CHERWON DMZ CAMPING TRIP

This weekend, I rejoined the Adventure Korea (AK) travel club for a trip to the Odaemi village in Cherwon, 3 miles from the DMZ. I have to thank my friend Jaelee whose idea it was to go on the trip. I haven’t joined up with AK since the fall of 2003, during my previous incarnation as an ESL teacher in Seoul. It was worth the 5-hour bus ride from Yeosu to Seoul to join up the AK crew again. The Odaemi village was site of one of the fiercest battles in the Korean War, and the setting for the famous Korean movie, Taekugi. We traveled the 2+ hours to Odaemi and took a tour of the DMZ in that area. The tour included the 2nd Infiltration tunnel, and Iron Triangle observatory, Wolcheongri Station and Labor Party Building. As compared to Paju, these sites are not as “developed”: There is no train down the tunnel; there is no “picture line” at the observatory; there just aren’t as many people or buses. The place is kinda far from Seoul and not as well visited. This “under-development” created the possibility to “bend” a few rules. The main rule to bend was the photography rule. I think a great many pictures were taken that weren’t “allowed.” Actually, Jaelee was instructed by a soldier to delete one shot she took. I’m sure that once everyone learned that taking photos was wrong, they deleted all theirs too. *wink, wink, nudge, nudge* Unfortunately, due to a leak of classified information on the internet, we were not allowed to visit the Army base. That was a bit of a let down, because were had hoped to ride in tanks and play on a ropes course. Oh well, other things to do. We had a great night at the Odeami village. A good dinner (not bibimbab ? what a change from 2003) and watched the movie Taekugi. A bit of theatrical history never hurt anyone, and the big screen outdoors was a good venue. Post movie, there was a slight alcohol binge in session… all fun and games. The next day, we rode bikes (Ok… tandem bicycles are not that easy to use), went fishing and looked for mines. The mine hunt was fun, but unfortunately my group didn’t find any mines… I suppose a bonus since I still have all my limbs. Actually the mines were training versions set up to work on radio frequency… no explosives that we found. The area in Cherwon, due to the fighting during the Korean War had been heavily mined, and was through the work of the locals, cleared. (Though Seok-jin informed us that 7% of Korea is still covered with mines.) I did catch several fish, with the traditional nets, the heaviest being about 2 kg – uhm… less the kilo 😉 Another nice change from the AK that I remember is arriving in Seoul early. It was great, as the 6 hour train ride, which we turned into 4.5 thanks to the 300km/hr KTX, was not gonna arrive as late as I had originally dreaded. Was it worth it? All the traveling? The expense to get there? YES… with Adventure Korea, for me there has always been great new people to meet, and new things to see. This trip was no exception. Granted, I probably won’t do it as often as I did as when I lived in Seoul, but I see another trip looming in the future… hey, maybe I can meet them next time they head to Jeollanamdo? Cheers all, Marc Bieri ? Yeosu, Korea