I bet I was the only person on the bus who had spent a day with a family of North Koreans and chatted freely to them. There is a softening of relations between North and South Kora but sitll there’s distrust and hostility.
That’s what the guide said anyway – Qiang – nice girl but talked the whole time, repeating herself constantly and telling us (all of whom were older and more well-travelled than her) to look after our passports. Thanks Love!
It’s not possible to visit the DMZ without a guide so I had no choice but the pay someone and sit on a big bus and be exposed to a stream of babble from the over-enthusiastic girl. We firstly visited some sort of peace park where there was an old train and no view of DPRK.
When we all filed back on the bus, she helpfully handed us a map and a guide to park! Then it was off to the viewing point where we could get a clear view of the DPRK. That is, a clear view on a clear day. Today was not a clear day and we all stood there, peering through binoculars into a thick screen of greyness. As she helpfully explained, the landscape is actually just like South Korea but there are no trees because they’ve had to cut them all down for fuel. So the hills are bare.
I couldn’t help thinking about the North Korean family I had met and floated around with in Halong Bay last year. They looked so normal (what was I expecting?). I wondered what happened to Hang, the 25 year old son. With his fluent English, Chinese, (archaic) Korean and a bit of Vietnamese, he is surely a great asset to the Great Leader.
Perhaps the explanation of democracy I gave him will start him wondering whether there isn’t another way to run a country than to follow a maniac with crazy hair.
After looking in the smog, we headed to see a desserted railway station, built with donations from South Koreans. It is a strange place – a railway station, all new and sparkly but no trains coming or going. Seems a complete waste of resources to me. There were lots of opportunity to buy DMZ branded hats, t shirts, fridge magnets…. who buys this tat? Nobody on our bus for sure.
Then it was to the #3 tunnel built by the North Koreans to attack the south. I opted out of joining the very long queue of Chinese tourists only to climb down and steep slope in the dark and crawl along a narrow tunnel. I felt smug as I watched my bus friends emerging covered in sweat.
I wasn’t sure whether I really wanted to go on this tour to the DMZ but it seemed to be the one big thing people did when visiting Seoul and I suppose I was worried about missing the opportunity to see it. In the end all I saw was lots of barbed wire, massive crowds of Chinese and nothing north of the border itself.
I think it’s probably best to check the weather before signing up for a tour – unless you are in the game of ticking off places for nothing more than bragging rights.