Cheusok Vacation

For Cheusok Vacation we ended up staying in Korea and visiting Jeju Island. The statue you see above is intended to ward off evil. They usually are at the entrances or gate ways on Jeju Island.

The Island is on the Southern Coast and it is a very popular destination for domestic tourists. It was just over an hour flight from Gimpo Airport. Koreans are very proud of the Island as it is very beautiful. It is certainly not as developed as Uijongbu which made a nice change and the landscape was less mountainous than that of the mainland. Jeju is a volcanic island and some of the coast has distinctive black lava rock which makes a great home for sea life of all sizes. It also sported some nice sandy beaches which we were glad we could relax on! This is Jangnam beach on the South Coast.We had a pretty good time. I would advise anybody going to stay on the Southern side as there are more attractions and facilities. Our stay was influnced by a stinky old hotel which served terrible breakfasts. That made us feel ripped off a bit. Also it was a little difficult being there at Cheusok as cars and motorbike rentals were booked up. We got the hang of the buses after the first couple of days and then started to enjoy our holiday.

During our trip we saw a group of women divers setting out to work. I am not sure what they were going to collect. Jeju is known for its strong hard working women so I was delighted to see these ladies getting ready to go.

There are also really good Lava Caves on the Island. Aparently there were bats living somewhere in there but they tend to keep away from the foot traffic.

Surprise Hamster Babies

These little beauties are Marie's hamsters. She lets me baby sit her hamsters occaisionally. It amuses me to see them chew and scurry around a cardboard playground that I made them. She purchased the two boys together. Except that they are now parents to 7 baby hamsters. Needless to say that Marie was pretty suprised to hear strange squeeking and 7 hairless babies in the bottom of her cage. We looked up pictures on the net and so we know which one is the mum and which is the dad.

I'm hoping that I can care for onw for the remainder of the time that we are here! I'll make a brilliant hamster mum.


Hamsters Galore

DMZ Trip

Saturday was our DMZ trip. It was really interesting and emotional.
During the tour we got to see one of about 20 tunnels that the North Korean forces dug in an effort to get behind the US and ROK forces. A 1.2 km tunnel which would have let out about 30,000 troops per hour.
The tunnel was not that big only about 1.4-2m wide and 2m high. The walls were painted black by the Nth Koreans to disguise the tunnel as a "coal mine" when the ROK forces discovered it. The DMZ area is quite beautiful but it was sad for me to look over at the barren Nth Korean mountains. All the trees have been removed either for firewood or security purposes. We saw a huge flag pole with a 30 metre long Nth Korean flag adjacent to the slightly smaller Sth Korean flag and flag pole. The Nth Korean flag needs 600lbs of drag weight to fly and needs to be replaced 3x a year as it tears easily under its own weight.
There was also a jamming tower in the distance which purpose is to stop Sth Korean TV and radio transmissions penetrating the Nth Border. The tour guide told us that TV shows in the Nth are all prerecorded and of course are mainly propoganda about Kim Jong Il.

At onse stage we saw from our bus window "The Bridge of No Return". This was a purpose built bridge to facilitate the exchange of POW's. POW's were taken there and could chose whether they would like to stay or go to the other side. 13,000 were brought from the Nth and 82,000 from the Sth.

I spent approximately 2 minutes in Nth Korea itself. We were in a UN building at Punmanjeom in the Joint Security Area. There are 4 buildings that sit across the Nth Sth border. We visited one of these where Swiss and Norweigan delegates meet with Sth and Nth representatives. There was a very tired looking UN flag sitting in the middle of a small table.

During our tour of the JSA we were accompanied by 2 US soldiers and 8 ROK soldiers. The ROK men were in pretty intimidating outfits. Shiny blue/black helmets, sunglasses to hide their eyes, jutting jaw lines as if their teeth were clenched and they all stood with clenched fists in a Tae Kwan Do ready position.

Outside the building across the courtyard there was a single Nth Korean soldier standing outside his building. I got a picture of him in his brown uniform and high fronted hat. I spotted a strange red light and apparently there were quite a few Nth Korean Soldiers observing us. The US soldier told us that occaisionally when there are meetings being held in the UN building Nth Korean soldiers make gestures and faces at them from next door. It was a long day but I am really glad that I got to go to the area and learn a bit more about events near there. The US soldier also said that nothing had changed since the nuke test either. Photography was pretty limited through out the area but we got a few shots off.

When the ROK soldiers walk they make a rattling sound because they have ball bearings sewn into the seams of their trousers. During the war this was to give the illusion of more troops approaching as Nthern forces and Allies out numbered that of the Sth.