Korea Life - 27 Sept (Day 217 week 31 )
Our school always arrange some trip for foreigner to go out with Korean to understand Korea more. For the peat few months because the trip wasn't very interesting so I never enroll to any of the trip but this month, they arrange a trip to DMZ (Demilitarised Zone)
For those who are not familiar with it, check out this website to learn more about it - https://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_4_1.jsp
Heard that there is many places around there that we won't be able to go if we don't go with tour. And it cost much more if go with travel tour (around 89,000 KRW for a half day tour). This time the school trip only cost 27,000 KRW and at least there will be one or two people I know even if we are not from the same class.
Headed to school to meet up with the others first, I was one of the earliest to arrive at the classroom, so I just sat down and wait for the others to come. We were split into a few smaller group with one or two Korean in each group. I was split into a group with only me in the level 4 and other are from lower level and my classmate were split into other groups. I was alone in the group but I'm quite fine being alone.
They lead us from Hyehwa station to Seoul station in small group as they worry that if we travel in big groups will get lost even easier. We waited for the rest at the ticket counter of Seoul Station since we reach there before than the others, then we board the train once everyone arrive. The train design with lot of colours and it stand out right away. After taking all the picture of the train, we board the train and waited for the train to depart. While waiting for the train to depart, surprising there are lot of pretty lot of Korean parents brought their kids along this trip and they all seem quite excited about the trip.
Once we arrive at the final stop, we were asked to board a shuttle bus and we headed to our first stop <Aegibong Peak Observatory>. At this peak, we have a great view of a wide expanse of North Korean land. The area is frequented by people who left North Korea during the Korean War and became settled in the South after the war. But there are too many people trying to take a look for it, I just take a look and walked away, I don't think there is a need to spend so much time to see something that is so far and so small.
Luckily this morning I packed kimbap and some candy in bag before I headed out, and thank god I packed those food. Ate some on the bus when we were travelling to the second point <The 3rd Tunnel Park>. It was first discovered in 1978, the tunnel was designed for a surprise attack on the Republic of Korea by the North. The tunnel is 1.7km long, 2m high and 2m wide. It is a prime example of the South-North confrontation.
We were not allow to bring bags into the tunnel, cannot take picture inside the tunnel and MUST wear safely helmet before going in. The whole tunnel took me almost 2 hrs to walk from the start to the end, and the temperature inside the tunnel was slight colder than the weather outside, so even though I took 2 hour to walk, I also didn't sweat at all. While walking the tunnel, thinking that the North Korean dig the tunnel by hand makes me think that I should be their life is really hard because of the Korean war that they have to live their life this way. Sometime we just forget the good things that we receive in life and we only look at the things that we didn't receive. Maybe I should re-look into my life again instead of blaming people for the things that I had missed.
After the whole tour, we went out for dinner with the whole group (people who had no other plans after the trip). The Korean student introduce us to a gilled chicken place, we left the ordering part to the Korean and the others just sat down and rest. We started to chat around in all kind of language that we know, as some of the students korean are still not till the level that is able to strike a conversation. After spending one whole day outside, I just want to go home asap, saw some people starting leaving, so I tagged along and took the subway back home.
Our school always arrange some trip for foreigner to go out with Korean to understand Korea more. For the peat few months because the trip wasn't very interesting so I never enroll to any of the trip but this month, they arrange a trip to DMZ (Demilitarised Zone)
For those who are not familiar with it, check out this website to learn more about it - https://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_4_1.jsp
Heard that there is many places around there that we won't be able to go if we don't go with tour. And it cost much more if go with travel tour (around 89,000 KRW for a half day tour). This time the school trip only cost 27,000 KRW and at least there will be one or two people I know even if we are not from the same class.
Headed to school to meet up with the others first, I was one of the earliest to arrive at the classroom, so I just sat down and wait for the others to come. We were split into a few smaller group with one or two Korean in each group. I was split into a group with only me in the level 4 and other are from lower level and my classmate were split into other groups. I was alone in the group but I'm quite fine being alone.
They lead us from Hyehwa station to Seoul station in small group as they worry that if we travel in big groups will get lost even easier. We waited for the rest at the ticket counter of Seoul Station since we reach there before than the others, then we board the train once everyone arrive. The train design with lot of colours and it stand out right away. After taking all the picture of the train, we board the train and waited for the train to depart. While waiting for the train to depart, surprising there are lot of pretty lot of Korean parents brought their kids along this trip and they all seem quite excited about the trip.
Before we arrive at the check point, the staff pass a sheet of paper for us to fill in which route we want to take as there are extra charge to the different route that we choose and most of us chose to walk down the <Third Infiltration Tunnel>. When we arrived at the check point, our passport has to be check and they will give us a pass and we will have to wear it when we are on the trip.
Once we arrive at the final stop, we were asked to board a shuttle bus and we headed to our first stop <Aegibong Peak Observatory>. At this peak, we have a great view of a wide expanse of North Korean land. The area is frequented by people who left North Korea during the Korean War and became settled in the South after the war. But there are too many people trying to take a look for it, I just take a look and walked away, I don't think there is a need to spend so much time to see something that is so far and so small.
Luckily this morning I packed kimbap and some candy in bag before I headed out, and thank god I packed those food. Ate some on the bus when we were travelling to the second point <The 3rd Tunnel Park>. It was first discovered in 1978, the tunnel was designed for a surprise attack on the Republic of Korea by the North. The tunnel is 1.7km long, 2m high and 2m wide. It is a prime example of the South-North confrontation.
We were not allow to bring bags into the tunnel, cannot take picture inside the tunnel and MUST wear safely helmet before going in. The whole tunnel took me almost 2 hrs to walk from the start to the end, and the temperature inside the tunnel was slight colder than the weather outside, so even though I took 2 hour to walk, I also didn't sweat at all. While walking the tunnel, thinking that the North Korean dig the tunnel by hand makes me think that I should be their life is really hard because of the Korean war that they have to live their life this way. Sometime we just forget the good things that we receive in life and we only look at the things that we didn't receive. Maybe I should re-look into my life again instead of blaming people for the things that I had missed.
I have to say, although the whole trip is boring and dry but it's interesting. As we are born in a period where there is no war and peaceful country, we don't know the hardship and the pain the people who had went through war period. It's a shame I'm not very clear about Singapore's war period but since I chose to join this trip, I feel that I should feel for them as if I am going through myself. When I go back to Singapore, I think I will want to join one of Singapore's war museum to understand what Singaporean went through during the World War 2.
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