DMZ Tour: Imjingak, the 3rd Tunnel, Dorsan Station & the Joint Security Area

We had a free Saturday and we have been talking about going on a tour to the DMZ since we got to Korea, so today fit the bill!!  We knew when we got here that we wanted to wait until after M&M's birthday, so she could come too.  They have a rule that only children 10 and older can go on the tour that includes the JSA, and we for sure wanted to do that.

We woke up early and got the littles ready for the babysitter, then left the house around 7:00 to catch our DMZ tour bus.  While on the bus, we watched the History Channel's documentary on the DMZ.  It was so fascinating, educational, emotional, and incredible to see the history of the DMZ.  We learned about surprise attacks, deaths on both sides, and escaped citizens, referred to as defects.  When the video was over, we were only about 30 minutes from our first destination: Imjingak.  We spent the remaining time talking about what we learned in the video and talking to Big Sis and M&M why we were seeing the DMZ and answering their questions.  It was so wonderful to see the little lights go on in their brains as they started to truly understand more about world history and what wars really are and the military's responsibility and honor in protecting people.

We got to Imijingak and first went in the direction of the Freedom Bridge.  Before reaching the bridge, we came to the barbed wire fence with thousands of prayer ribbons attached.  It was an emotional and humbling site to see so many wishes, dreams, hopes and prayers.  Some ribbons had fresh notes written in Korean, while others were worn, tattered, and faded with the many years that have gone by without peace and unification.

After passing the prayer ribbons, we came to the Steam Locomotive at Jangdan Staion of the Gyeongui Line.  This train is a cultural heritage site, and a symbol of the war and loss between the North and South.  This train was originally derailed by bombing during the Korean War. There were so so many bullet holes and damage to the train.  It was another moment that was cause for silence in my heart.

We then came to the Bridge of Freedom! The Bridge of Freedom, or Freedom Bridge, was built to free 12,773 prisoners in 1953.  The prisoners reached the line by car and walked across to their freedom.  Since 1953, a train track has been built, in hopes that it will bring more people over to their freedom.

There were huge wooden doors bolted that kept the freedom bridge a one way crossing.  At the doors we were greeted by hundreds more prayer ribbons.  These hopes are those of the family members who have been divided and haven't seen each other in over 70 years.  These hopes are for a unified Korea.  Our tour guide is one of these families; her grandmother with her parents came over the the South of Korea, but her grandfather and the rest of her family are still stuck in North Korea.  They have not hear or seen them since the division.  North Korea does not allow any form of communication to leave it's borders.

After leaving our own prayers for unification at the bridge, we continued on to the Memorial Towers and outdoor war memorials.  There were so many beautiful sculptures depicting love and freedom.

We also found so many memorials for those lost during the Korean War.  We were surrounded by so much death, yet so much love.  War really is such a horrible thing.

Our time was up and we headed back to the bus for a short ride to our next stop: The Third Tunnel.  As time has passed, South Korea has found tunnels that North Korea dug and used to either send spies into the country, or military personnel.  To date, there have been four tunnels found.  The fourth tunnel was found in 1990 and none have been found since then, but that doesn't mean there aren't more out there that just haven't ben found.  I was able to go to a small museum that told about the history of finding the tunnels.  I wash I had more time, because it was so neat.  Instead, we spent our time actually going into the 3rd tunnel.  I have to admit, if I could have a do-over, I would have just taken the long ramp to the beginning of the 3rd tunnel, then gone back up and spent the remining time at the museum.

I didn't enjoy the tunnel, at all!!  It was small, there were a million people and I felt like I couldn't breath.  I'm not a claustrophobic person, but I definitely felt like it today!  There was so much walking to get to the point where you had to turn around.  At the "end" was just a steel wall, with a tiny peep hole that you could attempt to see through, but in all honesty, you couldn't see anything.  The major comment I kept hearing over and over again was "that's it?!", and sure enough when I got to the end, the same words came out of my mouth.  The tunnel is not very tall, so the majority of the walk I had to crouch down and walk.

The stop at the tunnel wasn't very long, just long enough to go in the tunnel with about 5-10 minutes to spare.  We loaded back onto the tour bas and continues deeper towards the DMZ.  Our next stop was a super short 10 minutes stop.  I can't even remember the name of the place, but it was a lookout point that looked into North Korea.  The wall was a little too high for Big Sis and M&M, so they didn't see much.  There was also a lot of people, so no much room to catch a glimpse.  But from what I did see, it was just a large forest with a few dirt roads.  Nothing out of the ordinary.

We only had two stops left on our tour, and the next stop was at the Dorsan Train Station.

This is the last train station in South Korea, the tracks continue up through the DMZ zone, then into North Korea.

They call the place where the train comes in the Unification Platform, since this station was built for the intent to be used between the two countries.

On the platform are some neat little treasures.  There is a piece of the German Wall that was given to South Korea as a sign that countries can be brought back together.  There was also a small train museum that displayed the hope of the station and the use of it so far.

The kids really loved the part where they gave us a souvenir train ticket and got the ticket stamped.  The train station is pristine clean and very gorgeous.  I do hope this station gets opened for the intent it was built for.

We loaded the bus for our final destination: The Joint Security Area!  Before we could enter the JSA, we first had to be given a military debrief.  We watched a short video, then were given all the rules.  We also had to read a paper and sign a release that stated, "The visit to the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom will entail entry into a hostile are and possibility of injury or death as a direct result of enemy action." As they were telling us about different things that happened at the JSA, I was beginning to wonder to myself, "why did I bring my kids here?"  I defiantly felt the full force of war and tension, hatred and the power of Satan here.

As we came to the JSA and walked out of the main building into the Truce Village and fully faced North Korea, I wanted to grab my girls and put them behind me. As you face North Korea, you are filed in a straight line facing North Korea and have to stand there for a few minutes.  Hand must be kept down and sudden moves are a big no no.  When we came there was not a single North Korean in sight.  That made me feel a little better.  Once we were given the OK, we were lead to one of the small blue buildings, T 2.

T 2 is the building where tourist are allowed to walk in and cross over for a brief minute into North Korea.  This room is the Military Armistice Commission conference room.  This is where talks between the two countries happen.  There were some super strict rules while in T2, naturally.  There were also two huge guards there guarding the door that opens into North Korea.

The super cool thing about T2 is that it separates North and South Korea and as a visitor, we were able to step across the DMZ line into North Korea.  It was strange being in a room where leader of both countries come to try to talk peace.

We walked around, looked out the window and saw the DMZ line dividing the building.  We also took a picture with the guard, and just took it all in!  We asked our military escort a few question, then just like that, we were leaving North Korea.

It was a long day, but it was extremely educational, humbling and amazing.  I am so grateful I was able to take my older girls through a real world, real life history lesson.  It was incredible to be there and it is a memory I will always remember! Here's my own prayer that unification will happen soon and families will be reunited and love will heal the drift between North and South Korea.

Donggang Riverview Natural Recreation Forests: Girls Camp

Hola! This is Big Sis and I am going to tell you guys all about my amazing experience at the District Beehives Girls Camp this year! Since the Mia Maid's and Laurel's where at FSY in Japan, it was just the Beehives that went to Girls Camp this year. There are 4 different branches in South Korea, but only 3 branches showed up. Osan (my branch), Seoul English Branch, and the Camp Humphrey's Branch. Sadly, there where some leader issues with the Daegu Branch, so they never showed up. 

There where 10 girls all together that showed up at camp! Eayden, Evelyn, Amanda, Nichole, Faith, Sadie, Cali, Giselle, Arielle, and me of course! 

After all the Beehives had arrived we set to work on building our tents. There where two tents, one big blue tent, and one big green tent. The leaders got to stay in a couple of cabins, and the two elders had their own tent. I helped to make the blue tent since I kinda already knew how to set it up.

After we finished setting up both tents, we where separated into the two tents. It was nice to be in the same tent with my best friend, Evelyn. It was also nice to have 3 new people in the same tent. My tent partners where Amanda, Evelyn, Faith, and Cali. It was also sad that Sadie wasn't in the same tent, but she seemed like she was going to have a great time making friends with her tent partners (Arielle, Nichole, Giselle, and Eayden).

The Leaders took us to our first girls camp activity, kayaking! We were all assigned a partner, mine was Faith. It was nice to be a partner with her since I already knew her pretty will from a previous youth activity.

We had a guide to teach us how to us the paddles correctly, and also how to turn, the paddling pattern for the water, and how to get back into the kayak if we ever fell out.

Me and my partner were lucky to be in a double rider kayak , rather then a triple rider kayak . After everyone got settled into their kayaks, we set off kayaking in the beautiful lake.

When I lived in San Antonio, me and my family went kayaking all the time, so I had a pretty good idea of how to kayak. It was so much fun to race against the leaders, splash everyone with water, and have fun.

We kayaked for about an hour and a half until it started to drizzle. After docking the kayaks and drying off, we started to head home.

When we got back, we all took turns taking showers and then getting ready for our second project of the day, tie-dye shirts! It was so much fun making my very first, and my very own, tie-dye shirt! We all decided to make a swirled tie-dye shirt. I colored my shirt green, blue, purple, and a hint of pink. It was so much fun to do this project.

After putting our tide shirts in bags to dry, we made fluffy slime. Me, Evelyn, and Cali shared a batch of slime that was baby blue, it was super fun to make the slime!

After our activities where done, we started to make our dinner, hot dogs wrapped in a cresent roll dough toasted over a fire. Dessert was a cinnamon roll (in dough version) also toasted over a fire. They where both a little under baked, but it was still pretty good!

For a theme project, we had to make a memo of what we though the theme meant to us. My partner and I made ours and had so much fun making it to. The theme was "Warriors of Peace".

When we where done it was time to get ready for bed. I had so much fun my first day and was looking forward to the next day.

The next morning, we made breakfast burritos for breakfast. It was nice to be the one working close to the flame because it was super cold in the morning, so it was nice to be toasty and warm while making breakfast.

The main activity for that day was a very difficult hike up a mountain. The good part was that it was a beautiful mountain, but the bad part was that we had to hike to the peak and the hike was at a 40 degree angle upwards all the way up! :(

One thing that I have learned from past hikes that my family has done was to never complain, and I was not about to start to complain in front of 9 other girls, 6 leaders, and 2 elders, so I kept to myself and encourage other to keep going instead.

The hike was very long (4 miles), very hot, very steep, and very hard, but about an hour into our hike we hit the marker that said 1 Km 'till the top. We decided to take a trial mix, and water break (Here comes the good part). One of the elders that went to scout ahead said that he saw the peak about 30 feet away. That's what got everyones attention. When we heard this, we all stuffed our snacks back into our backpacks, and ran all the way to the peak. We all cheered and took a nice long break. It was windy at the the top, and that was a really nice feeling.

The view was so pretty that I didn't want to leave the peak. I could see the river, other mountains, and nature in general. It felt so good to reach the very top of a mountain, how many people usually do that, huh?

Since the hike was up all the way there, that meant that it was down all the way back, and we were back down to the bottom of the mountain in 37 minutes. We drove back to the campsite and took a break to do our friendship bracelets. When we were done, we started our nail art project. The nail art was in the shape of a dove carrying an olive branch. It was so much fun to do this project. You should try it to sometime too you know!

We ate dinner and started our theme project. The project was to cover our partner with foil around their feet, chest, head, shield, and sword. Each team took a turn to see who could do it the quickest. Our time won, and that was really surprising! We had so much fun doing this project. It was even more fun to do it in the dark. After we were done cleaning up the crinkled up foil on the floor, we got ready for bed, socialized, and then went to bed.

The next day, we went white water rafting. We left, drove to the shop, rented our rafts, drove to the river, got into the rafts, and set off down the river.

Each boat had two guides and ten rowers. There wasn't many sections with white water, which was sad, but it was still super fun to be rafting with everyone.

It was so much fun splashing each other with water, going swimming in the river when we had a break, rowing the raft, and being with my friends. We were on the river for about two and a half hours.

When we were done, we got dressed in our Peace In Christ shirts and ate ramen for lunch. It was a very good lunch. When we all ate, and were filled, we headed back and had lots of fun for the rest of the day.

The next was our last day at Girls Camp, that was also the day that we got to wear our tie-dye shirts for the first time. Our project for that day was a very big service project. The service project was at a farm. The goal was to weed a very decent sized field that was being infested with weeds! It was a very hot day, and very hard work. It took us about 2 hours to weed the whole entire section, and we had 14 very big sized piles of pulled weeds (the pile in the picture was our biggest one)!

After we finished our service project, we went back to the campsite for the last time, broke down the tents and everything in them, and packed up the cars. We also had little awards given to us for what we achieved the greatest during camp. There were awards such as the funniest person, or the joyfullest person. I got the award of never complaining on the hike. I thought it was pretty funny to be honest. We were given tote bags that we could all sign as a souvenir for this years girls camp.

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After we were all done with everything, we all went our ways. The Humphreys branch went home and so did the Seoul English Branch, but we went on another hike. It was also pretty hard, but equally as beautiful.

At the top, there was a temple. This temple was being refurbished, so we couldn't go in, but we did see the other little buildings that were around it.

There were so many beautiful flowers and buildings there. It was super fun to do this hike because we went with Evelyn's family and the Fillmore's. I have had such a great adventure going to Girls Camp and doing this hike with my friends. I can't wait to go to Girls Camp next year.

Hwaseong Fortress : The Bell of Hyowon & Paldalmun Gate

Welcome to Hwaseong Fortress!

We made it a few miles up the road to the Suwon Fortress again to see more of this amazing fortress. Our course this time was to begin at the Bell of Hyowon and end at the Paldalmun Gate.  I searched for the closest parking lot to the bell and found one on the map that looked super close!  Once we parked, and I studied the map, I realized it was the closest parking lot, but required a long hike up an insane amount of steep stairs.  With the little monster strapped to Kevin's back, we ascended together.

The stair kept going on and on!  I felt so bad for Kevin because there were so many!  Sure the parking lot was close, but yikes!  It felt like it was straight up a mountain.

We were very happy to reach the top and the bell!  The Fortress is really a mini-version of the Great Wall of China, with intermittent bells and beautiful temples. The large bell, which is literally about 15 feet tall, was at the top, and is a common miniature item on many of the awards the airmen get here.

There are three meanings when you ring the bell in the culture here:
1) First toll - to show gratitude and respect for one's parents
2) Second toll - to wish for one's family's health and harmony
3) Third toll - to wish for the realization of your dreams

We paid extra to have each one of kids do the first toll...

The Hyowon bell is amazing. It was so detailed and with a noble effort we were able to ring the bell multiple times in order to capitalize on the blessings of the toll.

We continued on and walked up and down the wall of the fortress to different defense towers. Our first stop after the bell was the Seojangdae Command Post.  It was a huge open post with a few steep stairs.  The command post overlooked the city and was such a beautiful site!

Right next to the command post was the Seonodae Crossbow Platform.  This had the most insane stairs of all because there wasn't a guard rail and each stair was super tall.  It was neat seeing the sections that were used for the crossbows.

We then walked down to the Seonamammun Secret Gate.  I asked the kids if they wanted to walk through the gate and see the Pavillion that was deeper in the fortress, but the heat was getting the better of them and they all decided to move forward.

The pathway to the Paldalmun Gate from this point was more and more stairs.  The kids had fun jumping from stair to stair.

We finally reached the Paldalmun Gate only to be disappointed and find out it is in the middle of a circle intersection.  It seems this particular gate is not open to the public, and only a majestic view to behold from afar.

Once we got to our destination, we decided to take a side road back to the parking lot.  This little side road was filled with neat shops and cute restaurants!  We passed by a super cute field that had windmills and a bench with a large heart on it.  As we were looking at the field a group of Korean women will giggling at us and gestured for them to take a picture of our family.  We stood there while they took about a hundred pictures.

We continued to walk down the street and just loved all the little art shops and displays on the walls.  This was the best wall, the tiles were cemented into the wall!

Since we were all hot, we stopped in at a smoothie restaurant called Gong Cha and got all the kids a smoothie to help cool off.  We have found that after long hikes or walks in the heat here, if we get the kids an ice cream, its a hue moral boost!  And ice cream is so delicious and pretty inexpensive here.

As we were hiking we found this lucky little gem of an experience that we hadn't planned on. Having a large buddhism culture here, we noticed this huge golden statue on the hike. We eventually figured out how to get to it, only to find this gigantic golden buddhist statue.

 Although there is a large christian influence here, the buddhism golden statues that dot the land at these temples are always amazing to see.