The DMZ is incredible

Hey ya'll, finally some picture uploads!!

First off, some food pics! Korean food is ridiculously incredible...the meat is sooo good (twss)




Outside the Gyeongbokgung palace


Okay now onto the DMZ (demilitarized zone)...which was quite possibly the coolest fricken part of the trip so far (at least for me)

Dan and I hopped on a tour bus towards the DMZ, early tuesday morning---the area that serves as the buffer between North and South Korea. Our first stop was an underground tunnel that was discovered in the mid seventies. It was one of a series of four tunnels that the North Koreans had secretly dug under the border and into South Korea territory for what could have been a surprise invasion. The tunnel was ridiculous. It was about 100 meters underground and through most parts of it, only about 2 meters tall and one meter wide, and spanned like some 1500 meters or something. We got to walk practically up to the actual military demarcation line.

The coolest part of the tour was when we went to Panmunjeom or the Joint Security Area, which was the only part in the entirety of the DMZ where North and South Koreans stand face to face. It was pretty cool hearing about the stories and incidents that happened here, but it was ridiculous actually just being there. Words cant really describe it, here is a pic:


Those are South Korean soldiers standing and facing North Korea. The blue buildings are cut in half (the closer half is South Korea and the farther half is North Korea). The gray building way back is north korea, and just in front of it to the left is a North Korean guard staring right back. So you have these two countries literally having a blinking contest right in front of each other. If you follow the center path, youll see a little cement line and the color of the ground changes...yeah thats the border! Sometimes youll see North Korean guards right on the other side of that line...thats how close these two groups get to each other, its absurd

Under heavy escort by US and S Korean troops, we also got to go into these blue buildings, where diplomats from both sides will often meet....and actually stepped into the North Korea side! W000tt....add that the list of countries ive been to! hahaha


thats a pic of both of us standing on the North Korean side of the building with a S Korean guard


and this guy totally rocks.

enough for now. blogging totally takes forever. we're thinking of outsourcing this task, anybody interested?