Sleepless Travels Reloaded

Imjingang lookout

Freedom Bridge/train line

Left:Relatively recent visit of George Bush,
with the ?Korean president
Right: Old man, born in the North,
fled to the South. He’s dressed in
traditional Korean summer wear.

Freedom Bridge barrier

Guard outpost

10th of July 2005, a Sunday.

We got up early to attend the church service at Yeoido Full Gospel Church. Then after that we met up with Rob and Youngjung in Sinchon for pudu chige.

We walked to a train station in an area around Sinchon/E-Hwa Women’s University. It’s not a subway/ metropolitan train station, but a station for inter-country trains. Actually it’s very old and small. I find it pretty quaint actually. It feels like you’re stepping back 50 years. The platform is pretty non existant; the oldness has a bit of the flavour of the old KL train station; but none of the old British grandeur. But it’s very cute and quaint.

It’s nothing like Seoul Station, which is big and new and looks like an airport.

We were going to have our first look at the Korean countryside! Destination: Imjingang, the northern-most town you can go to without having to apply for a special pass. Dorasan is the site of a military base and is further north; a special pass is needed. Perhaps pudu chige was invented in this area? I see now that pudu chige was a nice precursor to our trip…

Rob said that when he had to do his compulsory military service, he always left to go to camp from this little station. As such, I guess he still harbours some ill-feeling towards the little station and its route north.

The train fare wasn’t very much, less than 10,000 won I think. You can’t use your metro subway ticket.

It took a few hours, maybe more than two, not more than 3, to get up there. The countryside was quite nice; very green. It took quite a while to get out of Seoul city proper. I remember feeling rather cold in the air conditioning of the train. Fell asleep too.

Imjingang station was also very small. The platform was open and the nearby station building was old and quaint. I like this countryside stuff. Actually the vintages of both the station we left in Seoul and the Imjingang station seem similar. I think the reason why I like the station in Seoul is because it feels like a country station lost in the middle of the big, modern, bustling metropolis of Seoul.

We walked a bit into the town. There was a run-down outside display of some military vehicles used in the Korean war - I remember some fighter planes and possibly a helicopter and there had to be a jeep of some sort. But my memory is so hazy. Because it was out in the open, a lot of it was damaged. Well I think lots of people had climbed into them as well, resulting in possibly accidental vandalism (oxymoron?).

We moved along, and saw the “train to nowhere”. It was one of the original trains that used to run the length of Korea; from the South all the way to the North. A length of the original track that formed its route was there too. If I tried to anthromorphize the train, what sort of emotions would I put on the train? A proud train running the length of the beautiful countryside of Korea; rudely and roughly truncated in the midst of a bloody and cruel battle amongst countrymen; and now standing abandoned and dilapidated, its main purpose now to stand, disused, as a photo backdrop for tourists. But of course a train has no feelings.

We shuffled along, past a smallish amusement park. Somehow I felt it was a bit tacky. It feels a bit incongruent - a symbol of joy and amusement in a town that symbolises disunity and separation? But I guess that’s all in the past; no use dwelling and what you can’t change.

We got to the newly-contructed memorial building thing. It was a white building that wasn’t fully completed. There was a nice lookout over the Imjin River; however it was summer and the humidity didn’t result in the best visibility. The hills towards the north were shrouded in slight fog. If I recall correctly there were pay-per-view binoculars. It was a hot day, and it was sunny on the top level so after we had enough we descended into the coolness of the lower floors and made our way to the Freedom Bridge.

The Freedom Bridge (the smaller horizontal bridge) is so-called because it is where a lot of North Korean refugees and South Korean POWs crossed over during a prisoner exchange some years after the war.

The larger bridge that spans the river is the railway line that moves further North, to Dorasan. Where the Freedom Bridge meets the railway line is blocked off with a tall barbed-wire fence. There were lots of signs and bits of cloth tied to this barrier. Rob said the messages writen on the signs were all pro-peace messages in the vein of “let us have a united Korea”.

The nice bright green fields on the river bank are paddy fields, Rob said. Apparently it produces the highest quality, most expensive rice. There is very little pollution as this stretch is quite devoid of humans - only authorised people can farm that land. The nomansland, spanning a width of 4 Km (2 Km north and south of the border) practically guarantees the protection of the environment. Free of molestation, a rich variety of wildlife in the nomansland abounds. What disturbing things humans are…

A bitter border soaked in the bloodshed of decades past, a peaceful native wildlife sanctuary. An interesting contrast.

I wanted to go closer for a better photo of the guard outpost and the lovely green fields, then I read the sign on the right - “NO PHOTOS”. The guards looked alert and had really big guns. Being the sheltered and kiasu Singporean I am I didn’t dare go in closer for a better photo, but rest assured I’m now regretting it.

I remember a traditional Korean pavillion built on a little hillock on northern boundary. It looked nice.

There was also an altar of sorts in the area. Like the Chinese, some Koreans also have the Confucian practice of performing annual ancestral rites at the graves of their ancestors. The altar was built by petition of Koreans originating from the North who wanted somewhere to perform their ancestral rites in lieu of the actual grave sites which are impossible to get to.

We had a look at a small souvenir shop that sold little trinkets and bottles of soju that the shopkeeper said originated from the North.

Before heading back, we dropped by at a little convinience store in the new lookout building.

We made our way back to Imjingang train station. I couldn’t resist the cute coin-operated popcorn machine which had decals of fluffy sheep-shaped popcorn. Or was it popcorn-shaped sheep? It looked like popcorn with a sheep’s head, legs and tails sticking out. It was very cute. Should have taken a photo. The popcorn was decently buttery but I could have done with a bigger serving.

The airconditioning on the train was cold. I fell asleep on the way back.

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UPDATE: train tickets to Imjingang were 1,200 won per person. Just so you know.