Wow, I have quite a great deal to talk about, and I keep on putting it off. The longer I procrastinate the more things build up, and then the amount of things I have to catch up on expands. It's a travesty. Well, for me anyway. Primarily because I really want to document all my adventures/misadventures here.
The DMZ was good, bungee jumping was better. To be honest, the DMZ proved to be slightly anticlimactic. I mean, don't get me wrong, it was cool, just not quite what was expected. I really thought we would see some serious boundary patrolling by both parties. Really though it was just barren land in between 2 different sets of barbed wire. We saw some South Korean soldiers, but really nothing too impressive. We also didn't go to the commonly visited and heavily populated area of the DMZ either. That, perhaps, could explain it.
Our DMZ trip was mapped out into 3 different divisions, first, we went to the second tunnel. There are 3 tunnels that South Korea has discovered the North dug. We were allowed to go inside the tunnel, we walked about a kilometer, and then got to the "wide space" where we were then forced to turn around and walk back. We also weren't supposed to take pictures inside the tunnel. People did, although I wasn't one of them. Next, we went to the Peace Observatory. At this building they had a large model in the front up against really thick glass windows that allowed for a panoramic view...of a few large mountains. Like I said, not really what was expected. We were also able to go outside on a balcony and take some pictures. I think usually they have soldiers patrolling the area, and making sure you don't take pictures that are too zoomed in and whatnot. Our photos were not subject to approval though, because apparently the artillery was on lunch break. The last thing was a two in one deal. We did a drive by of a building that was once used by North Korea to torture South Koreans and POW's. Finally, we went to see an old Train site, which used to take people in and out of North Korea. Perchance of the funniest things about the tour was that at one of the stops my friend, Mark, volunteered to take a picture for this group of elderly Korean men. They were really friendly and crazy hilarious. Well, what do you know, but at the next stop we took they were there again, and requested Mark take another photo of them. Of course, Mark obliged.
After the DMZ it was bungee jumping time. I was really, really, really nervous. And I mean seriously, if I had an infinite amount of time on this planet I would have spent at least 3 months and 15 days typing really, really, really....etc.
Okay, I think you get the point. Anyways, the bus dropped us off on the bridge and they told us to make sure we didn't bring anything with us. The only thing we were allowed to bring was a camera. Brian, Jameson, Mark and I all traded off taking each others pictures and videos. Falling was not the hard part, believe it or not. The hardest part of bungee jumping is being on the brink of a very high surface and consciously making the decision to throw yourself off of it. Every fiber of your being is screaming at you to stay on that platform, where you feet are safely planted and your heart's beat is not being put in danger. Even reminiscing about the jump makes my palms sweaty. I don't regret doing it though because the adrenaline rush you feel, as you're free falling down towards what would be imminent danger, more than makes up for it. So to answer the question I've been asked a few times, yes, I would undoubtedly do it again.
Once the party was over it was time to go to our temporary living quarters for the evening. We took the tour bus to what I thought was a hotel. The 'hotel' was the small town we were staying in's city hall, semantics. They asked for 8 of us (2 pairs of 4) to volunteer to stay in a 'guest house'. Since my three friends and I all came together we figured, why not? Nothing wrong with a guest house, right. Semantics strikes again. When they said guest house/home stay they actually meant we were going to be staying in a room in someones house. To top everything off the town we were staying in was so small that there was not an ATM in the vicinity. Jameson and I brought minimal amounts of cash with us, which at this point was all spent (AND we had to borrow from Brian and Mark when we went bungee jumping). Therefore, we had a grand total of 13,000 won (about $13) to spend for the remaining twenty four hours (between the four of us).
We decided though that after the day we had drinking was a must, and our money was well spent on 4 bottles of soju and a beer. We all sat and drank by the fire until our bottles were dry...sadly, our thirst had not fully been quenched. At this point, luckily, most everyone else had retired for the evening. Some of the other remaining people went to noraebang on the bus. So Brian, Mark, myself, and a new acquaintance from Great Britain decided to clean up the camp fire. While cleaning we absconded some unopened bottles of beer and other beverages that people had left behind. Normally we wouldn't do this, but due to lack of money, our good will, and the fact that everything would have been tossed the next morning regardless, we felt we had some right to it.
The rest of the night went well, and the noraebang-ers joined us by the fire. We got back to our homestay safely.
The next day we explored an area called 'White Horse Hill'. We saw the hill that was designated as the main battle ground area during the Korean War because of it's panoramic view of both Korea's. Once we finished the guided tour we were given these 'mine detectors'(radios) that were supposed to be mine detectors. We were broken up into groups so that each group would compete to find a land mine. As we were searching our 'detector' started playing some K-pop. We fixed it by adjusting the 'frequency dial' (changing the radio station), and discovered one of the 'mines' (It's getting ridiculous now). After that we went to harvest some rice. I now am a proud owner of a nice, big bag o' rice. I must say, I could not be prouder of myself for harvesting it.
We ate some bibimbap (mixed rice) and then headed back to Seoul. I promptly passed out at home.
I'm just going to quickly document some of the other things I have been doing here below, and provide some links for you to check out if you just so happen to be interested.
+ I went to a NANTA performance a few weekends ago. Which is meant as a Broadway production mock cooking show, done in real time. Very interesting, and exciting. Nanta in Korean means "striking relentlessly" so there is a lot of drumming on random things, acrobatics, chopping, and a little cooking too.
+I also had a day off today and went to a botanical garden with my co-worker, Katie. It was called the garden of the morning calm, and it was beautiful. :)
http://www.morningcalm.co.kr
And so ends my long-winded blog entry.
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