A Crazy Week in Seoul

Mid March we flew to Seoul to meet five friends that we had lived with in Niseko. Alex had organised a large studio apartment for us all to stay in. The apartment consisted of four large double beds and one single bed, so it's fair to say that it was pretty cosy, and quickly became rather messy. However, the apartment was brand new and everything was finished to a high standard so our stay there was far more favourable than the hostel alternative. It also boasted panoramic views of Seoul city, providing a stunning backdrop to a number of silly drinking games, humorously played in both English and Japanese, and plenty of beer pong.

On our first day we visited the War Memorial Museum. The museum was outstanding, featuring multiple interactive sections, such as 4D cinemas where they showed short twenty-minute clips and documentaries.

The following day Hyeon, our Korean friend who we lived with in Niseko, took us on a walk through Seoul to visit the Gyeongbokgung Palace. The Palace was built in 1395 and served as the home to various Kings during the Joseon dynasty. It was destroyed by Japan during WW2 and has since been restored. 

After walking around the Palace in the glorious sunshine Hyeon took us to a famous chicken soup restaurant. We were a little surprised when a whole chicken arrived in a huge bowl, and were even more surprised to find that it was really delicious. 

The next day we went to a crazy theme park called Everland. Everland is home to the world's biggest wooden rollercoaster. This was an awesome ride and, as expected, very bumpy. We repeatedly went on the dodgems alongside families and their 'Rugrats'. They dodged one another and drove politely round in circles, whilst we made it our joint mission to crash into every one of them. After a long, fun-filled day we somehow found the energy to party in Gangnam that evening. 

After spending the next morning in bed recovering, we visited Seoul's dog cafe that afternoon. Think fifty dogs, all different breeds, personalities and sizes, some lounging about and others running around playing, whilst you try not to spill your cup of coffee amongst the chaos. It was great fun. 

On Wednesday we embarked on our much-awaited tour of the demilitarised zone, the DMZ. Despite numerous tours visiting the DMZ daily, the time spent at each stop is very restricted, ranging between 10- 40 minutes only. Our first stop was the Dorasan station. This station once operated between Seoul in the South and Pyeongyang in the North. Today it still operates, primarily for tourists, yet only goes back and fourth to Seoul. 

Next we visited a lookout point; on a clear day it is possible to see both South Korean and North Korean flags sitting either sides of the border and also to see a statue of Kim-Il Sung.  Unfortunately it was a fairly cloudy day, yet through binoculars it was still possible to make out the opposing flags in the distance and to note that North Korea have made theirs considerably taller. 

Our third stop was a visit to the 3rd Tunnel. The 3rd Tunnel was discovered in 1978 by South Korea forces and is located 52km from Seoul. When the Tunnel was discovered North Korea claimed that it was made by the South to invade the North. However tests proved that the explosions used to create the tunnel face southwards, hence showing that it was North Korea who made the tunnel with the presumed objective of invading Seoul once again. Four tunnels have been found all pointing towards Seoul from North Korea, although they expect that more are yet to be discovered. 

The 3rd Tunnel is approximately 1600m in length and apparently it is estimated that 30,000 soldiers could move through the tunnel per hour. Our conclusion was that these soldiers would have to be extremely short as we all crouched our away through the tunnel with difficulty. At the end of the tunnel is a small window; through this window you can see a window on the North Korean side of the tunnel merely 10 metres away. Despite it being forbidden, we smuggled a camera down into the tunnel to take some photos. We very relieved to find that there wasn't a soldier waiting for us or the camera when we exited the tunnel. 

Our final stop was a souvenir shop. Here Alex bought a hideous bottle of wine made in North Korea; we have been carrying the leaking bottle around with us ever since. 

After another big night in Gangnam we decided to sweat out our hangovers by hiking up to the current presidential palace grounds. This is armed with soldiers and our passports were taken and screened at a checkpoint; this security is put in place to prohibit North Korean spies and/or assassins. On our last evening we feasted on a typical Korean BBQ, where the meat is wrapped in giant salad leaves.

After a hectic and thoroughly interesting week in Seoul we said 'see ya later' to our friends and got on a plane to Manila.