The Korean DMZ
Summary
The DMZ half day trip is really about having the split in the country brought to life. We’ve all heard the stories of Kim Yong Un and the parallel universe of the hermit kingdom of North Korea, but the way the story is told by the south Koreans as part of the standard DMZ tours is quite moving at times and makes it a worthwhile trip
It’s also generally quite interesting for things like the civilian villages set up in the DMZ itself, the tunnels built by the North Koreans for surprise attack and being able to look into the country with the telescopes to spot North Koreans … all wearing black … marching in unison
- TOP TIP – push the tour company hard for you to make your own way to the ticket booth area. There are only so many tickets available each day for visitors to the DMZ, so the tour companies pick you up at some offensively early time from Seoul (5am ish) to get to the ticket booth, which is about 45mins away. You then sit around until around 1030am before you can enter the DMZ. Just give them your passport the day before – and get a taxi from Seoul at 930ish . . . far more civilised
highlights
#1 The sheer oddness of it all - long invasion tunnels and giant flags meet visitor centres and gift shops
#2 The more sombre nature of the whole place. Whilst the character of Kim Jon Un and the hermit kingdom gains much laughter around the world, the DMZ reminds you 1. Of the serious losses in the various conflicts ever since the first war; 2. The sheer number of families separated by this arbitrary line
#3 Getting the binoculars out and having a good nosey, unnecessarily long stare into North Korea
#4 The wonderfully unnecessarily tall flag pole in North Korea. Tallest in the world and, most importantly, taller than the South Korean one A win for DPRK
#5 Coming away with some "gifts" from the DMZ gift shop
Experiences nearby
The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences
Other Odd Experiences around the World
Score Detail
Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"? That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others. That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score
This overall experience score is calculated by: take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10). Then convert into a score out of 100
Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique". Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides. So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique". But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience). So, both of these scores are standalone