DMZ

Katie, Matt, and I were going to take the DMZ tour. Matt ended up getting kicked off the bus because his passport was at school. It was very sad. Matt arranged everything with us and then missed the tour. I hope he had as much fun the second time around. Katie and I had an enjoyable trip. We even got North Korean stamps in our passports. The military guards were funny. They told us about the wildlife in the DMZ including the liger. Hmmm…I liked the stories about how childish the DMZ seemed. The north would sneak into the negogation rooms and wipe their shoes with the American flag. I guess the troops from the north likes to flip off Americans and make throat-slitting motions. There didn’t really seem to be any threat while we were there. There were gift shops everywhere. There was even a theme park with rides and wine bar for people wishing to look into the north. One of the videos we watched ended by saying “DMZ FOREVER.” I thought that was a little strange. I’m not sure if it is a war or tourist dollars that are keeping the DMZ alive and well today.





Getting our North Korea passport stamps. They say that we took the train to Pyeongyang in the North. Nope. Hopefully we don't get stuck anywhere as a result.


A view of The North! This is as close as we could get before they start taking cameras away.


This was the closest we got to a North Korean guard.




This is one of the North Korean watch stations.




Peace and Love!


Katie and the scary ROK guard.



We loved the photo opts





We went to Dorsan Train station. There are no passenger trains running to the north, but in the future hopefully there will be. There was a train schedule that seemed a bit premature. We did get our passports stamped here.




The bridge of no return. On the North Korean side there were dead dogs. White dogs. I think it's a messages to the American dogs not to cross. The Chinese propaganda usually refered to Americans as dogs.
The brige of no return is where people were given a choice to move to the south or the north.



The ROK gaurds were great looking.


There were many fences. Rocks were placed inside the fences to see if anyone was trying to cross over.


We had a military escort through the joint security area.