Day-34: Inchon, Seoul & The DMZ

Day-34: Friday, March 7, 2014

Beginning Location: Yellow Sea, En-route to Seoul, South Korea
Interim Location: Seoul, South Korea
Final Location: Yellow Sea, En-route to Dalian, China

FIRST AND FOREMOST . . .

Happy Birthday To You,

Happy Birthday To You,

Happy Birthday Dear Sheila,

Happy Birthday To You!

Technically, based on U.S.A. time, Sheila's birthday won't start until about noon over here but no matter, today is the big day, her first birthday to be celebrated in South Korea and more specifically at the Korean DMZ. By day's end all the kids had Skyped and sang the above noted lyrics.

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We entered the Inchon locks, designed to mitigate the 10 meter tidal swings, early this morning and by 0700 we were at our pier side berth for the day at Inchon, South Korea.

That's ICE!

We were up early as our tour "DMZ, Third Tunnel & Seoul" would begin around 0730 and bring us back just before our departure this afternoon at five PM.

Our drive began from Inchon with our tour guide "Su".






We drove north along the Han River, a river with ROK fortifications presumably to prevent North Korean infiltration where the river meets the Yellow Sea adjacent to the DMZ.

We first visited the Freedom Bridge Park, the site of returning armed forces and POW's from the Korean conflict.

Our trip to the "DMZ Third Tunnel" followed. Here we were shown a short video outlining the Korean conflict . There was a small museum as well but the highlight of the stop was the trip into the 3rd tunnel. The tunnels were alleged to be routes for North Korean soldiers to enter South Korea at a rate of 30,000/hour. We rode a small cable driven tram into and out of the tunnel. Not so different than entering a traditional coal mine in America.

"Dork & Dorkette"

We then proceeded to the DMZ entry gate, not before having had the guide point out the "TNT overpass"; supposedly selected South Korean thruway overpasses are packed with dynamite and/or other explosives to enable South Korea to block the major highway in the event of a North Korean invasion, as if the toll booths would be ineffective.


Before leaving the ship the guides and ship's staff had emphasized the importance of accurate counts of tourists entering and leaving the DMZ. We were checked and rechecked and counted several times before leaving Inchon. At the DMZ gate the ROK soldiers came aboard the three buses and did their own count; we were off by one tourist. This apparent miscount issue was resolved in about 20 minutes after much rapid and loud conversation amongst the three guides, drivers and ROK guards. In any case, magic again happened and we were cleared to enter the DMZ. Just to be clear, though they look like teenagers, these are real soldiers with real weapons and they are seriously engaged in carrying out their mission. 

Now that we had been cleared to enter the DMZ, we proceed to the Dora Observatory for a panoramic view across the border. From this vantage point we could see the North's "propaganda village" and the joint Kaesong Industrial Region. How strange is this, a business complex in North Korea staffed by thousands of North Koreans but run by major South Korean companies. One of the highlights of this stop was the chance to meet a ROK soldier, again looking like a teenager. Soon most of the women were having their pictures taken with the handsome ROK soldier who just happened to have been born in, where else, but New Jersey, having then moved to and been educated in Pennsylvania. Seems he was back in South Korea for a stint in the army, necessary for sustaining his Korean citizenship as an ex-pat living in the U.S.

All over the DMZ we encountered small red triangular warning signs. I for one was not ready to test my land mine evasion abilities, as such I stayed well back from the areas marked "Keep Out - Land Mines".

 Several things are clear regarding the South Koreans:

• They have no local allies other than American Forces located in the region.
• They are convinced that the North will continue to test the border security and likely again invade South Korea.
• The new age South Koreans don't really want unification as they don't want the Northern hoards competing for the good jobs in the South.
• They are schoolaholics and workaholics, favoring long days and hard work to a work/life balance that we have become accustomed to experiencing.

After the DMZ adventure we returned to Seoul for lunch at the KoTurtle. We had been told that Koreans take lunch seriously, get in, get fed, get out, no talking to delay the process. Well ours wasn't quite as disciplined. We had a shredded "beef" dish, with kimchi, other veggies, wraps for making spring rolls, all to be washed down with a good bottle of beer.

After lunch we drove by some of the landmarks of Seoul, generally they didn't have any meaning or significance to most of us. We had a few minutes left, enough time to stop by one more street market. I like the street markets as they offer a glimpse of the local cuisine and up-scale street life.

We returned to the ship by 1600 and were underway as planned at 1700 departing through the Inchon locks toward the Yellow Sea.

We had a staffing change aboard ship today. Our cruise director since Singapore, Willie Aames, departed for home. Seems he had several issues to deal with, among them being the lack of a China visa and something about getting married. 

Just after our departure we played trivia with our team, today placing 2^nd amongst five teams. 

As it was Sheila's birthday, we dined in the Italian restaurant Toscana, our final specialty restaurant outing for the cruise. Tonight we both had veal dishes, for me the third testing, I mean tasting of the osso buco. For dessert the staff brought out a birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday. Upon return to the room, we found the turn down service had transformed the room into a birthday decorated setting with champagne, balloons, cards and another cake.





Earlier we had met "Suzie G", the violinist of several nights ago. Seeing we had a "good" camera she asked if we would take pictures of her show tonight. One would think a ship's photographer would be available for such a request but I guess not, so how could you say no? So at 9:30 PM we headed to the entertainment venue to watch and photograph Suzie's energetic show. So we were entertained and as proof took a hundred pictures or so. As flash photography was not allowed, we did the best we could; hopefully she will get a few usable pictures out of the hundred or so taken.

We finished off the night with a birthday drink but it was late. 

So all-in-all I hope the birthday was memorable at least for its location if for nothing else.

Good news for tonight, we get back one hour of clock time as we move toward China.