DMZ

At the very last minute Kwan and his son John (English equivalent) met us and decided to take us to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. It is a relatively new tourist complex and is proving quite popular with the locals. It was a high security train trip to the station and no photos were allowed, but because Nick could not read Korean it was only the approach of several army personnel that convinced him to lower the camera. We visited Tunnel 3 which was the 3rd tunnel discovered under the No Man’s Land. It was only discovered in the 1990s and is one of 5 tunnels so far discovered through which the South fears that the North will attack Seoul as there is no real agreed peace between the two countries. The tunnel was about 2 metres high and 2 metres wide and about 130 metres below the ground. We were only allowed to travel along it for about 300 metres. The north had painted the inside black and left bits of coal around saying that in reality it was an abandoned coal mine. The walk down was quite strenuous but certainly not as claustrophobic as The cu chi tunnels in Vietnam or under the pyramids. At least I am overcoming my phobia. It was interesting but felt they skimmed over the history and it was all a bit vague. Back in Seoul we managed to find coffee places, street food franchises by that I mean take offs of Mc Donalds Starbucks etc. We always make a promise to ourselves that we will eat local food as much as we can. Dolsot Bibimbap is my favourite Korean food it’s in a hot pot spicy and tasty.