Monday, July 25, 2005

The DMZ

Well, I finally made it to the DMZ. It was a pretty good trip. I'm really glad that I went. It wasn't one of the most amazing places that I've been, but it was definitely worth the two trips. The ability to take pictures was severely hampered though. In several places, because of "Nat. Security", we were not allowed to take photos and where we could take pics, we didn't have much time to look around. Someday, when N. Korea has rejoined S. Korea, people will be able to take as many pics as they want. But for now... If you ever come to S. Korea, I would recommend that it's one of the places you visit. What an important place in recent history.

The DMZ itself has become a wildlife reserve, a reserve with lots of land minds. The Northern army laid many minds all over the area. Humans, some times... Anyway, since no one has been able to exploit the area for it's resources, one can't even tell there used to be a war going on within it. (The same goes for the rest of S. Korea.)

So here is the scoop on the DMZ. As usual, the aggressor, N. Korea in this case, has continued in its paranoid and distrustful behavior. I can't believe the S. Korean Government is trying to trust the N. Korean Government. Several times, not just twice, the N.K. Gov. has tried tunneling under the DMZ. Their excuse when caught, "Oh, we were looking for natural resources like coal and oil." This is no exaggeration! They actually painted the rocks to look like coal after being caught engineering the 3rd tunnel, which is the one that tourist go into. They were most of the way across when the S. Korean Army caught them. The tunnel goes right through solid granite. The S.K.'s then dug an access tunnel down to where the N.K. Army had gotten to, and built a series of concrete walls effectively sealing off the tunnel from the N.K. Military. (I'm careful to always refer to the gov. or the military in this case, because as with any dictatorship, the people are trying to escape, literally. The N.K. people are probably really good people. Their gov. on the other hand...)

Now the tunnel is a big part of the DMZ tour. I have a few pics of the area. The entrance area of the tunnel of course is next to the DMZ which you get to go under. There is a drinking center in the tunnel using of course, the pure filtered water that continuously trickles through the solid granite. It's amazing as you walk around down there, how much water is drip drip dripping. Later, you go to an observation post overlooking the DMZ where pictures are well, NOT ALLOWED! Argggghhh!

Well, I hope you enjoy the pics. I know I did.

Me :-)

P.S. I just discovered that you can click on the pictures to get a larger view of them. Very cool. Maybe you have been able to do this all along, but I never knew it until now. Any who...


We had over an hour to kill before catching the next train to the DMZ so we thought we'd look around. There wasn't much to see but we did find a few interesting things... heh heh heh :-) By the way, this is the train bridge that you are looking at. Posted by Picasa


I'm not sure what the nets are for? Yes, I know what nets are for, but what are these nets for silly? Ya ya ya, but really???? Posted by Picasa


Both sides of the river bank are equiped this way. Hardly seems like fishing if you ask me. Course, I don't think I'd want to eat anything out of that river anyway. blagh Posted by Picasa


Yep, my camera is that close. What a beautiful specimen. I need to find out what it is! How you feelin :-) Anything crawling on you, tingly feelings on yur leg hairs...how's the neck? :-P Posted by Picasa


This is, you guessed it, a food stand just before the fishing area. Let's see, you have caterpillars, snails, shells and all, and many other things I have no idea about. Posted by Picasa


Yes, those are caterpillars. They say to me, "oh, it's good for your health". :-S I don't think so. He offered me a small taste, I had to turn him down. Part of me wishes I would have tried it, but the sane part of me beets it up. Posted by Picasa


Anyone up for a strole? I don't think so. Hidden in all that green stuff is a little problem. Posted by Picasa


This was just behind the bathroom facilities. So much for taking a walk in the woods. Not a safe place to be. You're looking at the DMZ in the background. Posted by Picasa


If you look really closely you can see the barbed wire fence in the tree line. Posted by Picasa


These are my friends. I met David at church and he brought his long time friend Misun. It was a good day but it was really really hot. Very muggy, like a nasty Michigan summer day. Posted by Picasa


My friends do not know the name of this flower sorry. Pretty though eh. Posted by Picasa


This is a look out area that over looks the DMZ. Unfortunately, pictures of the DMZ are not allowed. I never even thought that it would be a problem until a soldier came quickly over to me just as I was trying to take a picture. Posted by Picasa


This is the old train station. The new building was built in 2004 I believe. Now, this building serves as a musium and a place the homeless hang out. No, the homeless are not welcome there, but it's a very busy station and there are many beggers. Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Um, Hi

Well, I must apologize to my faithful blogger friends. I haven't written anything in quite a while. Terribly sorry. I've had bloggers block and there isn't much happening right now. On top of that, I was really sick. Tired of excuses, well, here's one more. :-) Blogger has finished updating their interface and now everything on the Korean computer that I use is in Korean. So now, I have to guess at what I'm doing. Being a bit rusty, I've forgotten what things to click on. :-S

So, that said, ... wait! I have one more excuse!!! I've been reading, devouring, this book called Sane Investing in an Insane World. I've really been enjoying it. Thus, when I would normally be blogging, I've been reading. :-) That's a good excuse isn't it???

Well, I decided that I owe it to you to blog at least once a week whether I have something to say or not. As such, I commit to posting at least once every two weeks. :-) lol It's summer what can I say.

My latest excursion was a short lived trip to the DMZ. (For those of you who don't know what that is, you should be ashamed. tsk tsk tsk. It's the demilitarized zone, like in Star Trek and the Neutral Zone (funny story about a Youth Group once called that), or in-between N. and S. Vietnam.)

Well, as a foreigner, one should always carry some sort of photo id just because it's a good idea. Me, well, I don't always think about shuch things. You really don't need it for anything and I don't carry a wallet because it's really bad for your back. And I certainly wont use a man purse. As if, please.

Leaving the apartment for my days excursion, all of my photo id stuff was with my banking stuff, I need it for that, and I didn't want to take all of that with me on the train. So, I pulled it out and left it. I never even once thought about my id. What would I need it for anyway. We are going to a town near the DMZ which is still in S. Korea. No prob right? Wrong! Stupid communist threat. Any way, we get up there, (which by the way is dirt cheap, a buck thirty for a 2 hr train ride) and we have to transfer trains to get to the town. BUT, in-order to complete this task, one needs a photo id! What!!!!! So, I got to ride on a train on Saturday! Isn't that so cool! It was really exciting!!! We're going back in 2 weeks. :-P

Me