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Showing posts from August, 2015

Jeju Island

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Jejudo (제주도) or Jeju Island is South Korea's biggest and most famous island. It is home to a plethora of famous places to see and do, but is most famous for it's mouthain: Hallasan (한라산). It is Korea's tallest mountain, at 1,950m, and is actually a volcano. Many of the island's typical souveniers and popular tourist spots have to do with the abundance of volcanic rock. We spent 5 days and 4 nights on the island. The first two of which we spent at the large southern city of Seogwipo (서귀포). This area is famous for the bay, the longest walking bridge in Korea, 3 beautiful waterfalls, and a huge botanical garden. We started our first day by hiking aimlessly around in search for a way to reach the waterfall and ended up discovering some great views. The first waterfall we saw was Cheonjiyeon Falls (천지연 폭포). The following day, we continued our walk around the city of Seogwipo in search of the 2nd waterfall which is locaed on the cliff covered coast. Aft

The DMZ

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For the start of our summer vacation, a few friends and I booked a tour to go and see the DMZ (Korean Demilitarized Zone) on the northern border of Korea. The tour left from Seoul early one Saturday morning and took us for a two hour bus ride to the JSA (Joint Security Area). To quote some information from wikipedia : "It was created as part of the Korean Armistice Agreement between North Korea, the People's Republic of China, and the Unitied Nations Command forces in 1953. It is 250 kilometres (160 miles) long, approximately 4 km (2.5 mi) wide and, despite its name, is the most heavily militarized border in the world." The beginning of the tour started with an in-depth powerpoint presentation about the history of the war between North and South Korea, the agreements and terms of the DMZ, different events that have happened inside since its creation, and the current state of these countries. The presentation was very informative and inspiring to conduct further