Run DMZ Continued....

    When we left off yesterday, we had just run from a Korean renegade taking illegal pictures inside the 3rd Tunnel. Let's try to forget about him....

This is one I swiped off the internet, which is probably illegal too.... but I couldn't pass up the chance to give you a look at it

    After the tunnel we headed over to the Dora Observatory where you can look over onto North Korea. This was a pretty cool part of the trip because even though it's farther from the DMZ fence than the 3rd Tunnel, it's up on a hill and you can actually see North Korean territory which makes you feel a lot closer. This is where we saw Kijong-dong, the North Korean propaganda village that I mentioned before. Now, the difference between the South Korean propaganda town and the North Korean propaganda town is that in South Korea, people actually live and are prosperous in the town, where as on the North Korean side, it is literally a made-up Hollywood-style facade. From far off you see a number of freshly painted (because they are repainted every year to keep them looking new and expensive), poured-concrete multi-story buildings and apartments with electric lighting which, in the 1950s, were features that represented an unheard of level of luxury for rural Koreans, north or south. However, today, under the scrutiny of binoculars, you can see through the guise to discover that the buildings are mere concrete shells lacking window glass or even interior rooms, with the building lights turned on and off at set times and the empty sidewalks swept by a skeleton crew of caretakers in an effort to preserve the illusion of activity. It's incredibly creepy to peer down onto this town and see the lack of activity, the lack of life. Especially when only a few hours ago we had taken a crowded subway into Seoul, crossed the bustling streets being careful to avoid cars and motorbikes, and piled onto a packed tour bus. This town seemed post-apocalyptic in comparison! Unfortunately, the rules of the Dora Observatory state that you can only take pictures from behind a certain line and there are soldiers on the other side of the line ready to corner you and watch as you delete any pictures you try to sneak from the other side of the line. I do have a pretty sweet zoom on my camera though, so check out what I got.....

Kim Jong Il just happened to be standing near a window.
What impeccable timing!

    Kidding!!! Actually, most of my pictures are pretty lame, but I'll include a few anyway just so you have a teensy bit of an idea of what it was like.

This is the line you have to stand behind to take pictures. See how far it is from the edge? Lame.

Picture Police!
(Also known as my heroes for being brave enough to defend such a dangerous border!)

North Korean mountains in the haze

Just me and North Korea, you know. Ain't no thang.... 

Don't worry, Mom! I didn't get this close.
This is another one I pirated off the internet of Kijong-dong. See how grey and lifeless it is??
(Also notice the North Korean flag. There is a South Korean flag flying at the opposite side of the DMZ so North Korea has strategically built their pole to ensure that their flag flies higher than the south's. Gotta love that communist ego!)

    Our final stop on the tour was Dorasan Station. This is the last train station on the Gyeonggi Line. The tracks run up into North Korea so that once a month a train can bring raw materials to the factory there and drop them off. On its return trip, the train brings finished goods back to the south where they are sold. It's a mutually beneficial deal the north and south have arranged. We found out during the tour that the workers in the North Korean factory make about $80 US a month. I have no idea what that translates to in North Korean won because I couldn't find a consistent exchange rate, probably because they don't exchange with anyone (out of the 2 sites I could find that convert USD to KPW, one said it was about 10,000 and the other said it was about 78,000 so..... yeah). But it's not exactly rocket science to figure out that $80 a month sucks. 

North Korean beer and North Korean won: Two things North Koreans never see......
(Cruel joke. Sorry.)

    When we arrived at the station it was totally empty, which, in normal Korea never happens, so it was really creepy. Here we were able to get stamps in our passports for Dorasan Station (which is almost as good as having a North Korean stamp). You could also purchase a train ticket for Pyeongyang, which is the nearest city in North Korea. You can't actually ride the train in that direction, but it's kinda cool to have a ticket because you can actually ride it heading south. When we went out to the platform, the train was in the station, which was really cool. It looked like something straight out of the 50s - just as I imagine everything else in North Korea to look, being that that's the decade when they shut themselves off from the rest of the world. It was extremely reminiscent of "1984."

Normal South Korean station....

Dorasan Station

Maybe some day you will actually be able to board the train "To Pyeongyang"....

Looking toward the north

I felt like it was fitting that in this picture it looks like the arrow in the direction of Pyeongyang is pointing at barbed wire

Careful not to walk too far!

    Once we'd had our fun playing on the tracks, we walked over to the Dorasan Peace Park which is across the way from the train station. It's this beautiful park, fully equipped, but never used. It was built in anticipation of the reunification of the north and south, but for now it only ever sees the activity within the civilian control zone. Like I said, virtually no one is allowed within the civilian control zone so nobody ever uses this park. This makes it really creepy and extremely surreal. Not to mention, the area surrounding the park is covered in land mines from the Korean War so the entire thing is fenced in with barbed wire. When we went over there, the only person there was one lone security guard (and you think your job is boring!) and they were playing elevator music at a very low volume from the loud speakers. 

    Umm.... freaky!

Dorasan Peace Park

Creep-tastic walkway heading to the park
(Anyone else see this and think, "Red Rum! Red Rum!"??)

A day at the barbed-wire-enclosed park, always so relaxing

In case you were thinking of entering.... Don't.

Completely deserted!

Not a soul in sight

Dorasan Peace Park Architect:
"I dunno... I don't think the fact that this place will be completely void of people is creepy enough. Let's add some freaky sculptures to really drive it on home."

 Two reasons for including this video:
1. I wanted you to really get the feel of how creepy this place was
2. I find it hilariously ironic that my phone rang right as I was trying to capture the eerie park music

    At this point the tour bus was about to head out and not wanting to be left behind in this bizarre nowhere-land, Misty and I ran back toward the train station. And I'm not gonna lie, I was glad to get out of that park before post-apocalyptic zombies crawled out from the mine-infested forest and ate us alive or something!

   On the ride home all I could do was think about how spooky and bizarre the day had been, and about how awful life in North Korea must be. I have never felt luckier to be a US citizen than I did on Sunday. About an hour later, the sharp contrast of the hustling, bustling streets of Seoul made the entire trip seem like a dream - like we had momentarily stepped into the Twilight Zone and somehow made it back unscathed. I will forever be fascinated by the mystery that lies to the north of the DMZ and am thrilled to have had this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see it up close!

 Because I know, at this point, that you (like me) are hooked! 

"Creepy Steve, Creepy Steve! Sis boom bah! What's he doing?"
"Umm..... he's battin' for the other team!"