On the Road #1

"With the coming of Dean Moriarty began the part of my life you could call my life on the road."
Jack Keuroac, On the Road

While travelling with my wife, 21 month old daughter, brother-in-law, and sister-and-law isn't exactly the same as travelling with Dean Moriarity, we were nevertheless on the road.

Went to the Reunification Observatory two days ago (it's presently Monday evening, Korea time). The Reunification Observatory is on a mountain on the north-east corner of South Korea. It is the northern most part of South Korea and lies approximately 2km south of the DMZ.

The northeast province in South Korea is called Kang-won-do. It is where I lived for 14 months at a time that I could still honestly say that I was under thirty. It is a beautiful province with mountains and trees. 46% of the northern part of the province is comprised of military bases and land that is restricted to the public. There aren't many roads that lead to the DMZ.

Approximately 15km before reaching the Reunification Observatory, we had to park at a sort of service station. Everyone travelling to the observatory is required to park at that service station. After parking the car we went into a small auditorium and watch a short film on safety and reunification.

The drive from the film/service station to the observatory is interesting for a number of reasons.

The road north overlooks the East Sea (also known as the Sea of Japan). Looking out the passenger side of the car, I saw endless beaches. Between the road and the beaches are endless fences with barbed wire.

On the left is green land, much of which is restricted to the public. The mountains in the distance are bald. I have heard that they remain so in order to remove the element of camaflauge, for soldiers who cross the boarder from the north.

We drove through a few concrete structures. It's difficult to describe these structures. On either side of the highway were large concrete rectangular-prisms. Atop the prisms were large concrete cubes balanced on triangular-prisms and very small concrete rectangular-prisms. If the small rectangular-prisms were removed, the concrete cubes would fall into, and block the roadway.

As we drove to the parking lot to the Observatory, I looked at the stairs that led to the summit of the mountain. I could only think of one thing: How will I summon the energy to carry Katie up those endless stairs. If they had a coffee shop at the bottom of the steps, I would have had a few cups.

From the upper decks of the observatory it is possible to over the DMZ and into North Korea. It is very strange to look over the DMZ. It is a very unreal place.

Since this is a rather long entry, I will tell you more about our weekend trip in tomorrow's entry.

Ciao