Saturday was the day of the big DMZ trip. Finally, I'd be seeing something truly interesting in this country, something it's known for, something someone on the other side of the world might've heard mentioned on the news once or twice. It was going to be a good day.
Well...not so much. Let me begin by saying I'm at least partly to blame. I drank way too much Friday night (surprise!) -I'd been planning on not drinking at all- and I felt like shit well into Saturday. It didn't help that the day began at 7:30, which is about an hour and half before I start functioning normally on a weekday. But when the alarm sounded, to my credit, I hopped out of bed and got going.
Myra, Lara and I got to the pickup point in Hongdae ahead of schedule. We met up with some other people we knew and everyone boarded the Adventure Korea bus around 9. 20 minutes or so later we started moving, and after about an hour we made our first stop, in Imjingak. We were only there for 20 minutes, as we'd be stopping back there again on the way out. I didn't see much except for the convenience store and the parking lot.
Next stop: lunch. What had been an annoying drizzle matured into a good old fashioned drenching. As Canadians say, it was "fucking pissing." The meal we were served was about as satisfying as most Korean meals I've had, let's just put it at that. I started feeling less hungover but more queasy...not really a good trade off.
Next up: the DMZ museum and Tunnel #3. This was probably the best part of the trip. The museum had a lot of interesting displays about things that've happened in the last 50 years or so along the North/South border, including all sorts of stories about pointless minor skirmishes that nearly escalated into war. There was a bizarre film that did a good job of walking that fine line between touching/hilarious, whose star was a sad little girl who walked along the fence on the border with a flower in her hand contemplating the pointless devastation of war and other such things (I think), but who cheered up at the end of the flick when the narrator awkwardly said something like "unimaginable perhaps it was once but the prospect of peace appears on the morning horizon like a hopeful dove." Ok I'm exaggerating a little there, but the film was still kinda funny.
The best/most exhausting part here was the descent into Tunnel #3. You see, apparently over the last 50 odd years the North Koreans have been steadily digging tunnels from their side of the country into the South. The Americans and South Koreans have uncovered four of these tunnels, and we were allowed to enter the third one which was discovered sometime in the mid 70s I think. The last one, #4, was discovered in 1990, a little too close in history for comfort, for me. What was even more unnerving was the fact that tunnel #3, if it had been left undiscovered, could have delivered 30,000 North Korean troops/hour to within 30 miles of Seoul. That's more than a little frightening.
The tunnel itself was nothing spectacular, it was between 5-6 feet in height and about the same in width and we were allowed to walk maybe a half mile into it. But before we started that venture we had to descend about a mile or so underground by walking down a steep sloped passageway, which was a little tiring. Walking back up that slope was a lot tiring. I was sweating like the hog who knows he's dinner once I got to the top.
Next stop: some sort of observatory atop a mountain from which on a clear day the visitor might be able to see pretty far into North Korea. Saturday was not a clear day. The soldier who gave us a briefing about what we could see as we looked out into the distance had an impressive command of the English language, but after I lost interest in seeing if he split any infinitives my mind started to wander and I thought, "Christ, it sure would be great if something fucking happened. War, juseyo (I want war)"....
We hopped back on the bus and headed over to Dorasan Station, the "first stop headed north." Myra pointed out that was kinda wrong, but I wasn't in the mood to quibble at this point. I got my passport stamped which was kinda cool and bought a 500 won ticket to tour a (mostly empty) train station. If our tour guide was right, and I certainly hope he was, within a coupla years people will be able to buy a ticket here for Paris. I don't know shit about the current state of North/South talks, but I'm a little skeptical about that.
The last stop was the same as the first, Imjingak. I spent most of my time in the gift shops and smoking cigarettes near the bus, so I didn't get to see the Freedom Bridge where families split apart by the war had been reunited, nor did I see the ginormous bell that somehow celebrates/mourns for Korean unity. Whatever. After that it was another long bus ride to Hongdae, then a long cramped train ride home. Ah, there's nothing like being soaked and exhausted and having to stand buttcheek to buttcheek with a gazillion Koreans who're also riding the #1 from Seoul to Incheon.
Despite some of the disappointments of the trip, and despite how I felt Saturday night, I'm still glad I went. It needed to be done. I've been there, I've seen something that is important in the whole Korean experience and maybe I understand the country a little better.
But still, a little war would've been nice.
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