Trip to DMZ

Saturday, 28th August, Emilee and I took the kids to eat breakfast at Checkertail's, dropped them off with Tiffany Dickenson, then parked the car and got on our bus to go on our trip (KID-FREE) to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone)!! For those of you who do not know, the DMZ is the borderline between North (communist) and South Korea (free). 

On our way, our first stop was Imjingak Train Station, the place they are hoping to someday be able to build a railway that goes from the South to the North and back.  Here are a few pictures of our visit there:

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South Korean guard post

Train shot up by North Koreans

From here, we traveled to Odusan (Mt. Odu) Observatory, where you can actually see North Korea (who is only 3200 meters away from the observatory), and look through binoculars to see their Propaganda Village (a fake village they use to try to show that they are a "rich, wealthy, and happy" country).

North Korea right across the Han River

From the observatory, we ventured to Dorasan Train Station, where a train STILL runs to and from North Korea, and the hope of this train station is that it becomes a TransEuropean Railway someday. Emilee and I bought tickets to North Korea and got them stamped!!!

We got SOAKED at the Dorasan Station!!

Any guesses to the next stop?? Here we go to the JSA (Joint Security Area)!  For those who do not know, the JSA is located on Camp Bonifas, a camp named for a captain murdered along with a lieutenant while trying to chop down a tree to increase visibility between checkpoints 2 and 3. These murders are better known as the Axe Murders due to the victims being chopped with their own axes.

World's most dangerous golf course (second only to Iraq)

The Peace House

North Korea is right across the line

North Korean soldier

Inside conference building where SK and NK hold meetings

The tree which caused the Axe Murders

The Bridge of No Return
This Bridge is so-named because, after the war, POW's and Koreans on either side
of the bridge were given one opportunity and one only to cross the bridge
to either the North or South, never to return again to the side which they left.

The entrance to the Third Tunnel
NK almost succeeded in infiltrating Seoul, South Korea
via underground tunnel.

The climb down to the tunnel and back up through it was definitely an experience (ask Emilee haha). Altogether, it was truly a great, eye-opening experience, one which Emilee and I got to experience together, just us, and one that will not be easily forgotten!