Sleepless in Seoul: one night in Hongdae and a visit to the DMZ

Aaaah, it's getting to that stage where everything's mentally winding down as I near the final stretch of my stay in Korea. Not that that means anything's getting less hectic - on the contrary, with such little time left, I've been injected with a whole new feeling of immediacy to make sure I get everything left that I want to do done before September rolls around! ...and that may well explain why I ONLY GOT 1.5 HOURS OF SLEEP LAST NIGHT! ARRRRRGH!

It's about time we experienced a Hongdae night out, so last night served as my initiation! We met up with Willow (from Busan) again, and a friend of a friend of Mervyn's from home (Sarah) and got our groovy things down to the Hongik University Area to lap up everything on offer. Linda (also from Busan, remember?) was meant to be coming too, but had to pull out because of a dentist appointment at the last minute! ...FAIL.

Merv, Willow, Me and Sarah

Sleeping on the street? ...POSE!

Anyways, we managed to find a really funky lil' club called "Jane's Groove", which was banging out loads of awesome English tunes (P!nk, MJ... even that "dragostea din tei" song which was big a few years ago!), as well as the standard K-Pop win. Now, I know it's old, but I'm still a MASSIVE FAN of Suju's "Sorry Sorry"... SUCH a tune! Check it out:

...and, of course, we had to join eveyone else in doing the funky lil' crossed-arms Suju dance when it came on! English pop really needs to catch on to the whole gimmicky dance routine craze! It seems like every other song here has one! ...there's "Sorry Sorry", "Tell Me" (Wondergirls), "Abrcadabra" (Brown Eyed Girls)...just to name a few off the top of my head! And what's more is, you can guarantee that eveyone under a certain age will know them all and be able to perform them when the music comes on... it's awesome! :P

So, the night was flowing away as we hopped from club to club until a time-check from Willow revealed that it was 4AM. Now, usually, that'd be nothing of note. But when you've booked a tour of the DMZ the next day, startin at 7AM (which means you'll have to be up at 6AM), the panic starts to set in! So from there, we rushed home, and I managed to get to bed by 4.30AM, totalling a glorious one and a half hours' worth of sleep. FAIL. I guess it means Merv can be given for the following poor display on the coach up to the DMZ though... (hahaha, sorry, dude!):


Anyway, with no choice, off to the DMZ at 7AM it was. Now, in case you're wondering, the DMZ is the Demilitarised Zone: basically the Northernmost part of South Korea representing the border with North Korea. Cameras were restricted in most parts of the DMZ, and it generally seemed to be a sensible idea not to step out of line, considering that a South Korean woman found herself shot dead by a North Korean soldier last year (okay, not at the DMZ itself, but at the one part of North Korea to which South Koreans are permitted entry as tourists: Diamond Mountain), and there were armed military personnel staged all over the shop. I'd rather stay in one piece for the sake of a handful fewer FaceBook photos, thanks! Also, we received a warning before setting off about unexploded land mines left over from the Korean War - and that if you heard a click under your feet when you were walking, you should stop moving immediately - not to mention that everything seemed to be shrouded in barbed-wire fences - all very reassuring...

We also got to take a trip underground to the Third Tunnel of Aggression, which is a tunnel leading under the North-South border and is supposedly one of sixteen dug by the North in an attempt to stage a surprise attack on the South. Again, photos were restricted, so I'm going to have to let Google Image do the talking. The wak down was actually quite funny – we were all provided with hard hats, because the tunnel is so cavernous and the roof is so low in places – and every now and then you’d hear a small *BOP* followed by a yelp as another person smacked their head on the tunnel roof. I lost count of the number times I did, being the lanky twit that I am!

After that, we tripped over to Dorasan Station, which is the northernmost train station in South Korea, from which you can actually get the train to Pyeongyang, the North Korean capital. Obviously it’s not just as easy as hopping on board and setting off, however, and entry is clearly severely restricted. Furthermore, like I mentioned before, even if a South Korean citizen manages to get onto such a train, they're only permitted to one tourist destination: Diamond Mountain. Nevertheless, a shameless tourist photo opportunity was provided:

Finally, we ended up at the Dora Observatory, where you can look across the border (using telescope-thingies) into North Korea.

The most overwhelming emotion I got from the place was one of sorrow rather than danger. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there was a definite sense of tension in the air, what with all the armed soldiers, barbed wire and heavy restrictions on where you can and can’t take photos, what you can and can’t wear, etc. (hence why I’m decked out in a shirt and trousers in the above photo!), but I felt more sad for the fact that this is how things have gotten, rather than scared of what it might mean for me, especially considering that, up until the past few years, there seemed to be a renewed hope of improved relations with the North. One plaque next to the Peace Bell Monument (pictured) read:

“As we bid farewell to the 20th Century in which we witnessed the division of the Korean Peninsula, we welcome the 21st Century as a time of reunification and peace for all mankind. It is here at the point that marks the division of North and South that the hopes and prayers of 9 million Kyonggi citizens come together in the erection of the Peace Bell Monument.”

Clearly, just from the way the DMZ was presented to us, and from the way I've heard South Koreans talk in everyday conversation, there’s still an undeniable (and understandable) bitterness towards the North, but at the same time, for many people, that seems to be underlined with a genuine hope for reunification in the future. I just think it’s so sad. On a personal level, one of my students told me that her father hasn’t seen his parents since for as long as she can remember, since they’re in the North (where no entry to the South whatsoever is permitted, not even for the same single tourist-purpose as in the South). I just don't see anything changing for the better in the foreseeable future - the division's been in place for so long now, and, psychologically, it's just so ingrained... but I guess there's always hope; who knows what tomorrow will bring?