Grab yourself a cuppa and settle in – this post is gonna be a big one!

Of course, we couldn’t visit South Korea without visiting North Korea, and the easiest way to do that is a DMZ tour. In case you are unfamiliar with the DMZ, this is the Korean demilitarised zone, a 4 kilometre wide strip of “neutral” land between North and South Korea. Its history is super interesting, so if you have time, read the wiki page.

We had originally wanted to do the DMZ and JSA tour (Joint Security Area, you know those little blue buildings you see on TV? You can go into them, and technically across into North Korean territory) but the current situation meant that the JSA was closed to tour groups. I was a little disappointed, but in a way this was sort of a relief as the rules are stricter for this – no ripped or faded jeans (that’s all I had) and no military-looking clothing (my jacket is camo!). So instead we opted for the DMZ & Third Infiltration Tunnel tour – shorter day and easier on the wallet!

We met our tour guide at 10:30am and hopped on a minibus to collect some others, all up there were 6 of us plus the guide. Our guide was an interesting character; while on the bus he serenaded us with some John Denver, Frank Sinatra and of course, Gangnam Style. Bit awkward, but you do you, bro!

Getting closer to the border, our guide pointed out North Korea, and you could clearly see the difference – North Korea has completely cleared the land of trees to use for fuel, not a single tree left, and then the DMZ still has forest. We arrived at our first stop, Imjingak Park, at around 12pm. We weren’t here long, but the park included some large statues, a traditional bell tower and … an amusement park? That was a bit odd. At this stage we got onto a larger bus to go into the actual DMZ. Our passports were checked at Unification Bridge by a young soldier wielding a cartoon character pen. Fun fact: the bridge was built by Hyundai; the founder was born in North Korea. The bus slalomed its way through the military barricades across the bridge, then we were officially in the DMZ.

Next stop: Dorasan Station – the northernmost railway station in South Korea, ready to link Seoul and Pyongyang when the two Koreas reunite. There were some photos of when Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in met at the DMZ. I got a stamp in my sketchbook and took a few photos and away we went again. Sometimes the tour felt a bit rushed, but there probably wasn’t much more to see there anyway.

The bus then went up the hill to Dorasan Observatory. The road is dotted with guard-posts and red triangles marking landmines. Bus stops, great, we’re here… no, we have to walk further up the steep hill.

Our guide is a pro and took us straight to the elevator as soon as we got up to the observatory so we get the binoculars before the rest of the bus. He quickly pointed out the North Korean guard towers (complete with just-visible guards), the “Propaganda Village” (though I couldn’t actually be sure I was looking at the right buildings through the binoculars), and the Kaesong Industrial Region.

After Dora Observatory we jumped back on the bus and made our way to the Third Infiltration Tunnel (AKA the Third Tunnel of Aggression). Back in the 1970s, South Korea discovered that North Korea had tried to tunnel under the DMZ (in fact they got about 400m into the South side). The North tried to claim they were “coal-mining” but it was obvious what they were up to. The third tunnel discovered is now open to tourists, plus we saw some groups of soldiers visiting – I’m guessing they were new recruits. Unfortunately no photos are allowed in the tunnel, I’m not sure if this is a security thing or just a safety thing, as the tunnel gets tight in some places; we had to wear hardhats for that reason. The first part is a long walk down a steep slope in a modern concrete tunnel that ends at a fresh water spring (I drank some). Then it turns into the real tunnel which is 73m underground – damp, small and low enough that we had to crouch all the way down it. We were jealous of the little Asian ladies that could walk standing up straight! All the holes drilled for explosives were highlighted with yellow paint; pretty crazy to think of all the work it took to dig these tunnels. At the end there are three concrete blockade walls, but you can see a little bit through, maybe not quite to North Korea though!

One last stop within the DMZ at a “restaurant”/souvenir spot (a sweet round kitty was waiting outside the door for food) and then back to Seoul.

On exiting the DMZ they count the people on the bus (a little baby with the couple in front of us meant the soldier had to recount). Our tour also included the obligatory “try to sell you stuff” stop at an Amethyst centre, at least our guide knew to make that quick.

So that’s it, essay finished! I’m glad we went, it was super fascinating and who knows, they might not be doing tours there in a few years?!

We went with Cosmojin if you wanna check them out.