so far getting hammered. I didn't come here to party. Although I did party that night though. We stayed out until 4AM. I had a blast. But the next day was tooooooo rough, I didn't get to do much. I hung out with Ian and went to his ultimate frisbee practice. I met some more foreigners and one person from Massachusetts. It was cool to have a regular conversation where I didn't need to repeat myself more than once.

All in all, Seoul was successful. I definitely want to go back when I have more time so I can actually do some site-seeing here. The bus ride back wasn't as horrendous. It was a great weekend. Tomorrow is graduation day! I'll probably update with some pictures of these cuties! Til then.

Saw this written on a wall. I loved it.

the ceiling in one of the sauna rooms

This was the only message written in English.

This shows the actual DMZ and the two other borders.

 

I'll end with some previous little videos I made. I got a cord for my camera, so more videos will come! I always feel so awkward when I'm recording and pretty much talking to myself sooo don't mind me.