bye bye old house
we've been living in our new place for a while now
but it wasn't till a few days ago
that we actually relinquished the keys to the old place.
no longer will we be able to make
those little visits to sift through the mess
and pack up bags of things we still want to keep.
i'll miss you, old house.
on to other business,
i just returned from a long trip
out to seoul and san francisco and back.
sf was a whirl of zombied roaming,
ting and popovers,
and a new (cute) friend from the apple store.
in seoul, i had time to go on a tour
out to the demilitarized zone that nicky'd told me about.
we started off at the imjingak tourist resort
some 7km south of the military demarcation line
between north and south korea.
there, i walked on the "freedom bridge"
where 12,773 prisoers of the korean war returned from the north in 1953.
the bus then brought me to the 3rd tunnel
where i donned a bright blue helmet and hopped into a monorail
(yellow helmet for those walking down)
that brought me into a 2m-by-2m big tunnel,
1,635m in length and, if i'm not wrong,
about 25 storeys underground.
this tunnel is one of four found by the south koreans
and was dug by the north in their attempt to infiltrate the south.
so far, the 3rd tunnel is the one found nearest to seoul.
on to the dora observatory platform next,
which is the northernmost observatory in the south
that provides the closest view of the north.
through telescopes, one can make out the border
and look past it to see a part of north korea.
the last stop of the tour was at dorasan station
which is the planned gateway between north and south korea.
upon unification, it is hoped that this station,
56km from seoul and 205km from pyeongyang,
will facilitate travel between the two koreas.
i got my passport stamped to remember it by!
the rest of that free day was spent wandering the streets of myeong dong
and spending way too much money on facial products.
i also had yummy yummy korean food on this trip
and discovered a nice little porridge cafe
that warmed me up after a long day of walking.
ok, so that's all said and done.
it's good to be home.
we've been living in our new place for a while now
but it wasn't till a few days ago
that we actually relinquished the keys to the old place.
no longer will we be able to make
those little visits to sift through the mess
and pack up bags of things we still want to keep.
i'll miss you, old house.
on to other business,
i just returned from a long trip
out to seoul and san francisco and back.
sf was a whirl of zombied roaming,
ting and popovers,
and a new (cute) friend from the apple store.
in seoul, i had time to go on a tour
out to the demilitarized zone that nicky'd told me about.
we started off at the imjingak tourist resort
some 7km south of the military demarcation line
between north and south korea.
there, i walked on the "freedom bridge"
where 12,773 prisoers of the korean war returned from the north in 1953.
the bus then brought me to the 3rd tunnel
where i donned a bright blue helmet and hopped into a monorail
(yellow helmet for those walking down)
that brought me into a 2m-by-2m big tunnel,
1,635m in length and, if i'm not wrong,
about 25 storeys underground.
this tunnel is one of four found by the south koreans
and was dug by the north in their attempt to infiltrate the south.
so far, the 3rd tunnel is the one found nearest to seoul.
on to the dora observatory platform next,
which is the northernmost observatory in the south
that provides the closest view of the north.
through telescopes, one can make out the border
and look past it to see a part of north korea.
the last stop of the tour was at dorasan station
which is the planned gateway between north and south korea.
upon unification, it is hoped that this station,
56km from seoul and 205km from pyeongyang,
will facilitate travel between the two koreas.
i got my passport stamped to remember it by!
the rest of that free day was spent wandering the streets of myeong dong
and spending way too much money on facial products.
i also had yummy yummy korean food on this trip
and discovered a nice little porridge cafe
that warmed me up after a long day of walking.
ok, so that's all said and done.
it's good to be home.
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