We woke up as the Volendam was getting in position to pass through the locks that separate the Incheon harbor from the open ocean. With the use of locks, the harbor depth is kept at a constant level and is about 10 feet higher than the ocean. Once inside the harbor, it took about an hour to finally get docked at the 'terminal'. Since this is an industrial port, passengers either had to stay in the ship, take a shuttle to a local shopping area, use a HAL shore excursion, or use a privately arranged shore excursion. We elected to do the latter and I arranged for a group of 5 to be on a Tours By Locals excursion to the DMZ. Jay was our guide and he met us at the gangway and whisked us to the DMZ in his comfortable Hyundai van. Jay is an experienc d tour guide and done this type work for many years including leading Koreans on overseas trips.
The expressway had recently opened up and it took a bit over an hour to reach the DMZ reception area. As we got closer to the DMZ, we observed miles of razor wire along the river adjoining the freeway. There were also tanks being moved on flatbed trucks and trailers along with military personnel in the back of light duty trucks.
The DMZ hosts some 5,000,000 tourists per year, and there are the facilities to handle the throngs. Jay collected our passports and purchased the tickets which were 15,000 Won or $15 each. We had an assigned 12:00 noon departure time, so we ate a local lunch and did some souvenir shopping. Once onboard the tour bus (mandatory transportation) we could take no pictures as we would be entering a military zone. At the checkpoint into the DMZ, our passports were once again checked and the bus was allowed to pass, cross a long bridge with barriers forcing a weaving maneuver. Our first stop was at a very modern railway station that only stopped being used last year.
We then visited tunnel #3. We could take pictures around the parking area, but had to check backpacks and cameras and don hard hats before riding a narrow gauge open car cog railway train down a tunnel 300 meters diagonally while descending 75 meters. At the bottom we walked in a stooped position about 170 meters, and turned around and walked back together to the train. The tunnel was extremely damp with low ceilings, and enough room to allow people to walk side by side. I lost track of the number of times my helmet hit the ceiling.
Once we were on the surface, we retrieved our items from the locker, snapped a few photos, and reboarded the bus for the trip up the mountain to peer at North Korea. Both North and South Korea blare propaganda messages at each other and the messages seem to cancel each other out. We could see the world's tallest flagpole far in the distance in N. Korea. On the drive back to the reception area we stopped at a folk village where my wife walked around a bit.
At the reception area, we walked over the Freedom Bridge and got to look over a vintage war damaged locomotive recovered from the DMZ.
Back at the ship we elected to take the shuttle back to the shopping area where we toured both the above and underground (huge!). The evening's main entertainment was a showing of Hidden Figures on the Main Stage screen. While marred with an audio problem near the end, it was good to see again.
Tomorrow will be our last day in Korea, and we have a tour scheduled. Stay tuned!
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