Back to Seoul and the DMZ

Went back to Seoul, one of my favorite cities, this time it was just a brief respite before heading to the DMZ at the 38th parallel for a tour. A tour of the 3rd Infilitration Tunnel that the North dug to reach the South, the Dorasan Observatory (where you can take pictures of the landscape of North Korea though on this day it was muggy, though you had to take pictures behind a yellow line). I did all this the day before the North set off their underground test for nukes.



Dorasan station. Nice subway station facility, state of the art but with only 3-4 trains going to and from it every day, its barely used, a shame. Food and supplies are taken from here to the North since they don't do much to feed their own people. The South's ultimate goal is to persuade the North into allowing it access into the North's territory to create a train transportation system that cuts right into China and save the South millions of dollars on transportation fees since it is essentially functioning as an island as of this point. However, the North just won't allow for it. North Koreans are crazy.


Best picture I could take of the North from behind the yellow line as the rules insist.


Look, its the north and the south trying to put their humpty dumpty culture back together again. Too bad it's so incredibly naive. But gotta give hope a chance I guess.


My fat self next to a real active mine, one of 1 million mines in the DMZ, I think...


Who needs a hotel when you have a whole subway car.


It's kind of endearing.


My hero.