DMZ

We took a bus tour to the Demilitarized Zone yesterday - the unoccupied area between North and South Korea. It was filled with interesting little military tidbits such as the blockade in the Han River that stops submarines, the length of required military service (SK - 22 months for men only, NK 7 years for women, 9 for men), how the when you look across to the North Korean side there is no grass or trees on the hills - used for fuel and to detect deserters. Here is one of our boring pictures - it is too far to get a good photo:

We did get to go places where you could see more but there you couldn't take any photos. Here is Otto in a little amusement park while we waited for our other bus:

Note the frosty beverage - everyday is hot and humid and smoggy - we've only had one day of just sunshine in the the past two weeks. The tour lasted about 6 hours in and out of the bus and Lolo and I did all of it except for going in the tunnel dug by the North Koreans in the 70s - I can't say I'm sorry - that screams claustrophobia and she had fun playing with the lockers outside. Here are a few more photos - again nothing exciting:

We were dropped off in the international Itaewon area at the end and finally go to go to a Mexican restaurant we had tried to go to two other times - third time was a charm and it was delish! A rare meal that Otto loved.

Here is our standby snack - Smoothie King:

Back to the hotel where the count down continues - 2 more full days and then our traveling day!