I had originally wanted to do one large loop of Central Mongolia covering The Gobi as well as Khovsgol Nuur (Lake). My guesthouse arranges tours so I put word in with her right away and posted my email on a cafe in town. Tours are based on a flat fee for the car and driver per day with food, entrance fees and gas added in. After talking to people and witnessing a barrage of people wanting to go to The Gobi but not the lakes I realized that I probably wasn’t going to find a group of 4 or 5 to share a 20 day tour with. I looked around town, speaking to a woman named Tuya with Happy Camel Tours and looking intoGer to Ger which organizes community based tourism projects. Ger to Ger wasn’t open on the weekend and appeared to take more time to arrange. Happy Camel used the same system of drivers and locations as everywhere else so it really came down to where I could find extra people to fill out my tour.

I met a woman from Northern Ireland named Victoria when I was doing research for my trip online. We were asking the same questions on message boards and realized that we were going around the same time. Because we were both traveling alone (she was coming from Russia on the Trans Siberian) and spending a whole month in Mongolia we decided in advance to travel together to the countryside. We both knew what we wanted to see and had assumed that there would be plenty of people coming around the same time, wanting to see the same things. There were a lot of people in town but many were staying only for 7 days. I thought it was strange that someone would come here so close to the Naadam Festival and not stay for it but I was considering the same thing at one time. Overall everyone that is only staying for a week or two has told me that they wish they had at least one month here. 

We got word on the evening that Victoria arrived that there were two other people interested in the lakes. We decided that it would be impossible to get others to come along for 20 days and went with two shorter trips instead of one long one. We would have gone to The Gobi first, but if there were people interested in the lakes we would do that first since it was harder to book. We met at 5 and the two French guys never turned up. After a few hours we heard word that they had gone off to a national park in the North and wanted to go a few days later. Luckily, two other men came in looking for the lakes tour while we sat in the office. One was an American man who had to leave on the 29th back to Beijing, which we were concerned about. This meant we couldn’t stay extra days if we wanted to along the way. The other man, from Portugal, seemed more into hiking and wanted to stay extra days at both of the lakes. We all bought a share of instant noodles, gas for the stove, water etc. On the day we were leaving a 5th person was added by the guesthouse which made the tour about $40 cheaper per person.

We decided to extend the usual 9 day, 8 night trip by one day to  10 days, 9 nights. This allowed us to stay two days at both The White Lake (Terkhinn Tsagaan Nuur) and Khovsgol Nuur. The route, which seems to be one of tow that are commonly taken had us driving most days at least 6 hours. The route was as follows:

Day 1: Ulaan Baatar > see sand dunes and monastery > sleep in Karakorum [7.5 hrs in car]
Day 2: Karakorum > sleep in Tsetserleg (there’s a monastery there and park) [3 hrs in car]
Day 3: Tsetserleg > White Lake (stop off at volcano on the way) [7.5 hrs in car]
Day 4: White Lake (horse riding, hiking etc.) [0 hrs in car]
Day 5: White Lake > Moron (long, rough road) [11 hrs in car]
Day 6: Moron > Khatgal (near Khovsgol) [6 hrs in car*]
Day 7: Khovsgol Nuur (horse riding, hiking)  [0 hrs in car]
Day 8: Khovsgol > Hutag Ondor (just a stopping point) [10 hrs in car]
Day 9: Hutag Ondor > Amarbayasgalant Khiid (monastery) [9.5 hrs in car]
Day 10: Amarbayasgalant Khiid > Ulaan Baatar (mostly paved road)  [7 hrs in car]

*This can vary depending on where you stay on the lake. We refused to stay in Khatgal because it isn’t on the lake. We had our driver take us around the lake and because of going the wrong way, plus negotiations with the driver and guesthouses we actually spent 6 hours in the car when we were told it would only be 3 hours.

For the sake of those of you planning our trip I can give you the following breakdown of costs:

Quoted from Happy Camel for 20 day trip 
Car and driver—43,000T per day*
English speaking guide—20,000T per day
Fuel (for 3200km)—512,000T**
Family ger—5,000–8,000T per night
Food at ger—2,000T per meal
Tourist ger camp—$10-15 per night
Tent—free to camp
Food—whatever you buy

*She said she could come down on car price without me even asking
**Fuel costs would be paid by you along the way

Actual expenses (booked through UB Guesthouse)
The driving times above reflect actual times, not those quoted by UB. Most of the times we experienced were a little longer and include lunch breaks and stopping for photos.

$795 for car, driver and gas (10 days). Split this between however many people you have, hopefully 4-5. We had a Russian van which gave us plenty of room and each a window seat. UB gave us sleeping bags, a butane stove, cooking pots, plates, cups etc. for free.

190,800T —car, driver, gas
  33,200T —food bought during trip
  46,600T —gers (mostly small family operations)*
    9,000T —food bought before trip
    6,000T —Park fees
    5,000T —2 hour horse trip on White Lake
    3,500T —Monastery fee
    2,000T —2 showers
    1,300T —road tolls
       940T —internet
—————————–
298,340T Total
$248.62 or $24.86 per day

*We spent two nights at a tourist ger camp. Because it was empty our driver got them down to 10,000 a person when it’s usually about 35,000. Most nights the gers were 4,000, but sometimes we were charged less if we made our own meals.

I hope that breakdown helps those of you who have been asking about costs. I don’t do math on my own without a lot of persuasion, even with a calculator, so please use this information. Feel free to post any specific questions in the comments (so it will be useful to others) or send me an email. The Gobi trip was quoted to me at $585 for 7 days, 6 nights plus food, accommodation etc. Most Gobi trips seem to run 7 or 8 days. I will let you know what it turns out to be when I get back.

Ulaan Baatar, the capital of Mongolia, is a city but it lacks the energy and commotion that most capitals have. The days are beautiful right now, the sun rises early and doesn’t set until around 10:30pm and the temperature hovers between about 70 and 85 depending on if you’re standing in the sun or not. Still, no one is out until after 10am and they stay out well after dark. Strangely, I found this to be true outside of the city as well, even with herders. I suppose Mongolia is simply a city of nighthawks.

The architecture is depressing, as you would imagine an abandoned Russian outpost would be. Buildings made of concrete are crumbling, piles of dirt and construction debris litter the city and manholes lay open in the sidewalks. The women here have adopted a Russian fashion sense and many are wearing their clothes a little too tight and makeup a little too heavy. My first day here was spent getting a quick feel for the city, the money and the sites. The ATM across form my hostel works wonderfully, although a 10,000T note (around $9) can be difficult to get change for in the countryside. The UB Guesthouse, where I am staying, is almost always full and in constant commotion. My first room was next to the TV area which was full until around 5am. I met more Peace Corp volunteers in the kitchen here than I have in my entire life. The US has around 200 volunteers here, mostly teaching English, which is an interesting political move. Mongolia separates China and Russia and has been ruled by both in the past so it could likely become a strategic outpost in the future.

On my second day in Mongolia I met two Australians who were wasting some time in UB after spending a few weeks working on a ranch. When I mentioned I needed to use the internet they hurried me across the main square, down a busy street, through an alleyway next to the sports center and into a wonderful internet shop with gorgeous new computers, headphones, microphones and webcams. I managed to call home for around two cents a minute using Skype and write a few emails for 400T an hour. Local calls are easy, people sit on every corner holding phones with wireless connections for people to use for 100T.

After my exciting internet time I was revved up for the only thing I wanted to see in Mongolia besides the countryside—The Costume Museum. It’s not very large, just one room upstairs from a restaurant, which is unlocked when someone arrives. I was ushered around the glass cases and explained to, in Mongolian, what every object was to me by a chubby, energetic woman. At the end of the walkthough I took out my sketchbook and showed her some drawings to explain what I wanted to do. Normally I draw in all museums and I intended to spend all afternoon in The Costume Museum but I felt I needed to explain this to her because she literally did not stand less than one foot away form me during the tour. The woman seemed fine with the drawing and sat down near the entrance. I looked at a few of the cooking objects and she seemed pretty upset that I would draw those.

Moving on I decided to start with a Queen’s robe. I wasn’t drawing for more than 3 minutes before the woman came over to see what I was doing. I’m used to people watching me draw and continued. She began speaking to me on Mongolian, rather forcefully, but I decided that it was just the language because Mongolian does sound pretty angry. I ignored her and continued drawing and she left me alone for a few more minutes. I was only down to the waist of the gown when she came back and spoke to me loudly, gesturing toward the door. I shook my head and continued to draw. When she kept gesturing I pulled out my museum ticked and showed her, trying to get across the idea that I had paid and was going to take my time. She was pretty angry, took my sketchbook away and began to finish my drawing! I only managed to stand still in shock with my mouth open for a few second before telling her no and taking my book back.

At this point I assumed it must be her lunchtime or something and decided that I would take photos instead to hurry up for her sake. Of course, photography is an extra 5000T, which I promised to pay. She followed me around as I took photos, trying to capture the costumes and details without a flash in low light. After the first row of costumes she gestured to the door again. I simply said “five thousand.” If I had to pay to take photos I was going to take all the photos I want. I realize that this may sound like I was being a snotty foreigner demanding special treatment but you have to realize that this was meant to be the highlight of Ulaan Baatar for me. In any case, I think it’s understandable for a visitor to be allowed to view the exhibits as long as it’s within opening hours and she isn’t disturbing anything. I hadn’t spent more than fifteen minutes in the museum before she tried to kick me out.

Right when I had gotten all of the photos I wanted and managed to annoy the woman just a little bit more a couple came in to view the exhibts. The woman showed them around and because there were other people in the museum she had no reason to kick me out. I got a few more minutes out of that and finally left after the couple finished. I assumed that after I paid the photography fee the woman would go out to eat or do whatever was so important that she had to kick me out of the museum. She sat right down in the gift shop next to a younger woman and began to talk. This woman had been insistent on me leaving the museum just because she didn’t want to have to sit upstairs without someone to gossip to!

I was left with a bad impression of the people of UB from the start and continue to see a mean streak in the people here that you don’t see in the countryside. My first restaurant meal was an awful plate of fried eggs and tomatoes in a sidewalk cafe. It was was awful itself before an armless man stood beside me saying “hello, hello.” I was ashamed at how easily I was able to slip back into ignoring beggars, which I learned in SE Asia during my last trip. That feeling didn’t last long when the man continued to come back to the restaurant after being given a loaf of bread and two bags of food scraps. When the waitress stepped inside for a minute he rain into the seating area and chugged a Korean man’s beer. There are so many homeless and unfortunate people in this world it’s impossible to help them yourself. Certainly giving them money isn’t a wise decision and there’s no way you can give something to everyone who needs it. This man put me off by his greediness as he continued to run off diners in restaurants down the street.

After a beer in an English pub and dinner in a Mongolian fast food restaurant with the Australians I went to bed hoping to have more answers about the tours I could take the next day.

I’m back in Ulaan Baatar after 10 bone jarring days of travel across the near West and North of Mongolia. The entire country should be declared a National Park, it’s so beautiful. Expect photos and some updates in the next few days before I head South into the Gobi.

It’s morning in Moron, a cold town in the North. Apparently the information I had about Tsetserleg was wrong, because it definately isn’t the second biggest town in Mongolia. Moron is bigger and there are even bigger towns than Moron. Still, they all seem a bit like backwater country towns with wooden fences and stray dogs milling about.

Yesterday’s car ride was pretty rough—no paved roads at all and sometimes we were driving through the grass with no tracks in sight. Driving through the grass may have been bad for the environment but it was nice for my bottom after the two hours of horse riding at White Lake. We were in the car from 8am until 7pm so it was a full day but we passed through some georgeous valleys full of gers and yak herds. Sometimes when we stopped for photos a little herder boy would come running down a mountain to see us, posing for pictures.

After this internet break and a quick stop by the market for water and chocolate we’re heading a few hours North to Khosovol, which should be beautiful. We’re already seeing some alpine-like scenes with evergreens and wood cabins. Many of the mountains here are still smooth green on one side but are now covered in evergreens on the other. The wind is very strong here and I suspect that has a big effect on how the trees grow.

We will spend two nights at the lake before looping back through Moron. Hopefully we can keep going through and make it to a town further East for the night. After than I have one more night near a famous monastery before making it back to Ulaan Baatar.

Amazingly there is an internet cafe in Tsetserleg, Mongolia’s second largest city, where I am today. That sounds big, but I think it’s only around 20,000 people. We didn’t leave UB until one in the afternoon yesterday because someone in my group of four had only just arrived and wanted to see UB a bit before leaving. When our Russian van showed up we were told that a fifth passenger had been found—a monk from Singapore named Ho. I try to say “Hey, Ho!” as much as possible. People here seem to be very confused why he doesn’t eat meat and why he’s in a yellow robe.

We left around two and with only a thirty minute stop at some sand dunes, we arrived at our first ger in the former capital around 10:30pm. Because it’s summer the sun was just setting and the sky was a beautiful purple. Our ger was in the backyard of a local family where they had set up for tourists. Another small group arrived much earlier and were inside the family’s shack watching the World Cup Switzerland game on satellite TV. I have seen a fair amount of gers in the middle of nowhere with a solar powered satellite dishes.

The night sky was beautiful with lots of stars, some shooting stars and the big dipper. The owner cooked us some dumplings which we devoured. The others wanted beer so I was given the money to give to our Mongolian driver, Neema. He made me ride with him into town where people we still shopping with their horses and playing basketball on a wooden board in the dark. Our ger had 6 beds arranged around the perimeter and a table and stove in the middle. It’s quite hot suring the day in the sun, maybe 85, but about 50 at night.

We all got up around 7:30 today because it was so light out. I saw Ho meditating on his bed across from me and went to the extremely well maintained out house. Breakfast—hard bread and jam—was served at 8 and we set off to see the town’s sights around 9. Karacorum was Mongolia’s capital around the time of Ghangis Khan but when China took over they completely destroyed it. But when you think about it, a nomadic culture isn’t going to have amazing ruins of permanent structures anyway. There are some large turtle statues that used to mark the city boundaries and a very large monestery surrounded by a wall on four sides crowned by 108 stupas. Buddhism in Monglia is mainly influenced by Tibet, which was somewhat influenced by India so it’s an interesting mix. Some of the buildings had Chinese tiled roofs and some were larger two story stucco structures in the Tibetan tradition.

The monks there were having a service (whatever you call it when they read and chant scriptures) and two young monks climbed to the top of a tower and blew shells to announce the event. They were trying to avoid having their picture taken but there was a very persistant Italian tour group who were trying to trick them. Once the leader quacked like a duck (his signal for the group to move on!) and they left the boys were a bit more accomidating. With my awesome 18-200 Nikon zoom I was able to get some portraits without much dificulty.

The exterior paths to any of the sights, like the city markers, were surrounded with long tables of souvenirs. Most of the things were heavy and obviously made in China. I saw lots of knives my brother would like but I’m not about to start buying things yet.

After the hour and a half or so we moved back into our van and drive to the edge of the city for lunch. We had packed food and a stove to make things but this resturaunt was quite good. Neema doesn’t speak more than a few English words but he told us one thing was good so we ordered that and pointed to some fried meat-filled pancakes a man was eating nearby. All of the food was quite good. The mystery dish turned out to be a mutton steak with some sort of sauce on it, two scoops of white rice, a potato salad-type dish, some sort of cole slaw all topped with a runny fried egg.

While everyone else went to the bathroom I made friends with some kids playing on a gate. They were giggling and being kids and liked to see their picture taken. I would say that half of the people here want photos taken and half refuse. We drove on for quite some time and didn’t end up making it to Tsetserleg until around 5:30. We dropped off our things, stopped by a cafe owner by an Englishman and asked them to stay open late for us before walking around. The other American wanted to see the Temple museum and both the resturaunt and museum closed at 6. They agreed to stay open and I walked around town taking pictures of signs with the other girl in our group, who’s from Northern Ireland. We actually had met online on Lonely Planet’s message boards and decided to meet here in Mongolia because we wanted to see the same things. It turned out great, we get along well and have a similar attitude about most things.

It’s still light out and I’m going to try to recharge my camera battery tonight if possible and maybe wash some of the dust off of my body. Tomorrow we head out around 9am for The Great White Lake which will take most of the day—maybe until 6 or 7pm. It’s supposed to be a beautiful drive though with canyons and mountains. Our first day was mostly those rolling hills or steppe covered in smooth grass, kind of surreal looking like the background on Teletubbies. Today we started to see larger hills, mountains, wildflowers, streams and even some pine trees. I think as we start to head north toward the town of Moron and finally Khovsgol Nuur it’s going to get even more beautiful and closer to the Siberan environment.

Okay, no more complaining, the gallery from Korea is up! Go to the Gallery link at the top of this page and you’ll see it. This should keep you occupied while I’m up north riding horses and looking at mountains.

My flight from Seoul to Ulaan Baatar was a bit bumpy and shaky but not such a bad three and a half hours. It’s always surprising how long it takes to fly between these Asian cities because they look so close on a map. MIAT is not an airline known for good service or reliable aircraft but there aren’t many choices flying to Mongolia. The tray table next to me was broken and wouldn’t stay up. A stewardess came back with white medical tape and taped it up which lasted for a good 20 minutes before it slammed back down again. Luckily I had the row to myself and enough room to write in my sketchbook. The meal was rather bland, and I probably shouldn’t have turned down the wine which I assume was to make you forget how bad it was.

Standing in line at immigration I was nervous because I didn’t have a visa. I knew that, as an American, I didn’t need a visa but everywhere I looked I saw places to write your visa number and type or a booth to get a visa. The immigration officer barely looked at my passport and gave me a green entry stamp. There is no information on there except the date, but I am told it is valid for 90 days but if I want to stay longer than 30 I have to register with the police.

My baggage as waiting for me and when the exit door opened I was confronted with a mob of happy Mongolian faces waiting for someone. A man toward the back was holding a sign with my name and I followed him out to his car. In 30 minutes I was at my hostel, UB Guesthouse, and checking in. The entrance to the hostel is in the courtyard between 4 building blocks. Looking at it you would assume the entire area is under construction because it’s surrounded by fencing, piles of dirt and crumbling plaster. In fact, this is basically how all of Ulaan Baatar looks. Walking down the street it is easy to fall into an open manhole or step in something disgusting. I thought I would need some time to really look around but I think I’ve seen plenty already. Besides, I will definitely be in town for the Naadam Festival in the middle of July so I will have plenty of time to see any more sights then.

I’ve met up with a woman from Northern Ireland who’s arrived by train from Moscow. We met online when plannign our trips and decided to book a tour together when we arrived. Tours of the countryside mostly include the cost of the car, driver and gas so it’s best to get 4-5 people to share the cost. We’re working out just how many people we can find to go with us and it’s looking promising that we can leave town on the 19th. We want to go South to the Gobi as well as West and North to White Lake and Khovsgol up North. This is probably going to have to be broken into two separate trips with a day or tow in-between to refuel, buy food and get a good shower in UB. At this point it looks like we’ll be going up North first for 10 days, since there’s a group of us ready. Everyone goes to the Gobi so it’s much easier to find other people to go on that trip. The North trip is 9-10 days and the Gobi is 7-8 days. In any case, I may have access to internet at one town along each route, but I’m not going to get my hopes up.

Seoul wasn’t exactly a city I have been dying to visit. I really just spent time here because I had to connect to Mongolia. I did get a good feel for the city and found it to have some similarities to other Asian cities—Tokyo, Beijing, Bangkok—and many differences. The people seem to be more friendly than Tokyo and aren’t afraid to let you see them looking at you, unlike Tokyo. It was a bit polluted, but nothing like Beijing. During my time there it rained every other day and on sunny days the haze was quite thick.

I visited a few museums, The War Museum, The Korean National Museum, Palace Museum and Folk Museum. I enjoyed that areas that showcased Korean costume and everyday object from the past, but the National Museum took four hours to rush through and had a lot of similar objects. I was interested to see the metal movable type exhibit there, but it gets a bit redundant after a while, especially when you can’t read any of the characters. The War Museum seemed promising, as it may have been even larger than The National Museum but a lot of the space was taken up by monuments to soldiers and busts of famous generals. I assumed the museum would focus on The Korean War but it covered all wars Korea has ever been in from feudal times up until the present. In the end, even with English displays, I learned more about The Korean War on the DMZ tour. War buffs would enjoy it, especially the massive display of vehicles and equipment outside including a B52 bomber you can walk through.

On one sunny day I did walk all the way to the top of the hill where Seoul Tower stands. It’s basically a communication tower that has a few levels of restaurants and observation decks. The climb took me over an hour and I was covered in sweat at the top. I felt a bit disgusting walking around the deck next to Korean girls in their summer dresses all cute and sweat-free. I did pay the 7,000 won to get into the observation deck and see panoramic views of Seoul. Luckily it wasn’t too cloudy and I was able to get a better grasp of just of large and sprawling Seoul really is.

The night of Korea’s first World Cup match the city was abuzz and everyone was wearing red “fighting Korea” t-shirts. I wasn’t going to go out but decided at the last minute that I might regret it and headed down to City Hall. The area was already swarming with people before game time and I had trouble getting too far away from the subway exit. Pushing in I was able to get about a football stadium length from the main stage and screens and was quickly smashed between the crowd and a van. Vendors were selling light up red horn headbands and almost everyone had them on. A large stage was set up in one area where a rock band played before the game started. There are already a number of giant screen mounted on buildings in the area and the city had set up even more for the event. Teenagers were climbing on top of any vehicles parked including the portable toilets. At some point the crowd had shattered the glass elevator leading up from the subway, I assume when trying to climb to the top to see over the crowds. For a crowd so large (in the many thousands) where beer was being sold it was relatively calm and orderly. Korea beat Togo 2-1, I believe and when the game ended I jumped back on the subway and was at my hostel in about 15 minutes.

My second to last day in Seoul was very rainy and windy and after visiting The National Museum I ventured over to the Yongsan electronics market. Although I probably already have way too many electronics on this trip I wanted to pick up a portable hard drive that takes compact flash cards. My computer is over four years old and has a very small hard drive. With a portable drive I could download and backup CF cards (my photos) without needing my computer. It will also be good when I don’t have access to electricity but am still taking a lot of photos because the battery should last a long time. The model I was researching back home is made by a Korean company and I thought I could get it here. In the end, that model is obsolete and I got a different, smaller, lighter model. The price was only about $50-75 less than I would have paid back home, but that’s still quite a big difference. Hard drives that take memory cards aren’t marketed in the US, so I would have had to import it from Korea anyway. It was a big investment but should be helpful without adding any significant weight or space to my pack.

In the six full days I had in Seoul I did see a lot and did enjoy exploring yet another Asian city. I do think the temples, palaces and historic tourist sites are much better in Japan, but Japan did burn all of Korea’s historic buildings down so that’s not surprising. In the end I’m glad I spent some time in Seoul, but Mongolia is really where this trip starts for me.

Everyone in Korea, including most non-American travelers kept talking about The World Cup. People in my hostel were staying up all hours to watch their home country’s match. I don’t like soccer, but I do like baseball and I had heard that Korea was very into baseball, just like Japan. Once I figured out where games were played I decided to go. There are at least 3 home teams in Seoul, and the Doosan Bears happened to be in town.

After a relaxed day of sightseeing and a trip to the post office I made my way on the subway out to the old Olympic Park. In addition to the large stadium, gymnasium and facilities there is a baseball stadium. The subways in Seoul are very clearly marked in English, including which stop is next so you can easily figure out which train to take. In fact, the subway here is much easier to navigate than Chicago’s El. I wish they would ask someone with a solid design background to redesign the signage, or at least add some!

After about 45 minutes on the subway I exited at the “sports complex” stop and headed up the “baseball stadium” exit—pretty simple. Along the stairs were old ladies selling what looked like California rolls and dried squid. I was surprised, assuming you were allowed to bring this food inside. With my 6,000 won ticket I headed inside and was even more surprised to see small KFC, Burger King and convenience stores along corridor. In fact, I saw at least three Burger Kings in the stadium. Not only does this stadium allow outside vendors, but the prices are the same as on the street! Food in Korea isn’t cheap, and fast food prices are comparable to the US, but back home food and merchandise in stadiums is always overpriced and controlled by the stadium.

Korean baseball teams are always sponsored (or perhaps owned, it wasn’t clear), by a company. The Bears are sponsored by Doosan, and most people cheer for “Doosan” not “Bears.” The stadium is apparently still owned by the city because two teams share it as their “home field.” Because of this the few Bears signs are temporary and hung sparingly around the stadium. Perhaps this plays into why the stadium has such a different attitude toward vendors.

I had no idea what my ticket said but when I emerged into the stadium I saw that it didn’t matter—the stadium was empty. There were a few hundred fans, mostly on the opposite side. I made my way over to the cheering section where a stage was built for three cheerleaders. A man lead everyone on with white gloves and a whistle. Sometimes he would start cheers and sometimes direct when to be quiet. Other times he spoke in a hushed wedding singer-type voice to the crowd. The two female cheerleaders in white two piece uniforms, gloves and legwarmers spent most of their time dancing rather poorly.

Fans were very excited, but appeared to watch the male cheerleader more than the game. In fact, in that section it was difficult to see some areas of the field. Each team had one Western player. The Bears had a white pitcher (whose name was still listed in Korean letters) and the opposing team had a really fat first baseman. The Bears did quite well, scoring their first 5 runs early on. In fact, the other team didn’t score until the last few innings.

Throughout the game women walked the aisles selling dried squid, crackers and cans of beer. A few men with keg backpacks walked the aisles pouring cups of Cass beer from a spout. Personally I found Cass beer equivalent to something you would get at a ball game or college bar. OB brand seems to be a bit better. Bad beer aside, I’m glad I went to the game and saw the similarities and differences. The game is played pretty similar as back home, but the fans are quite different and certainly less drunk than in the US.

Unfortunately, one of the first things many people think of when they hear “Korea” is the Korean War. It was before I was born and before Vietnam, but the demilitarized zone (DMZ) along the 38th parallel is a constant reminder that Korea is a broken country. When researching for my trip I was surprised to find that tours of the DMZ are conducted daily—10 a day to the JSA neutral zone, and many more to the surrounding areas. I booked a tour in advance with the Korean branch of the USO because I wanted the full experience of stepping on North Korean soil. Although the USO tour lasts most of the day and costs more than others ($42), I am confidant that it was worthwhile. Other people who took the cheap, whistlestop tours weren’t allowed into the sensitive areas the USO went.

The short tours leave late in the morning, but I had to get up around 5:45am to make it across Seoul on the subway to the USO offices across from one of the many US Army bases in the area. Two buses (about 90 people) headed North around 7:30am, being briefed by our volunteer tour guide along the way. The river we followed was completely enclosed in barbed wire and dotted with manned guard posts watching North. The highway, “freedom Highway” was built for unification. It’s sad really, so many things in South Korea—customs checkpoints, roads, buildings, train stations—were built for when the country is eventually reunited. The facilities stand empty in the meantime, only visited by tourists

After an hour driving North we were stopped and boarded by a ROK (S. Korean army soldier) who checked our passports. We continued through guarded areas until we reached the entrance to Camp Bonifas, where we got off the bus and stood in line to be checked again by ROK soldiers. Until very recently Camp Bonifas was heavily populated by US soldiers. Many have now pulled out after political pressure from the Koreans and only about 40 US soldiers remain. The soldiers up there are on special assignment, meeting more stringent requirements than other Korean-based US soldiers, but quite a few of them spend their days giving tours. The soldier assigned to our bus was from Southern California and only had one more month until he was discharged. As a sniper for the Rangers he was assigned to Iraq and Afghanistan twice, Somalia and finally Korea. He was ready to go home and spent any downtime discussing sports results and the glory of In & Out burgers

Before traveling by bus to the JSA zone we were briefed by another US soldier who was from Iowa and spoke in a comically loud “shout” much different than our soldier’s laid back California tone. The briefing and slide show we were given was the most concise but informative description of the history of the war and the current situation I have heard. It contained much less information and visuals than the War Museum in Seoul, but was exactly what I needed. When Japan, who had been occupying Korea until about 1945 , was forced to pull out the US came into the South to police the area and the Russians came into the North. Each country encouraged their own form of political system on the area they occupied, which is why North Korea became Communist. After two different governing bodies were formed the Korea war ensued, each side trying to take over the other to form one Korea. The US had the most soldiers supporting the South, although many other countries were involved including Ethiopia. China sent a lot of troops to help the North, especially once the South had pushed the North all the way back to the Chinese border.

Eventually, when a cease fire was agreed upon both groups were told to pull back 2km from their last position. That left a 4km demilitarized zone in which neither the North or South had control. The area is now heavily forested and quite beautiful. A zone was created along the border, within the DMZ, where talks could take place. Each side has a number of buildings scattered throughout the zone, side by side. Because of this North and South Korean soldiers will come face to face with each other as well as US and other foreign soldiers. Armed soldiers are required to wear armbands, which all ROK and US soldiers do, but the North has stopped following that rule. On the Southern side a large, new building was built by the owner of Hyundi as a meeting point for families divided by the war. The building has never been used for this purpose because North Korea forbids it’s citizens from technically crossing into South Korea. They have built a hotel in North Korea where families can meet under special circumstances instead

Photography was forbidden between the camp and the DMZ/special JSA zone, as you would assume. But it was encouraged within the zone and the lookout points, to the point of posing with ROK soldiers. Along the way our soldier pointed out the defense points, including large, semi-sized cement blocks in the air wired to collapse and block the road in case North Korea advances. Fences line much of the area, not only with barbed wire but with rocks inserted into the Southern side of the fence. The allows soldiers on patrol to see if any fence had been tampered with, as the rocks would fall out into the Southern side and onto a neatly raked area of sand

Once we arrived in the JSA zone we formed two lines and entered the new building and walked out onto the steps facing North Korea. We were told to wander on the steps and take photos as we wished, but not to step off the steps, point or make any unusual gestures. I certainly couldn’t do a cartwheel for fear of being photographed and used in propaganda materials by North Korea. Across the small road was a line of buildings owned by either side and a large building being worked on by North Korea. It seems that every improvement made by the South is them mimicked by the North, as they always want to have the tallest building or biggest flag. After 5 minutes we were lined up again and marched across a two lane road and into the middle building, shared by both sides. A ROK soldier stood halfway behind each building, watching the North intensely. They did not speak and stood in a modified Tae Kwon Do position, with wide legs, arms somewhat outstretched at their sides in fists and mouth turned down in a scowl. Large mirrored aviator glasses finished off their look, which is intended to intimidate the Northern soldiers and keep from showing any emotion

A short cement block runs along the actual border, halfway through all of the buildings. Inside were posted North Korean soldiers for our protection and many chairs and tables where talks are conducted. On the main table are microphones which are monitored 24 hours a day by both sides. They must spend a lot of time translating tours. Surprisingly, North Korea also runs tours to the building, but only a few times a month. Tourists posed with the ROK soldiers, although they did not move or speak. We left the building after about 5 minutes, instructed not to look back toward North Korea. In all of my time in the zone I only saw one North Korea soldier who was standing under a guard post on the Northeast side of the zone

We continued on to a Southern guard post where you could see North Korea’s “Propaganda Village.” When the armistice was put in place it was agreed that each side would be allowed one village within the DMZ. The South’s village is very prosperous, with every family farming 17 acres of rice fields and earning around $82,000 a year. Villagers must be born in the village or direct descendants. Men cannot marry into a family, but women can. The Northern city was named “Propaganda Village” by the US because for a long time speakers blasted propaganda at the Southern village, encouraging them to cross over. Of course, the promises are empty because that village is not technically a village at all. As far as the South can tell no one lives in the village and caretakers enter sporadically to tend to the buildings and raise or lower the flag. Propaganda Village features a gigantic flagpole, which has been enlarged over the years to ensure it is always taller than the flag pole in the Southern village. The flag is supposedly the largest flag in the world, weighing around 600 lbs dry

After our excellent tour by the Ranger from California we were dropped off back at Camp Bonifas and boarded our USO buses to drive to lunch. I met an interesting girl from Detroit who was visiting her aunt and we talked over BBQ beef and vegetables. At least the birds flying around inside waited until after we were done eating to shit on us. The tour continued on to the 4th tunnel discovered in South Korea, built by the North. It was incredibly far underground, and luckily discovered with intelligence from a Northern defector. The North went as far as to paint the walls black and claim it was a coal mine and not an infiltration tunnel.

Our last stop on the way back to Seoul was at a newly built train station which is meant to connect the North and South. As with anything built in the hopes of reunification it was sad to see the hopes of Korea waiting for the North to come around. The track has been laid but a practice run of the train scheduled last week was unexplainably cancelled at the last minute by North Korea. Commuter trains run a few times a day to the station, mostly filled with tourists. The pristine sign above the doors to the tracks read “To Pyongyang” in the hopes that someday it will be true.