“Suh-ool” That’s the proper pronunciation of Seoul... But before we get into that, tell me why we are sharing remotes. Ok check this out. I work at a government hospital, I’ll tell you all about it at another time, but just know it’s Gov’ment run. The local energy/cable company donated the TVs and remotes in patients’ rooms, and I feel like they donate the cable service as well. Patients and their families were like, “Oh snap! This the same remote we have at the house!” Did they start taking the remotes home?? YES. THEY. DID. Yes they did, y’all!!! So here we are with like two remotes at the nurses’ station running from room to room answering call bells cause Maria needs her channel changed and the volume turned down. Really, sometimes I just stand up and say, “AYE! WHO HAS THE REMOTE?!” ...as in Seoul, South Korea! Not “Soul”, not “See-ool”, but “Suh-ool”....two syllables...you’re welcome. I’m probably still going to say “Soul” though, because, you know, for the culture! Anyway, I had 5 days off, and what I do?! Bought a ticket to South Korea! I figured, “When’s the next time you’ll be on this side of the world?! Go ALL the places while you’re in these waters!” So yeah, got off work at 8am, bought a ticket for 4pm. My cousin Charlie has a friend, Mikyba, that lives in South Korea, so basically my friend also! I hit her up like, “Hey! Found a cheap ticket to Korea I’m coming through!” She welcomed me with open arms!! Ticket...check! Place to sleep...check!! Amazing people do explore with...CHECK!! Day one! We went to the Cheonan World Dance Festival! International food, international dance! Does it get much better?! This year marked the 15th anniversary of the the Cheonan World Dance Festival! There were 20 teams from 20 different countries and a ton of different categories. We did some arts and crafts, and FOOD!! That night we went to a nice little Shabu Shabu place and cooked ourselves a good-ole hotpot! Day two! THE. DMZ. First of all, the DMZ sounds a lot scarier than it actually is. It probably is a lot scarier on the North Korean side. Lol. “What’s the DMZ Trelle?” The Demilitarized Zone. Pretty much 2.5 miles of buffer space at the North and South Korean border where an Armistice Agreement is in place. Now, if anyone tried to bring military forces and pop off in the DMZ...IT. GOES. DOWN!! There’s like a million soldiers on each side ready for whatever, whenever! For now, the DMZ is a huge tourist attraction! Get ya money, South Korea, I ain’t mad at you! Our first stop on the tour was Imjingak Village and Park. This village is the farthest north point in South Korea where civilians can go. After that village you have to have permission and be guided past check points. The park is where many people come to perform ancestral rituals in hopes of being reunited with family members that they have not seen in over 60 years since the Korean War Armistice Agreement was signed. One of the most chilling sites in Imjingak is the Bridge of Freedom. All the bridges were destroyed during the war, therefore this bridge was specifically built to return Prisoners of War after the cease fire. They were driven to the border and had to walk across the bridge. I believe over 13,000 POWs were returned. However, not all of them were returned. Tied to the bridge are bright colored ribbons with names, messages, and contact info left by family members in the South with hopes that their loved ones in the North would cross that bridge, find the info, and know where to return home. Now, with the bridge being closed, South Korean families still tie their ribbons to the bridge to pay homage to their family who died in the North. For those South Koreans that were born in the North, Imjingak and the Bridge of Freedom is the closest thing to home. The village is somehow, strangely, very joyous. There’s even an amusement park there. If you didn’t see any of the memorials and artifacts, like the train that was destroyed by gunfire, you would think you were just at a regular park and campsite. Next stop!! The Third Tunnel! So there are these tunnels. Tunnels that North Korea dug toward Seoul with hopes of capturing the city. South Korean officials are aware of four of them! There are probably more, a lot of more. Buuuut...yeah. So, we got to go down into the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel! What makes this tunnel special is the way it was found. Ok, close your eyes so you can picture this. Wait, no, that’s stupid, you won’t be able to read if your eyes are closed. South Korea was hip to the fact that North Korea was digging tunnels, because of the first two tunnels. They dug holes where they suspected tunneling, placed pipes in the holes and filled them with water. The Northerners were using dynamite to evacuate the tunnel and as one stick went off, the water from the pipe erupted and shot up above ground, signaling the South that something was brewing below! The Southerners then dug five more holes around the pipe that exploded, placed pipes in those holes, and poured water down them. The water never came to the surface, meaning it was flowing into a free space below. So they started digging! It took them 3 months to dig and find the tunnel precisely. When questioned about it, North Korea denies it being a tunnel of aggression but a coal mine...*Side-eye* The next stop was the Dorasan Observatory. Pretty much an overlook where you can see different landmarks on the border of North Korea. They probably over there looking right back at us like, “Look at them with their looking asses!” Theeeeeeeeeen We stopped at the Dorasan Station! Yo, this is a HUGE train station...that is not in operation. Whomp! It was built to link North and South Korea. Initially, it transported cargo to the North and was expected to provide passenger transit between the South and North. However, with the ongoing tensions, change in political parties, and North Korea not agreeing to stop nuclear weapon testing, South Korea shut down the cargo transport, so clearly it never got to the point of passenger transport. The ongoing goal is to have reunification with North Korea, open the station, making it the starting point of a transcontinental railway to the North, China, Russia, and other parts of Europe! So yes, there is beautiful, modern train station that is not it use. As of now it’s a tourist attraction, you can buy a “train ticket” stamp it and go on to the platform. More importantly, it serves as a statue of hope that some day unification between North and South Korea will be accomplished. Can you imagine how LITTY the party in Imjingak Park will be?!?! That was out last stop on our DMZ tour. We didn’t get a chance to do the JSA part, but the JSA is pretty much where the meeting between both sides happen and apparently there’s a room where you’re in both North and South Korea. After they fed us some good Korean food and kimchi (yum!), back to Seoul we traveled. But there’s all this cool stuff in Seoul! So we HAD to explore before heading back to Cheonan! We went to visit the President’s House, the Blue House! Why is it called the Blue House? For the same reason the White House is called the White House. Then we visited the Gyeongbokgung Palace! Pictures don’t do this place any justice. It’s like a palace compound! Like him and his cousins and they cousins by marriage where all on this compound. After they kicked us out of the Palace because they were, "closing" 15 minutes before the actual closing time, we did what tourist do best...walk around aimlessly, stumbling upon things. Day Three! Jess had to go head back to Guam. So I planned on chilling and living my best bum life. Then I remembered I’m suppose to be living my best tourist life, so I hopped on a bus to Seoul! I REALLY wanted to see the North Seoul Tower, so I did (in my Forrest Gump Voice)! I was out in Seoul navigating like I’ve been there before. Really, the subway is just super easy to learn. The North Seoul Tower is the first general radio wave tower in South Korea! Actually with a little bit of research, in 2005 the tower was renamed as "N Seoul Tower," where the "N" stands for "Namsan," the part of the city the Tower is in. Namsan is also the name of Mountain the Tower sits on! The view from the N Seoul Tower, is BREATH TAKING! Listen, SEOUL IS A BIIIIIIIG CITY!!!! When you’re down in it you don’t realize it, oh but from above, it’s MASSIVE! If you made it this far, you’re the Real MVP, because this post was long! I’m sorry, but I did a lot in South Korea, in 4 days! If you’re into history, I encourage you to visit South Korea or at least research more about the country, the Korean War and the effects it had on both North and South Korea! Mikyba and South Korea, thank you for pouring into my Soul! Until Next Time, Live in Love
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