Nowt wrong with been Northern….
Trip Start
Oct 03, 2010
1
15
16
Trip End
Dec 19, 2010
Seoul, Korea Dem Peoples Rep
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Again the working week passed without much to note, I've been mainly getting some sort of take away food and eating at my hotel whilst watching Life on Mars. "Mobby’s highlight of the week" (sang like Harry Hill’s T.V highlight of the week) was my dinner on Wednesday, live octopus. Basically they took one out of the tank and chopped the tentacles off then cut then into about one inch strips and served on a plate. It was still wriggling all over and sucking to the plate so it was real hard to pick up, I gave up using chop sticks. The strangest part was when it was in my mouth in would suck onto my cheeks and tongue, I was told to give it some big chews to ensure it lost all its sucking power before I swallowed it as it can suck to your throat! It was actually quite nice, served with chillies garlic and salty sesame seed oil. Please see the video, its great! After the meal the person I was with told me they didn’t serve the head but went on to say people have tried to eat whole ones whilst they are still alive and many people die as the octopus sucks to their throat and they suffocate!
On Saturday I’d booked to go to the Korean border, yes that’s right I was going to North Korea….again this was booked via the U.S army I thought it was for the best! Upon arriving at the D.M.Z which stands for demilitarised zone and I was given a briefing which went along the lines of if they the enemy (North Korea) enter the bus do not communicate with them in way. They are the enemy and they will be watching you at all times. I was then give a visitor declaration to sign before I was allowed to go any further, I stole a copy of this form so I could be extremely accurate and to ensure I did not exaggerate when I wrote about it on here… It started and I quote “The visit to the joint security area (JSA) at Panmunjom will entail into a hostile area and possibility of injury or death as a direct result of enemy action. The JSA is a neutral but divided area guarded by the United Nations Command military personnel on one side (South) and Korean People’s Army personnel on the other (North)” it went on “The UN, the United States and the Republic of Korea cannot guarantee the safety of visitors and may not be held accountable in the event of a hostile enemy act.” The declaration had a further six paragraphs but after reading the above I just signed it as what could they be telling me after I’d just read of a possible enemy attack and possible death.
A briefing followed about the Korea war and I was told there are many active land mines so do not go off track. It was a very strange place indeed, but I only saw one North Korea soldiers which made all the hype of them storming the bus and things a little over the top, if anything the South Korean rock soldiers where the most intimidation. Within the DMZ there’s a bridge call the “bridge of no return” basically after the war all the POW’s had a choice to either cross to the North or stay in the South (and the opposite for Northern POWs) but once they had made their decision they could never again enter the opposite country, hence the name. I entered a UN building which is built over the actual boarder, 50% in the South and 50% in the North. Therefore I did cross over the border and was for a moment in one of the scary places in the world (as the U.S.A will have you believe!!) and I have the passport stamp to prove it.
The next stop on the tour was the 3rd Tunnel, South Korean have found four tunnels in total which were dug from way in the North with the aim of them all to reach Seoul to allow them to invade in mass numbers and take the city within hours! The fact the South do not know if they have found them all is slightly worrying. This tunnel was a mile underground and was dark, wet, cold and horrible everything you would think a tunnel would be. Its claimed 30,000troops could pass through this tunnel in an hour but they all must be about 3 foot as I was nearly on my knees at one point with my Bob the builder hat on to ensure I didn’t knock my noggin. All in all it was a good little trip but having spent the past two months mainly on my own and doing things at my pace (usually rushed)I found waiting around for people extremely annoying, what’s wrong with people? Please be back at the bus a 1:30 yet at 1:50 people are still not back. I think I would leave them if I was the driver (this did happen on a trip Al and I did in America and it was the single most funniest thing I have seen, three old grannies left alone at the Hover Dam, first class!)
On Sunday believe it or not I had to go to the airport for a meeting, who the hell does that and on a Sunday too!! It was for the final stage (I hope) of the interviews, we have selected someone and we wanted the client to meet them before we make any formal offers.
Peace out,
General Mob xx
Comments
Feel educated after this one! Might get a new tank and breed octopus, then apply for come dine with me
hello son reading your blog is ace .glad your weakend went well.juat on my way to see alex.you be safe and happy .love and miss you mum x x x x
haha those women at the dam :)
they deserved to be left!
that octopus is definately one step too far for me...i am proud of you!
love that you took a photo of the man who would come and delete your photos, shouldve asked him to pose japanses style too!xxxx
Now then Mobby - or should i call you "The Travel Writer Extroadinare".This blog is amazing, infact I'm going to use parts of it (with your permission) to teach my kids how to write an A* piece of travel writing. Have you thought about a career change? Don't laugh, I'm being serious! I can just picture you and Alex travelling the world creating whitty prose for the readers of the Independant to peruse.
Are you really the guy who watched in amazement and with mild tittering whilst I ate raw mincemeat in a French hotel? Are you sure? Cos even i would have baulked at the wriggling legs for din-dins.
I think I'm proud of you.
Thai house on NYE is gonna be so tame.
Beney that would be an excellent career path for us. Good suggestion!
Lets do it Michael!x