DMZ Pictures!!!

Okay, I have finally uploaded pictures from the DMZ trip. In many of them you will need to click on them in order to see the detail because many are from far away...plus, it looks so much better when it is bigger!

This is a picture of the Bridge of No Return. It is no longer used for anything except as part of the story along the tour!

This picture was taken from "Guard Post 1" (I can't really remember the correct numbers), but the point is if you notice the blue building down there, that is "Guard Post 3??" The tree that I told you about was blocking the view between those two guard posts, making for a dangerous situation when the N. Koreans had posts all over the area. So a few years and 90 million dollars later they got rid of that tree that was sitting between a few of those dark evergreens you see so nicely trimmed!

In this picture you'll have to click on it to get a bigger version in order to see what I'm talking about, but it is viewing into North Korea. On the left side you will see a tower that goes up in the air, that is the scrambler for N. Korea that scrambles all the information waves coming into the north from S. Korea: tv shows, radio, etc. I would be curious to see what is fed to the N. Koreans through their television and radio.

This is a picture of Propaganda Village which currently only houses about 30 people in one building. You'll probably have to click on the picture in order to really see the buildings in the area. What you can see clearly is the flag pole they constructed that sits 150 meters high waving the giant N. Korean flag.

This is inside the UN building that sits on top of the demarcation line. We were on the N. Korean side of the building...the door behind us would walk out into N. Korea, we were not allowed to go past that ROK soldier. There were two soldiers in there with us and they were very intimidating! I have a bit of a half smile because I wasn't sure how to pose for the picture...considering the circumstances I felt funny really smiling...but I also feel silly with a stern face too...so I ended up with a half fake smile...oh well.

We were standing on the S. Korean side on the steps of their building. This ROK soldier was standing to the right of us. (See below to see the view straight across). The blue building you see past him is where a guy affiliated with the UN lives and I can't remember his title. But he has a phone in there that dials directly into the N. Korean headquarters (see picture below). If the N. Koreans don't pick up he will come out on the plaza with a bull horn and tell them he has a message and to pick up their phone. He then goes back in and calls them again. Currently they haven't picked up the phone since March...so apparently the guy has been out there everyday on the bull horn.

This is the view into the N. Korean side. The building we were standing in front of was somewhat similar to what you see in the picture. We weren't allowed to photograph the building behind us...it was full of cameras pointed at the N. Korean, and we weren't allowed to photograph any cameras on our side. If you notice on the white building (N. Korean headquarters) the KPA soldier (in green) standing guard outside their building. You notice the two blue buildings in the middle that split the demarcation line in half. Those are the UN buildings. We went inside the one on the left. That is where the picture of Taylor and I was taken with the ROK soldier.

Another view of the buildings. You can see the demarcation line if you look closely. Where it changes from rocks on our side to concrete on the N. Korean side, it is split with a line that goes right down the middle. It splits both of those blue buildings in half. There are about two or three others along the demarcation line as well. Notice also the ROK soldiers on our side. One looks like he's standing half way behind the blue building. The Army Sergeant doing our tour said it is for protection. If he is fired upon he can quickly move behind the building and draw his weapon and fire from cover. I'm sure a bit of it comes from necessity...but it also seems like part of it is for the show...because notice the other ROK soldier standing right out in the open between the two buildings. I'm not really sure. I don't mean to make it sound like a show, because it certainly is not and you can definitely feel the tension, especially in that area when you are faced directly with the KPA soldiers, but it just doesn't make full sense to me.

I'm just showing off some of Taylor's artistic photography. He's really getting into the camera. The other day I was carrying the camera, but apparently my pictures weren't good enough because I was only taking one of everything instead of 4 or 5 to be sure we got a good picture...I had to hand over the responsibility...oh darn! Anyway, this was at the tunnel, it was a little park area around the entrance.

This was outside Tunnel number 3 on the DMZ tour. Obviously this is not within the DMZ area it is on the S. Korean side a few miles away from the actual DMZ which you saw in the photos above.

Anyway, there are pictures from the trip. I have a lot more updates to do...we've had 3 days of trips I have to catch up on! Taylor has been off for a week now so we've done a lot this week. He goes back to work tomorrow for 2 days so I'll try to do some updating then!!