Up north

We were supposed to go to Panmunjum and the DMZ a couple weeks ago, but the trip was cancelled because the UN closed the area up for that week we were supposed to go. So instead we went this Friday, August 7th. Some of the other parts of the tour were closed up, but at least we got to go to the main important building, and take pictures there.

I stepped onto North Korean soil for two minutes!! Does that count as being there? If you go into the negotiations room, while South Korean tours are going on, no North Korean soldier can step inside. If North Korean tours are happening, no South Korean soldiers are allowed inside. It was actually quite intimidating cause the soldiers were taking pictures of us in the background, as if they were tourists on holiday or something. Also, when we were in the room, they kept staring in on us, and taking more pictures. Our guide told is it was so they could use our pictures in propaganda materials.

We also went to eat lunch at this one restaurant where the performer was North Korean. He seemed quite assimilated to South Korean life.

After we returned back to Seoul, I went to Yongsan (용산) to meet Hojin. She's a friend who studied ESL at Drexel for a year when I met her through some people. We had dinner, then went to karaoke. I stayed at her house, which had a gorgeous view of the Han River from a big window. Prime Seoul real estate.

Saturday morning, I got up at the crack of dawn to take the first subway at 5:45 to East Seoul Express Bus Station. I got a 7:20 bus to Sokcho (속초), and arrived there at 11:00. On the way there, I saw a bit of Seoraksan aka Mt. Seorak (설악산) which I hiked later. It was a beautiful view.

I checked into my hostel, The House Hostel owned by Mr. Yoo and his mother. I really loved it there. Mr. Yoo gave me so much helpful information about how to get where I wanted to go, nice places around Sokcho, and places to go eat. For just 30,000W (about $25) a night, you get your own room, free laundry, free internet, free bike rentals, and free breakfast. The place is traditionally a love motel, as most cheap accommodations in Korea are, but it's been spruced up to reflect itself in an international hostel style.

I took a bus to Seoraksan, and got there at 1. Mr. Yoo advised me to book the cable car first, and then go to one of the other tracks cause the cable car had a big line. It proved to be right, because the next available one was for 1:50. I got one for 3 instead, and hiked up to Biryong Falls (비령폭포) and then came back and went up the cable car. It was so cloudy that I couldn't see more than a few meters in front of me. But regardless, Seoraksan was beautiful. Afterwards, the rain started down pretty hard, so I headed back to Sokcho.

I took a walk around Sokcho for about 3 hours, and went to the beach as well. Sokcho is a really nice city, and actually kind of reminds me of Atlantic City, but with cleaner beaches. I walked around the length of the harbour, and then had to take a barge back to the other side to avoid making my 3 hour walk a 5 hour walk. The swim I took was about 7:30, so the water was FREEZING, but once I got all in, it felt so nice.

When I got back to the hostel, while checking my emails in the kitchen, I met an Australian man who used to work for Nestle Korea a few years back, since he works for Nestle Australia back home. We talked for several hours, and had some soju he bought. Then went to bed when the kitchen closed at 12.

Sunday morning, I went for a morning bike ride up to the lighthouse and looking points. After that, at breakfast, I met the Australian man, and an older French couple I spoke to briefly the day before when they checked in. We chatted for about an hour, then I headed up north, my eventual destination the Unification Observatory, the northern most tip of South Korea that touched NK.

Mr. Yoo told me to take the bus to Hwajinpo Lake(화진포), and then hitch the rest of the journey. I didn't even get to Hwajinpo, because the bus I took said it didn't go all they way up and dropped me off. The next two buses didn't go there either. So I stuck my thumb out and waited. Eventually, this little grandpa and grandma picked me up and took me til Hwajinpo. They offered to take me all the way up north, but it was out of their way, and I insisted that I would be fine til there.

Hwajinpo is a huge gorgeous lake that empties out into Hwajinpo Beach, which is equally beautiful with clear clean waters. The lake is most famous for the fact that Kim Ilsung (김일성) and Rhee Seungman (이승만), the first two presidents of North and South Korea respectively, had houses on opposite sides of the lake facing each other.

After this, I hitched a ride up to the front gate to where you have to enter the north most bit of South Korea, that requires going through a military check point. The man who gave me a ride til this point was an old man who fought in the Korean War for the south side, but his family is originally from the North, and most of them are still stuck there unfortunately. It was also amazing that he could speak both English and Russian. He said he learned it in the army.

At the ticket counter, the girl told me that I could not pass the checkpoint on foot, and I must go in a car. She said she often paired foreigners with couples who had cars, and would take them there and out. The couple she paired me with didn't initially seem to take any interest in me, and I thought that it would be a pretty boring ride. Once we got to the observatory, on the way up, they started talking to me a bit, and I found out the husband used to lead tours to Geumgangsan or Mt. Geumgang (금강산). This mountain in North Korea was one of the few places people could enter NK from the South. It was a tourist resort maintained by Hyundai Asan (현대 아산) that has since been closed down since tension between the North and South has escalated.

The observatory itself was not that special, but the site from it was breathtaking. Untouched beaches and mountains all around us. Afterwards, they were returning back to Seoul where they lived, and offered to drop me all the way back down to Sokcho, which they pretty much needed to pass to get home anyway. I gratefully accepted, and we had a bit more conversation, then me and his wife both dozed off.

I got back to Sokcho at 5, and took the bus back to Seoul at 6. Because of traffic coming back, it took 4 hours instead of the 3 it took to get to Sokcho. It kind of reminded me of traffic driving into Guadalajara. The bus dropped me off at the terminal, and I found the stop to take the 1112 bus back home. Walking along the stop, I saw James waiting for the bus as well, so we just chatted for the whole ride home about our weekends. He went to Andong to meet his Korean in-laws.