Seoul and the DMZ!
Seoul and the DMZ
We may have expected the worst cold in Harbin but little did we know we booked our time in South Korea for the coldest week of the year. With temperatures at around -15 and a lack of preparation it’s fair to say our entire time in Seoul was freezing!
We originally booked hostel rooms but were upgraded to a private Korean style room with heated floors and futon beds and were able to enjoy free toast (which we made the most of) as well as daily spicy ramen.
Being unaware of how cold we would end up being we spent much of our time in Korea running from shop to shop to keep ourselves warm. One of the mornings Robin and I got up early to explore the surrounding area where there was lots of skin care and fashion shops. The streets in Seoul despite being so cold were very lively; every shop blared kpop songs and shop assistants stood outside giving free samples. We even managed to find a crispy kreme for a breakfast doughnut!
Food in Korea was an expensive but delicious treat! We had the most amazing Korean BBQ that I honestly would eat every day if I could. Korean BBQ is set up at a table and you are given the meat to cook yourself along with kimchi (which we all ended up hating) and vegetables, luckily we didn’t give ourselves food poisoning and where able to enjoy our BBQ. Another delicious meal we had was surprisingly more toast at a toastie diner, it was well worth all the walking we had to do to find it! Korea’s popular coffee shop chain ‘Hollys’ quickly became a favourite of ours after having the most delicious chocolate cake there!
One of the days we explored Seoul's Hanok Village, which is a small area inside the centre of Seoul that was still filled with traditional Hanok style housing. After we went to a small restaurant that served us Korean tea.
By far our most interesting day in Korea was when we went to the DMZ: Korea’s Demilitarised Zone, which interestingly is the most militarised area in the word. Our tour included speaking to a North Korean defector who was able to tell us about her life in North Korea. She told us North Koreans are actually more knowledgeable than we think. She knew life outside was better than in North Korea and nowadays more people know that and world news is often smuggled over from China. Her life in North Korea wasn’t that bad, in fact she was well fed (especially when she was in the military). She said she left because growing up she didn’t enjoy public executions and after her husband died (of natural causes) she felt there was nothing left for her. She hoped for reunification.
We went to three separate places on our tour. Firstly we visited an observation tower and were able to look directly into North Korea, then to Freedom bridge and lastly to the Joint Security Area.
The JSA is within the DMZ, it is a shared area between North and South in which they hold meetings etc. In the JSA there have been many events between North and South, notably when a NK solider ran across the line into South Korea. During our time there we were even able to go into North Korea and stand over the line. It was an incredible experience.
Next we moved onto the Phillipines…