War-Zone Tourist

Looking out over the DMZ into the drab proto-industrial North Korean villages along the border.

Back Behind the Iron Curtain Again...

Just to see what life is like on the other side of the table, I visited North Korea for a short period of time. Things were pretty quiet over there, though I did get a little hungry.

North Korean Observation

More than fifty years of an uneasy truce have been witnessed from a short distance by intently impassive North Korean soldiers....

"So, picture yourself looking through MacArthur's aviator glasses..."

Our DMZ guide, an Australian Defence Forces officer serving in the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission, would be great at shadow puppets.

James, Ron and I.

"Try to stay away from that area over there..."

Overlooking the DMZ

King Ripper

"King Ripper" could be a Seventies longhair-band name, but in fact this is James King (L) and Ron Ripper (R), my two local traveling companions and ever-present guides.

"Is that a cloud or a very old MiG?"

Touring the lovely Panmunjeom area, within the DMZ.

"Driver, head north"

I arrived in Korea not far from MacArthur's Inchon landing spot - which I asked to have pointed out to me as we drove around the Peninsula. The map book in my sedan was entirely in Korean (of which I am of course completely ignorant), which certainly tested my ability to read just the geographic aspects on the page. The only Korean word I know is "barbecue" :-)