Seoul Day 2 DMZ

Our second day in Seoul was our most stressfull but we also had the most fun.  The tour the previous day started at nine so I assumed the tour would start at the same time.  We were wrong, we were supposed to meet the bus off base at 7:50.  So I was really surprised when after just waking up our hotel room phone rang at 8 and they were asking if we were going to make it to the tour.  We literally threw our shoes on and ran out the door.  Bob had a bowel of cereal with milk poured that he just left in our hotel.  Then we ran to the bus and were still at least 15 minutes late.  I felt so bad because the bus was completely full of people waiting.

We were going on the DMZ tour and it was amazing.  I didn't know much about North Korea beforehand so most of the information was new to me.  For those who don't know the DMZ is the demilitarize zone between North and South Korea.  There is no official line separating but more of an off limits area for both sides.  They are actually still at war, but are just under a cease fire and have been for some time.

There were a couple stops on the tour, one was to see the recovered train from the war.  It was full of bullet holes.  

On the fence we saw lots of ribbons tied up.  I think they were messages or wishes for family members.  So many families were split up when the war happened.  The people were not prepared for a barrier that they couldn't cross to be suddenly put up.  Now they have a program where you can get on a wait list to meet with family members stuck in North Korea.  You both have to go back after the visit, but you can see each other for a few hours.

Next you can see our tour guid explaining the tunnel to us.  She said she has done this tour about 800 times over 15 years.

North Korea has dug four tunnels into South Korea that have been found, but it is expected that there are many uncompleted tunnels.  They think that this is North Korea's plan for invading the South for an attack.  I guess 30,000 soldiers can get through a tunnel in one hour, which is kind of scary.  Especially as we are right there when they are telling us this like it could happen at any moment.  I wonder why they decided to make it a big tourist thing.  The tunnel we got to tour is the closest one to Seoul.  It went underground and then we were in the DMZ zone, then we went all the way to the center line of the DMZ, after which is considered North Korea.  There was a locked fence which we couldn't get through.

 We took some pictures of North Korea.

The last stop on the tour was the train station that connects North and South Korea.  It is the last stop and is not currently running trains but they hope to in the future.

 After the tour we went on a boat cruise.

 It wasn't the greatest, and it was pretty empty.  But it was something to do and we had fun.

After that we met a sister missionary from Bob's mission.   We went out to dinner with her and then she showed us this place with an amazing view of the city.  It was our earliest morning and our latest night.

JeJu

While my parents were in town Bob and I took off to South Korea.  He served a mission there before we were married and wanted to go back ever since.  It is much easier and cheaper to get there from Japan so it was the perfect time.  I knew we would probably never go back again so I wanted to make sure we did and saw everything Bob wanted to do and see.

Our first stop was Jeju, a small island off South Korea.  We rented a scooter and had tons of fun riding it around the island for two and a half days. It reminded us of when we used to own a schooter and rode all around Rexburg on it. 

That night we went out to eat and had this delicious Korean BBQ.  These places were everywhere and I think they were called black pork.  I'm not sure the exact name, but it was yummy.

Then we headed to a big night time market.  There seemed to be tons of night markets in Korea.  I guess shopping at night is popular.  It was full of lots and lots of fish stands.  Reminded me a little of Pikes Place in Seattle, but much more smelly.

I had to take a picture of this, although I could barely look at it.

 The next morning we got up early and went on a hike.

Riding the scooter up the mountain to the start of the hike was pretty funny.  We had it maxed out and we went very very slow.  Everyone had to just ride around us.  We were actually warned at the scooter rental place about riding up the mountain, but it was the only way to get to the hike.  At one particularly steep part I had to get out and walk about 100 meters.  Bob felt bad about that, but we just weren't making it up.  Winding around corners through the woods was so pretty though.  I didn't mind the extra long ride up.

One part of the path turned into its own little stream. 

 There were a lot of stairs, but the view was pretty nice on the way up.

We didn't really take pictures at the top because it was super foggy.  We could barely see 50 feet away.

After our hike we decided to check out this place called Chocolate Land.  I would not recommend it!  

It was so weird and creepy.  We were the only ones there and I can't see why anyone would go.  The name made it sound awesome, but everything was old and half deteriorated.  We literally just walked around and saw some chocolate things and some other random things.  This next picture is a good example of a strange Christmas set up with a pikachu who has a missing nose.  We really did not get it.

Then there was a display case of a chess set made out of chocolate.  

 It was comical to us how strange this chocolate museum was.

We ate dinner and then headed to a short hike with a beautiful waterfall.

Next it was time to head back.  I found we can really pack in a lot in one day without kids.  We decided to take the recommended route instead of over the mountain, but had an even harder time.  This road was a freeway and we did not feel comfortable to 20 miles under the limit.  Everyone just flew around us so quickly, it was a little scary.  We were worried about phone batteries dying and we really were depending on them for google maps.  But we made it on a longer way that wasn't quite as fast as the freeway.  Here you can see Bob figuring out a new way on his phone.

Great Wolf Lodge 2

The slides were definitly the most popular thing at the water park for our family, that is for everyone except Calista.  She was not a fan of us carrying her down a fast slide with water splashing her face the whole time.

She was a fan of the shallow water and walking around and slipping on the wet floor.  She was just getting comfortable walking and thought she was pretty cool for walking on her two little feet.

This lily pad net thing was also pretty popular.  We even had some adult relay races across it that were pretty exciting.

Right before we left we all gathered in the lobby and quickly played the magic wand game.  I forgot what it was called but Ben scored a free one for everyone to share from a cleaning lady.

Overall, it was amazing.  I would love to take the kids again.