DMZ, South Korea, Part 1 of 3 - 4/7/12

I was so excited to take this tour and the day did not disappoint. Accompanying our tour guide was a North Korean defector who shared many of her stories throughout the store. The most amusing was an accent discussion between the two of them. The North Korean said she can understand South Koreans but they have trouble understanding her. Our tour guide said that North Koreans have "thick" accents. I completely get this as I usually need a translator when I am in the deep south :-) 

The first stop of the tour was Dora Observatory. We reached a checkpoint and a South Korean soldier hopped on the tour bus to check everyone's passport.

Passing through the checkpoint ~ 

As we arrived at the observatory, we were told by our tour guide to absolutely follow the photography regulations or our cameras would be confiscated. Alrighty then. Here is the crazy rule: no photos taken from the edge of the deck. There was a line drawn about 15 or 20 feet back and photos were permitted only behind that line. So here's how far back we had to be in order to point a camera (see the woman on the right with a soldier eyeing her, and she's in front of the line).

Here's a few more pics of the deck & binoculars available.

There was maybe some stealth shooting going on but I didn't dare with watchful eyes everywhere.

But this photo is my favorite - 20 feet back holding the camera up as high as I could with the zoom magnified to its limit. You're looking at Propaganda Village/aka Peace Village in North Korea. Even if you're too young to remember there was a 3 year "war" here and you're not familiar with the movie or TV show, M.A.S.H., this was an incredible place to be.

 

Hong Kong Island Day Tour, Part 3 - Stanley Market - 4/3/12

As on every guided tour everywhere, there is the requisite retail stop. I have no idea what the financial arrangements are between tour companies and retail operations but this afternoon we were treated to another jewelry store. It ended up being interesting because I had a nice conversation with a clerk (wanting to practice his English) about the store caricatures, and also snagged some photos of our tour guide and a fellow tourist.

 Patiently waiting...

 Two cell phones...

Our final stop was Stanley Market, which was a fascinating place. I bought two sketches from a local artist, walked to the waterfront and back, and waited for the bus back to Kowloon. Tomorrow morning we head for Seoul.