Freedom at a price

Oversleeping a bit, we woke in a bit of a rush to make it to our tour in time. We got dressed in our business casual attire that was wrinkled from being in the bottom of our bags for the entire week and head to the Sofitel ambassador hotel. We were give strict instructions on how to dress and act. No jeans, open toed sandals, drinking, pointing or waving. We would be video taped for most of the trip and so we must be on our best behavior.

This swank hotel was the home of our tour group and the most expensive bakery in the world. For 23,000 won we got 2 coffees, 2 sandwhiches (basic crust less ham and cheese) and a bagel. We boarded our bus and headed for the north.

The tour was made up of about 10 English Speaking people and 30 Japanese tourists and for this reason we had two translators with us. The 50 minute bus ride was split in two parts, the first part being the Japanese translator providing the Japanese with a brief history and some more guidelines and then the English translator doing the same. Our translator, or tour guide, was a Korean man of about 60, who spoke good English and had a wicked sense of humor. It was very cold and cloudy which made it hard to see many things throughout the tour but also gave us a sense of what the cold war is all about...dreariness.

When we arrived at Camp Bonifas, the American supported Army base we had to present our passports to the Korean officer who boarded our bus, we then presented them a second time upon arriving at our briefing to the American soldier who would serve as our escort for the remainder of the trip. We drove past the Daesung dong Freedom Village, the only village in the DMZ. The residents of this village, 250 from 50 different families, are exempt from taxes and from the mandatory two year army enlistment.

Our next stop was at the MAC building, the only place at which you can walk back and forth between North and South Korea. To get to the MAC building you must pass through the Freedom House, a bitterly cold and icy large building that is completely unoccupied. The South Korean soldiers stand with half of their bodies facing the North and the other half behind the wall for sometimes seven hours at a time. They wear dark aviator glasses to hide their eyes and stand on guard at all times. Gav noticed some bare feet footprints on one of the meticulously shined tables and wondered if after all of the tourists leave they have a little bit of fun. There is a door on one end that leads to the South and one on the other end that leads to the North, this door is protected and you are not allowed behind the soldier. You can however, walked around the room and take pictures of this historical meeting place.

Next we stopped at the scene of the Axe Murder. In the 70's there was a tree that obstructed the view of the soldiers on watch, deciding to cut it down, they walked over with an axe and were attacked by seven North Korean soldiers who murdered them with their own axes. This place stands about 500 feet from The Bridge of No Return, getting its name from the exchange of prisoners that took place during the war, once you got to the other side you could never return. Now flags of various countries sit in a circle on the bridge.

We made a brief stop at the gift shop and then to the Freedom Bridge.

Freedom Bridge is situated beside an amusement park lining the last patch of railroad tracks that lead to the last stop in South Korea 20 minutes away from Camp Bonifas. This bridge is where thousands of prisoners returned home at the end of the war, cheering as they walked across the bridge. There are letters and shrines set up for the prisoners who never were able to return home, and there are thousands of people still waiting to be reunited with their families.

As we were walking to the bus an elderly couple got out of a taxi and walked over to the monument for the soldiers who fought in this war. Seeing the sadness in their eyes, knowing that unlike me they had lived through this, that this wasn't only a tourist attraction but it was a way of life, a split country that effects people daily, this was the hardest part of the tour. The human aspect of it all, the look of this couple, who, at their elderly age, come here to pay respects and reflect on their past.

Our tour ended with lunch at a traditional Korean restaurant, which for once, I enjoyed. Bulgogi is a beef dish that they serve to you raw and you then cook at your table, it is served with all sorts of side dishes that I just steer away from. Our kind bus driver brought us straight to the bus station which is inside this "larney" shopping mall that houses a Krispy Kreme with a cue that could take you a good 40 minutes to make it through.