The DMZ Tour

Recently I was sort of dragged to the DMZ by my OH (who has been there twice before) purely to be a tourist of course. But hopefully one who wasn’t going to be shot 5 times in the back for allegedly trespassing. Although my experience was without the discharge of gunfire and subsequent headlines across the world it had its hairy moments.

I was quite the reluctant tourist. My OH’s family was in town so the DMZ was a natural destination for ‘sight seeing’. Personally, I had no great interest in looking at a great big fence or going deep underground to see evidence of the North Koreans efforts to secretly infiltrate the South. But I wasn’t about to be the spoilsport of the group.

Rugged up and ready to go at 10.30am, we climbed into our rented Carnival (that’s the only MPV that could seat all 9 of us – 3 people sat in front!) and we were off to Paju. To get to the DMZ we went to the Imjingak Tourist Resort which has a ticket office in the parking lot. Right next to the large parking is the ‘Hill of Music’ which is a landscaped hill with a covered stage in the centre. That day there were tons of people there flying kites so quite an impressive sight.

View of parking lot and Hill of Music behind it


Don't those look like Mozarella Balls? (Seen from the top of Imjingak Resort building)

After you purchase your tickets, you wait to board the red busses that will take you to the DMZ. The busses leave from the area to the right of the ticket office. Now, all commentary is in Korean which is of course extremely helpful to foreign tourists!!! What they don’t tell you is that you should NOT take photos. This here tourist did not get that message.

Ticket office

Red busses that take you to the DMZ

The bus takes you through a checkpoint where an armed officer with a really big gun comes on board to check your passport. This is where clever me, decided to surreptitiously (just in case we really weren’t suppose to take photos) take a photo of the guards at the checkpoint. I tried to be fast but the first 2 didn’t capture the shot as I moved the camera too quickly.

The 3rd shot got it but that was also the shot that got me noticed! The guard that saw me gestures to the other guards and start talking among themselves while glancing at the bus. Finally the same army officer comes on board slowly making his way down the bus looking at each passenger. I fessed up and showed him my camera with the picture I took and proceeded to delete it in front of him. But I did manage to capture a shot of his back which he didn’t see so here you go.

It was all pretty uneventful after that. We went to see the 3rd Tunnel which was discovered in the late 70’s when a defector told the South Koreans that the North Koreans have been digging a tunnel invade the South. The tunnel is 2m in width and height and was only 52km from Seoul.

To go into the tunnel, we took the train option. The train is a bit like those that you find in an amusement park so moved relatively lowly. Keep your arms in at all times and don’t lean your head out as the fit in the tunnel is rather snug. We go down the green lit tunnel for about 10 mins, made me think of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory but not as fun.

Where we catch the train

The 'One Earth' Sculpture dedicated towards a unified Korea

We get to walk through part of the tunnel which was quite damp and cramped. 2m clearance is not enough for someone who is 1.7m tall. All in all it was quite interesting so a worthwhile visit.

Next part of the tour was the Dorasan Station which is located at Gunnaemyeon. It is famous for being the northernmost station in South Korea. The idea for this station is to some day connect through to the main continent and thus completing the Iron Silk Road. The station was very modern but as it is not a passenger station, it was empty except for two really bored guards. I think looking at the pictures in the brochure would have sufficed for this part of the tour.

Dorasan Station

Bored guards


Back in the bus we headed to the Dora Observatory. This is the where we can see North Korea. At the top of the observatory they have pay per view telescopes where you can get a better look at the North’s Propaganda Village. It was completely empty and apparently it was built to show the South that they are equally modern and lead fulfilling lives. RIIIIGHT!

We did not go to Panmumjeom (think light blue barracks split in half between North and South Korea) to truly feel the division in this peninsular as it was closed to tourists for some reason that day. It is the location of place where truce talks between the North and South were first held during the Korean War. In fact if it hadn’t been for this trip, Panmunjeom would have just meant a place mentioned in Billy Joel’s song ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’ to me. But now I am enlightened. It’s never too late for a geography and history lesson.