Seoul, South Korea - February 28

this is a switch!

1 degree, SNOW!!!!!

Today was full of wonderful and amazing things and at least one shocking thing – SNOW!!! I knew the temperatures would be in the single plus digits on this trip and brought clothes for the weather, but snow…I didn’t expect that. Apparently this was the first snow in Seoul (or the first significant snow fall – I couldn’t quite understand) for 5 years.

The first interesting thing today was going through a lock to get to the harbour for the port of Inchon, Korea (the port for Seoul.) We’ve gone through many locks on river cruises which I’ve never tired of, but I’m quite certain we’ve never been through any on an ocean cruise ship. Again it was very interesting. I was out early watching and taking photos of the action on the balcony and knew it was chilly – I’d have said around 5 degrees.  

Today’s tour was one we were really looking forward to – visiting the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea. From the port we drove about an hour before we arrived at the ‘Freedom Bridge’, which crosses the Injin River connecting North and South Korea. Thousands of North Koreans crossed this bridge to freedom at the end of the Korean War. This was a very brief stop to buy tickets to the actual DMZ site. Apparently only large buses are allowed to the DMZ, if someone wanted to go on their own they would park at this site and take another bus – because we had our own bus we didn’t have to do this. This spot was a bit of an amusement park, complete with rides – odd.

birthday beer

On the road to the DMZ a soldier got on our bus to check out passports - this happened to us once before in India. Apparently the ship had to provide our names, nationalities and passport numbers in advance. Along the winding road to the DMZ site there were land mine signs all along the way…this place is no joke. The DMZ is an area between North and South Korea that is essentially along the 38^th parallel. It is 2 km wide on both sides and runs the width of the Korean peninsula.

Korean Starbucks on a traditional shopping street

First we watched a 10 minute film about the history of the DMZ – it was weird. Then we had to lock up all of our bags, cameras (no photos allowed) etc., don hardhats and board a tram to transport us to the ‘Third Tunnel’ – third because it is the one discovered third, there are 4 tunnels discovered all together the last being discovered in 1990.

The tram took us 70 meters underground along 300 meters to the actual 3^rd Tunnel. Once we got to the 3^rd Tunnel we walked for about 250 meters in the Tunnel. It was about 2 meters tall and 2 meters wide, but varied at points which is why we wore hardhats – people were banging their heads all along the way.

land mine warnings

Once we got to the end of the Tunnel we were able to see the Demarcation Line between the 2 sides of the DMZ and essentially to North Korea. There was very little to see through a small hole, but essentially we saw what is North Korea. These tunnels were designed by North Korea for a surprise attacks on Seoul. Apparently there were designed so that 30,000 soldiers and their equipment could get to Seoul an hour. We could still see the holes used to put dynamite into along the walls. When we emerged from the Tunnel is was SNOWING!

white space - exactly what we could seen of N Korea

Next, you made a very quick stop at the Dora Observatory where if it were a clear day we could have seen across the border to a North Korean propaganda village – it was not clear. We could hear however the North Korea broadcasted propaganda. There are a ton of soldiers here (male only), according to the guide most are around 20 years old – that’s how old they seemed.

By this time it was about 2:00 and I was starving – I typically bring a mid-morning snack, but Korea doesn’t approve. Lunch was a traditional Korean meal of bulgogi – Korean beef. While by no means a Korean food expert, I thought bulgogi was BBQed, this was more like a soup with beef and mushrooms. Regardless it was very good. We also had Korean ‘pizza’ which was more like an omelet or thin frittata.

Then we had some time on a traditional shopping street which very few of us on the tour were interested in due to the weather. We did what we usually do during shopping times…find a beer. We were however, able to find the one of only 2 Starbucks with other than English writing – apparently some people in Seoul weren’t interested in having Starbucks on this traditional street and they came to an agreement with Starbucks.

passport check

Freedom Bridge

We expected after returning to the ship that that would be the excitement for the day…nope…the most fun I had all day was talking to the staff about the snow. For many, many of them this was the first time they had ever seen snow! It was thrilling to hear their excitement and see their photos. One waiter we chatted with put boxes on his feet and went for a walk – I’m not quite sure why he used boxes…I know he had shoes…who knows. One guy said he had seen it on the ground when working a cruise in Alaska, but never saw it fall. It was falling in big fluffy flakes. Apparently they were having a ball in the snow on the pool deck – I would have loved to have seen it!

going through the lock (before the snow)

So then, we thought for sure the excitement surely would have been over…nope. We arrived back to our room to a few Happy Birthday decorations and a small cake for Chris’ birthday. Our butler Vino knew it was Chris’ birthday and although Chris told him a cake was the last thing he needed, he got one. It was a very nice gesture.

Good thing tomorrow is a sea day…we need a day to recover from all of this excitement!  It was a great, great day!