On Thursday we had to wake up especially early to head to the US Army Base, Camp Humphreys.
Four words. Six hour bus ride. That’s about the total time we spent on the bus that day. Camp Humphrey was about 1 hour away, closer to 2 hours with traffic, and from there, the DMZ was about another hour, the return trip was about an hour and a half. Crazy driving times for Hawaii people. Thankfully, it was on the rental bus, so we enjoyed these trips and passed the time with icebreakers, naps, and phones.
When we first arrived at Camp Humphreys, a military personnel came aboard our bus to guide us around the base. Thankfully, we did not have to walk around in the sweltering heat, but instead, enjoyed the tour in the comforts of our air-conditioned bus. We slowly drove around the base as the guide explained what we were seeing. The camp was huge and had everything, different neighborhoods, schools, and stores for the family. An interesting fact we learned was that the camp, although on Korean soil, was considered to be American land. I won’t go much further into the environment though, as it is a military base, and therefore I believe, confidential? We also had the privilege of eating in the dining hall on base, where they served a variety of different foods. Once we finished eating, we said our thank you’s and goodbyes and then headed to the DMZ.
The drive there had beautiful scenery with hundreds of acres of rice farms.
When we arrived, the first thing we did was go down the long underground tunnel to see one of the points where North Korea tried to invade South Korea by using explosives to dig tunnels through the DMZ.
It was a long trek both ways, but it was a cool experience to have. After the tunnel, we went to the lookout to see the actual middle section between the South and North. It was filled with forestry and a couple of small towns. Since it was getting late, we had to cancel our plans for the Paju Mazang Lake Chulung Bridge sadly, but it gave everyone time to recuperate and relax for the night.
