Two posts within three days?! You can’t say I don’t spoil you, dear readers! 🙂 I’ve received some lovely feedback on recent posts which I’ve really appreciated. Please keep the comments and questions coming, whether on the blog itself or sent to me separately.

I arrived in Seoul in the early hours of Sunday morning after a stress-free 4-hour flight from Chiang Mai. As the trains from the airport to the central station don’t start until 5am, I ended up in a bit of a rush to get to my AirBnB in time for my all-day tour to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). My studio apartment is tiny, as many in Seoul seem to be, and I wasn’t particularly impressed at first – but it’s really grown on me. It’s very well thought-out and full of labels (in English as well as Korean) and mod cons, including drawers containing stationery and emergency medication, underfloor heating and the best toilet ever invented. I’ll include below a photo of the instructions for its additional cleaning functions. My friend Jin, whom I met through university friends and who lives in Seoul, described this kind of toilet as ‘the peak of civilisation’ and I can’t disagree with that! Jin will be popping up again in this blog as he’s been extremely helpful on all things South Korean and I’m looking forward to catching up with him in person over dinner this evening.

I managed to make the DMZ tour (just!) after very little sleep, but can honestly say it was worth it. Jin told me that the experience varies hugely depending on the security situation between North and South Korea at the time of the tour. I understand that relations have deteriorated in recent months, so a couple of things – such as going further into the tunnel built by North Korea to infiltrate the South – were off limits, but we were still able to see and visit several things. We were accompanied by a cheerful guide called Grace, who told us quite a lot about Korean history and about North Korea – which she was understandably pretty biased against!

Our tour bus stopped first of all at a high suspension bridge over a lake. It was a little unclear what exactly this bridge had to do with the DMZ, but it was admittedly very picturesque. Similar bridges were used in the past for prisoner exchanges and other limited crossings of the border. A short drive away was a visitor centre built around the old railway line that used to connect North and South Korea. There was a bullet-riddled train from the Korean war era and a poignant bronze monument to Korean ‘comfort women’. This took the form of two girls waiting for a train, one representing the North and the other the South. There are also several tall barbed-wire fences in this area, many of them adorned with ribbons and pleas for peace.

We went next to a look-out and education centre which is right next to a South Korean army facility (the latter being strictly off-limits for photos). A steep but short walk took us to the centre, which has a great view into North Korea. Unfortunately, it was a little misty on the day of my tour, but we were still able to see several things in North Korea, especially through the high-powered binoculars on the roof. We could make out a North Korean army post, an enormous North Korean flag (erected to be even taller than the one on the South Korean side of the border!), the ‘fake’ buildings surrounding the flag, and the former industrial area – which closed about 10 years ago after relations between the two countries deteriorated.

Finally, we went inside one of several tunnels which were discovered between the 1970s and 1990s. It is believed that these were built by North Korea as part of a plan to attack the South. Defectors from North Korea have also indicated the existence of other tunnels which haven’t been found yet! The walk down into the tunnel was steep and long, but worth it. Once we reached ‘ground level’ of the tunnel, it narrowed significantly and almost all of us had to duck slightly as we walked through. We went within about 150m of the North Korean border above ground; the passage beyond that has been deliberately blocked with several concrete barriers. I really enjoyed the tour, despite the wet and cold weather, and found it very interesting. I’m still unsure as to whether I might like to visit North Korea one day… maybe!

A British lady I met on the tour, Ally, invited me for an early dinner, so we went to a district that’s well known for traditional food and culture. In torrential rain, we found the perfect restaurant, which was mainly wooden in construction and just as traditionally Korean in appearance as you’re probably imagining! We enjoyed a buffet-style meal of stir-fried beef with lots of small accompanying dishes and some traditional rice wine. It was really nice chatting to Ally and hearing about her experiences visiting South Korea and living in Texas… though she grew up just a few miles away from where I live in Buckinghamshire!

I’d planned to visit the palace and its museums two days ago but decided to have a lie-in after having had so little sleep the night before. (I still hope to visit the palace before I fly to Guam tomorrow evening.) I went to Namsam observation tower, which is located on top of a very steep hill in Seoul. Unfortunately, the weather was terrible – making it impossible to see anything – and I stumbled across an enormous display of vomit-inducing couples’ kitsch, so I did the only logical thing: had a glass of wine and came home again!

That evening, I decided to go out in Itaewon, where I’m staying, which is well known for its nightlife. There are several streets in particular that are absolutely full of bars and nightclubs. Only a couple of streets away from my AirBnB, I stumbled across a very narrow and steep street called ’29th October memorial alley’. I initially thought it must be something to do with the Korean war in the early 1950s but then realised it must be much more recent, as the memorial part is still under construction. I suddenly remembered reading in the news about a crowd crush in Seoul in October 2022 that killed around 150 people who were out celebrating Halloween. It was really shocking and sad to be standing in the exact place where such a terrible tragedy happened so recently.

My evening improved after that. I found a fun-looking bar and ordered a glass of wine and slice of pizza. I ended up having a lovely chat with a South Korean musician and composer who happened to be sitting next to me at the bar. We talked about quite a lot of things and used Google Translate when we reached the limits of his English. I’ve had some interesting conversations with people here and have generally found them to be very polite and helpful, though their knowledge of English varies a lot. I felt a little, ahem, ‘delicate’ yesterday but it was worth it. I had a late start and then travelled by train and bus to a ski resort, which I’ll tell you about in my next post as it’s already been quite the experience!

There’s no cross-stitch progress update today as I obviously haven’t done much on it since my last post… The tiny flags representing each country I’m visiting are looking nice, though. More soon!