DMZ tour

Long long post ahead!

Yesterday we went on a tour with KUBA to the DMZ (Korean Demilitarized Zone)! It was with Pris' group though. I jumped to the chance and registered for this trip with them since they allowed members to bring friends along, only to find out several days later that my own group was organizing the same tour for April. 

We gathered at the school's main gate at 12pm and were split into 3 buses for the tour. My bus had about 30 people so it was a rather large group of people heading out together. Along the way, our tour guide shared some background information on the history of Korea and how it became the two separate countries. We also learnt that we were going for the DMZ tour, and not JSA (Joint Security Area) since JSA is only open to foreigners and not local Koreans. The JSA is another place I'd like to visit in the future too. It's where they have a table with a line down the middle indicating the North Korean and South Korea sides.

We stopped by at Imjingak (임진각) while the guide purchased tickets for later parts of the tour. Imjingak is now a park and had huge open areas for families to spend time together. They also had quite a number of monuments relating to the Korean war but we didn't have time to check those out.

After, watching a document and visiting a small museum, we went to The 3rd Tunnel which is a North Korean infiltration route discovered beneath the DMZ. Photos are forbidden inside due to the sensitivity of the location. We had to don yellow hard hats and it was a long long walk inside. The entrance of the tunnel was sloped very steeply and inside the tunnel, air was quite thin and we were all breathing heavily by the time we exited, after turning back near where the MDL (Military Demarcation Line) was. It was estimated that 30,000 soldiers could be moved through this tunnel per hour from North Korea to South Korea. The height of the actual underground tunnel was quite low at about 1.6m in most places so it was a blessing to be short (for once) since we didn't have to bend our bodies for that few hundred meters. It was cool and moist inside, and we were surrounded by jagged walls all round.

We then went to Dora Observatory (도라전망대) which is the viewing observatory furthest up south, closest to North Korea. There, we managed to take pictures with friendly soldiers. All the girls on our tour were going crazy over the guys in uniform, queuing to take pictures with them. We also managed to catch a glimpse of North Korea and some clusters of their villages in the far distance. The view would've been clearer on days with better weather, though. It was slightly foggy when we visited.

Our final stop was Dorasan Station (도라산역). It was built in 2002 after agreements from the North and South Korean governments to link the two countries. But somehow that day never really happened and now this station sits here awaiting for true unification to begin so that it can begin operations. It's part of an extended railway system that will link Korea to other parts of the way such as Russia and Europe. It's the last station in South Korea and it goes towards Pyeongyang.

Oh, and this is something random that's common in toilets here that I've never seen before in other parts of the world. The blue blobs are soap bars attached onto the metal handles. Rather convenient! Most places usually have liquid soap or just no soap at all.

The toilet doors at this particular train station were quite unique too. They have cute pictures on all of them and red wording will appear whenever they are occupied. So yes, I took this picture outside an occupied cubicle whilst hoping that the person inside won't suddenly swing the door open and scare me to death.

As we were returning to our coach, there was a little girl with the cutest expression that make everyone fall in love with her; which also explains the crowd following behind her. As you can tell, the KUBA crowd is an international bunch! There's people from China, Uzbekistan, Germany, USA, Canada, Brazil, Puerto Rico, etc etc etc. 

Finally, home-bound back to Seoul! 

Having read quite a few biographies and watched documentaries about life in North Korea, this tour managed to materialize all that I've seen and heard. You know how some things just feel they really became real after you see it in person? This is one of those cases. I was left marveling at the realness of the situation and how North Korea is not just a place that appears in books and pictures. It is a real, actual country with people living (and suffering). We can only hope for the day that both Koreas will be unified. Till then, the world will be waiting....

day twenty-one

Week 3 in Seoul has passed and time seems to be flying by! 

Add/drop week has finally ended and I can't be more relieved. It's been a handful trying to coordinate all the modules and also attempting to add new ones into the system. All classes in Korea University that allow exchange students have a 15% limit based on class size set for us, so if there's other exchange students in the class we may not be able to register though the class has empty slots. Case in point: clothing construction class which initially had 13/20 people registered and the number later dropped to 11/20 but I still couldn't register till the very last few hours. zzzzz. All these made my stress rash patch act up again but thankfully it's subsiding now. I guess stress does have a noticeable effect on one's physical well-being. *sigh

I joined my KUBA group for an outing to Seoul Forest yesterday. KUBA is great and my group organizes so many outings (2 meal meetings on weekends and 1 outing on Saturdays) but I don't join very often because eating out can be costly especially if you're with a larger group and the money is split evenly regardless of how much you eat and drink. It's not worthwhile imo if you're one who has a small appetite and doesn't drink, like me. Plus I prefer eating home cooked food most of the time!

Anyway, we were split into groups for the activity and had mini games ala Running Man style. It was great getting to know new people but my favourite part of the day was.... getting to see and feed deer! The moment they suggested going in to the enclosed area to feed them several girls including myself rushed up to the front excitedly. We got to feed the deer some food and it was sooooo nice to be up-close with the deer :') On that note, I am really looking forward to the day where we visit pet cafes!!!! I hope I find a pug and persian cat to make friends with.

We ended the day with the traditional Running Man game where you had to rip others' name tags off. The final winners won based on numbers (they moved about in a huge group of 10 people) so anyone who went near them would find themselves on the ground in the next moment struggling to keep their name tags on. 

After we left Seoul Forest, I went to join my friends at Namdaemoon for street food. We had the best mushroom japchae ever in a small tent stall. So soooo tasty. I also tried savoury hotteok for the first time. We then walked to Myeongdong from Namdaemoon and window shopped while having even more street food. Thus sums up my Saturday! Looking back at days like these, it makes me feel that there's so much yet to be discovered in Seoul and Korea in general. Will definitely have to make good use of my time here to experience as much of the city and country as I can. I'm pretty much in love with what I've seen and tried so far. 

Till the next time I'm back with more adventures, Bin xx

Day 4 - Orientation II

It's the second day of orientation but it was a pretty short day in school. We reached the central square area at 0835hrs and it was totally empty. It was full of groups of local students drinking, mingling and playing games on the afternoon the day before- looked like they were picnicking! The main building is currently undergoing a facelift as you can tell in the photo. It's funny that they covered the renovation works with a large image to show what the building is supposed to look like. A speaker specifically highlighted this when addressing the auditorium as well.

There are many steep slopes within the school compound and this is just one of them which we had to take in order to reach Incheon Memorial hall. Usually slopes are quite hated but in cold weather I don't mind them as much. There's lots of stairs to climb in train stations too but it serves to provide daily exercise haha.

For day 2 of the orientation programme, we were given instructions on how to fill up a form for a Hana Bank account. Once created, they will issue a credit card which also serves as our KU student card. It will be ready in 3-4 weeks so in the meantime we will have to get a temporary barcode for access to the library and other school facilities.

We had lunch at a different canteen and the food was much better than yesterday's! A ₩5,000 coupon was given and we could pick out various items as long as the total price remained within that amount. And the amount of food we got from spending ₩5,000 left me totally stuffed and with a bunch of leftovers, even.

Returned back to the livingtel after lunch was done as I already had my SIM card/phone done upon arrival. We always walk by this very steep slope (I reckon it's 45 degrees) on our way to and from school and decided to show this to our friends back home. Their reactions were quite funny but it's also lucky that we don't actually have to use this slope to get anywhere so far.

My dinner time was spent with orientation group mates at a chicken & beer restaurant nearby. All orientation groups had a similar activity arranged and this particular restaurant I went to was entirely booked by KUBA. It was my first fried chicken meal in Korea so I was pretty excited to try out the food, since I loveeeee 4Fingers. Apparently 4Fingers is not from Korea itself though, since my korean buddy has never heard of them :/

Instead of chicken wings or drumsticks that we usually get from restaurants back home, we were served deboned chicken chunks. It was still tender on the inside and crisp on the outside. The reddish looking pieces come with a spicy glaze topped with almond bits. Very tasty! The chicken was served alongside rice (regular white rice or purple rice) and huge jugs of beer which resembled a barrel. Soju was available as well. We learnt various drinking games and got to know one another better :)

Here's a shot with those at my table! Most of them continued with the second stop for the night which was a soju place but I didn't join since I don't drink much. 

After the meal, it was back to the livingtel after to enjoy some shows and to retire for the night :}

#bininseoul

It's been too long since I last posted! Am currently in Korea for my final semester of study exchange so I guess there's no better time to get started on blogging again then right now.

It's day 3 today and we had our orientation in Korea University where everyone is split into large groups then sub-groups. Orientation was held in Incheon Memorial Hall and begun early in the morning at 0830hrs. Our school has really nice gothic style buildings but they all look pretty similar so I'm guessing that it won't be easy to find my way around when lessons begin. 

We were brought around the school for a campus tour after introductory talks by several speakers. The campus tour felt more like an opportunity for the entire group to have group photos taken but that's fine with me. There were plenty of chances for us to interact with the KUBA buddies and fellow exchange students while walking about.

Lunch was included and we were provided with a lunch coupon! We only one choice because the other option - Bibimbap (which sounded alot better!) had already ran out since our lunch was the later time slot. The kimbab was courtesy of my KUBA buddy who brought it along in her bag. See the last piece of kimbab which is exceptionally large? She stuffed the entire piece into her mouth after some contemplation about how it could be eaten and it was a comical sight because she spent a good minute or two after that trying to chew it.

After orientation was over, the bunch of us SIM-UOB folks staying at Rachel Livingtel had dinner at a place in Anam area, near our school and livingtel. This restaurant serves only korean army stew (부대찌개 / budae jjigae) and it was really yummy. I love the cheese they added into the soup which gave a deliciously creamy taste. Possibly my favourite meal here so far and very reasonably priced! The serving below was for 4 people and came with rice. It costed about ₩5700 each which is approximately SGD6.

Another long day tomorrow in school for more orientation activities, and more things to get used to before lessons start this Monday. Goodnight!