First port visit... South Korea!

You will have to bear with me since there are lots of pictures, but I will try to be brief in the descriptions. This was an awesome port visit though to South Korea since there is so much history. It started off by us participating in the International Fleet Review hosted by South Korea. Over 26 countries participated with their ships and air support. There were numerous exercises that were put on by the different countries. Then we actually docked pierside in Pusan (or Busan), South Korea.

The first day I went on a tour with some friends to Gyeongju (or Kyongju), which was the capital of the Shilla Kingdom from 57 B.C. to 935 A.D. Today it is known as the "museum without walls" for all the amazing history that is there. We first went to the Pulguksa Temple (a buddhist temple) that was built in 535 A.D. A couple pictures are posted below.

These guys protect the temple

This was the front side of the temple. The whole area was massive but I don't want to bore you all to death with too many photos.

Next we went to the Kyongju National Museum. There were actually four different buildings you go through all with so many artifacts and lots of history. You could easily spend a day looking through this stuff. At the end of walking through, my friends and I saw a sign that says you could actually take pictures inside. I wish I would have known that in the beginning. Oh well, but below is a picture of the main building and some of the grounds surrounding it.

We then went to the Ch'onmach'ong Tumulus. Not sure what all that means, but it was a huge park that had many tombs for the old kings. They were huge earth mounds that the kings were buried in with all their treasure. Below shows one they had actually excavated and you could go inside and see the remains of one of the kings. It is the Royal Tomb of King Michu (ruled from 262-282). It was all encased in glass but you could see the jewelry and bones. Pretty interesting.

After the tour, myself, Jason McConnell (on the right), and Ryan Beasley went out for traditional Korean Barbeque. They cooked the steak and vegetables on a coal fire pit right at our table. There were several other sides you could eat as you can see below. I am not sure what some of them were to this day but it was a pretty excellent dinner!

Below is just a taste of some "Engrish" in Korea. Not sure what they really wanted to say in this sign but we got a good laugh out of it.

The second day was the most amazing tour. We went basically all the way across South Korea to get to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). It was a six hour bus ride one way but worth every bit of that ride. Kim and I had watched a show on the History Channel about the DMZ and the history of the conflict between the North and South Koreans, so I did not want to miss the chance to see that part of history still in the making first hand.

Below is when we stopped at a lookout over the DMZ. We were basically looking down right over the border into North Korea. I am actually standing just to one side of a line they would not let us take pictures beyond. I am guessing it is so you could not get pictures of the posts and plan your attack! There was a large group of South Korean soldiers on a tour there as well.

We also got the chance to go down in to the Third Tunnel the South Koreans discovered. These tunnels were made by the North to infiltrate into the South. This tunnel was 73 meters below ground. We had to walk down a slope with a pretty decent grade for quite some time to get in the tunnel. Then we could walk down the tunnel to the point were the South had barricaded it off. This tunnel was discovered in 1978. Below is a sign showing the lay of the tunnel and how to get in it.

There were no pictures allowed in the tunnel so here I am after just coming back out at the entrance. We had to wear the hard hats you see behind me since it was not built for tall people to walk through. The South Koreans touring had no trouble walking right on through though without bending over. I think they were laughing at us as we duckwalked our way through! It was quite humorous.

The next portion was the best part of the trip by far. Below, the sign at the entrance to Camp Bonifas, just outside the Joint Security Area. Here both the South Koreans and Americans are stationed to protect the Souths side of the Demarcation Line (the border between the North and South).

This is a picture standing looking across the border to the big building across the way, which is the North Koreans building. The blue buildings in the middle are the Souths, however these buildings are half in South Korea, half in the North. The one on the left is the building we got to go in to and stand on the North Korean side. It is also the building where the two sides have their negotiations. There were a few North Koreans out monitoring us while we were there. You can just feel the hostility between the sides being there and it was quite amazing!

Yep, I was actually there!

Here I am in the building mentioned above standing on the North Korean side with my South Korean body guard! The door behind us is where the North Koreans come through.

Below is a picture of the "Bridge of No Return." Quite a bit of history in all of this. I would love to write about it all but that would just take forever and probably bore you to tears. But if you don't know much about all this history and are interested in learning more, I would say this is a great bit of history to read up on. So many amazing stories. One of my favorites is Operation Paul Bunyan which took place right near this bridge. Sad it had to come to the operation, but amazing history none the less.

Well I hope you all enjoyed these pictures and my take on the trip. The port visit to Guam is next up.