Today's destinations are Duluo Mountain and the 38th parallel.
Early in the morning, we took the subway to Seoul Railway Station. Next to Seoul Railway Station is the old railway station. It was built in 1900. At that time, it was named "Nandaemun Station". It was renamed "Jingcheng Station" during the Japanese rule in 1923. After South Korea's independence in 1947, it was renamed "Seoul Station". In 2004, after KTX was opened to traffic, the Seoul Station, which witnessed the historical development of South Korea, was replaced by the newly built Seoul Station nearby, and the station function ended.
Old Railway Station
In front of the old railway station, we saw the other side of Seoul - there are five or six homeless people on the roadside, they are worn out and dirty, and by the guardrail is their home, simple bedding rolls. In my opinion, South Korea should be a developed country and this should not be the case, but unfortunately, we have seen it.
The new station building is not big, both upper and lower floors can be waiting for the train. You need to buy tickets. There is no security check, so you can enter the station directly. From this perspective, the entry speed of Seoul Station is much faster than that of China - on the one hand, it is because it is small, and on the other hand, the procedures are simple, and there is even no ticket check.
Seoul Railway Station
Interestingly, the station building on the first floor has a separate lounge for the US military stationed in South Korea, where some soldiers are resting and waiting for the train. The lounge also provides various drinks, which shows the special treatment South Korea has given to the US military. When riding the subway, we often see Korean soldiers, carrying backpacks, shopping, going home, or returning to the army. We feel that their army life is very easy.
The US military lounge in the station
is around nine o'clock, and the train arrives on time. This is a tourist train with four cars. The furnishings inside are very old. The cars are not electric-driven. Each car is equipped with a diesel engine underneath, which makes it very noisy when driving.
There are not many people in the car, basically all of them are local Koreans, mostly elderly people. They are talking and laughing loudly, as if there is no one around, which is the same as in China.
The car is slow. When sitting on the train, we can have a glimpse of the city scenery of Seoul. The city is not large in scale, there are not many high-rise buildings, nor are there as many high-rise residential communities as large as in China. The streets are curved and not too wide. Compared with domestic cities, the urban construction level of a prefecture-level city may be higher than that.
The car heads north and leaves the city and is in the countryside. The rural scene seems desolate and dilapidated, with hilly land and scattered arable land, and no large area of crops are seen. I don’t know why - is it because there is a threat of war to the north, which is difficult to develop, or is it the case in all rural areas of South Korea?
Rural
Along the way, a Korean beauty came to collect money. It turned out that we only bought tickets and also needed to buy tickets for attractions separately.
The car drove northward, becoming more and more desolate. When crossing a river, there was an east-west barbed wire on the bank of the river. This was a line of defense set up. There was a road next to the barbed wire, and military vehicles patrolled from time to time. At the Linjinjiang Checkpoint, soldiers checked tourists one by one, and the atmosphere was a little nervous.
car traveling for about two hours, we arrived at Duluoshan Station, which is also the terminal station. This is already very close to the 38th parallel. Duluoshan Station is a newly built site with a modern decoration style. The exit hall sells various souvenirs related to the Korean War. We were divided into a tour group and then got on the bus. The bus took us to the first stop - the Korean War Memorial Park. This is a so-called attraction. I didn't see what the park wanted to express, but there was a text introduction that a few North Korean soldiers had sneaked across the border from here, most of which were caught, and a small part of them escaped. I ate lunch at a nearby farmhouse. The Korean food is not high. There are still many supermarkets selling local specialties in the hall, mainly for Chinese people.
A corner of Duluo Mountain Observation Platform
The next place to go is Duluo Mountain. You drive to the parking lot on the top of the mountain, and then walk up to the Duluo Mountain Observation Platform. The observation deck was not built for a long time, and there was a studio on the second floor, which used video to show the scenes of the Korean War at that time. In the context of South Korea, South Korea is the victim of the Korean War. They defended democracy and freedom, but the threat of war still exists.There is a cafe on the third floor, with a group of Korean soldiers relaxing, and there is also a female soldier in the middle.
Observatory Location
Station on Duluo Mountain, you can see North Korea, including Kaesong, Banmendian, and the world's tallest flagpole (the second highest is Kuala Lumpur Independence Square, which will be mentioned in the next season of Malaysia's Chronicle). At the foot of the mountain is the border line, and you can see two North Korean soldiers building barbed wire and the road next to them. Looking at North Korea from afar, it is a desolate scene, and you can't see a single people. On this side of South Korea, many tourists are dressed in bright clothes, smiling and dancing - the difference in political systems has had too great impact on people's lives.
The middle position of the picture is the exit of the tunnel. Further north, there is another attraction at the foot of Duluo Mountain in North Korea, which is the mysterious tunnel. From the 1970s to the present, South Korea has discovered four authentic North Korean tunnels near the unarmed areas. The third tunnel is the most famous. It was discovered on October 17, 1978. It is located 4 kilometers south of Panmunjom, and is only 3.5 kilometers away from the nearest Korean village. The tunnel is 73 meters underground, with a total length of 1,635 meters. It can pass 10,000 armed soldiers or 30,000 non-armed soldiers within one hour. The United Nations Army Command once said that the third tunnel can pass through 3-4 rows of North Korean troops carrying heavy weapons at the same time, and can transfer one division's equipment within one hour.
What we want to visit is this authenticity. On a slope, the tunnel was less than one person tall, and water continued to seep from the tunnel. The end of the tunnel was the North Korean side. The sculptures next to it showed the construction scene of North Korean soldiers at that time. Since the target could not be exposed, they all used manual construction methods and worked in three shifts. In the tunnel, it is cold and humid, and it is unimaginable that in the situation where North Korea cannot even eat enough, it is possible to dig such an authentic tunnel so persistently. The purpose of this tunnel is...
Return to the city, which is another two hours' drive, and the city and countryside I see are still a desolate feeling. Sometimes I think that it is really not easy for Koreans, especially Seouls, to face the threat of war from the north so close to the 38th parallel.
At night, we came to Hongdae. The "Hongdae" that Korean young people often talk about is not only the abbreviation of " Hongi University ", but also represents the unique cultural phenomenon here. The university street culture around Hongdae is far more famous than "Hongi University" itself. Here are a few unique cultural enthusiasts who are different from popular culture, as well as various coffee houses, bars and fashion supplies stores that reflect the sentiment and cultural tendencies of young people.
Hongda’s literary youth
Here, we found an underground shop and tasted Korean fried rice (I don’t know what it is). It looked delicious, but it tasted bad. The reason was that it was repotted and not just fried. The store is low and the conditions are relatively poor, which is similar to some small restaurants in domestic county towns.
After dinner and shopping, there were many "young young meats" performing, and then a group of female fans next to them cheer for them. This is the art of freedom and full of vitality...
Interestingly, there are some small shops on the street that specialize in fortune-telling. They are all women and seem to have good business.
