As part of the tour we visited a train that was recovered from the DMZ after the ceasefire was declared between the countries - I can't remember exactly how many bullet holes it had in it but it was a complete state.

When you look over the DMZ you can see two flags that of the north and that of the south which designate the settlements of the two sides. People live in the DMZ which I think consists of military personel, support staff and some farmers who get paid quite well as they do occassionally get taken hostage.... although apparently not too recently! Its a unique scene seeing the divide between the countries and because of all the mines it hasn't been developed at all and is really green - I think its recently been designated as a national park because of all the wildlife and plants that grow there!

The military guys that stopped people taking photos they took film off you or made you delete your digital photos if they caught you. I thought it was best not to mess with these guys....

The tour took us to a viewing point looking over the DMZ which was cool but you couldn't take photos past a certain line so this is my zoomed in photo of the viewing point - the mountain line in the background in North Korea!

Part of the tour took us down to the tunnels where North Korea have tried to tunnel to Seoul. We got to wear these cool blue helmets which was lucky because the tunnels were pretty low and I managed to hit my head a couple of times! They told an odd story about when the tunnels were first discovered North Korea claimed they were mining for coal and as it was actually granite to support their story they'd painted the tunnels black to look like coal - it sounds so odd I wasn't sure whether it was propaganda or not and I'm still not sure!

Ok so I'm dressed in smart clothes because I thought I was going into the negotiation area where there's a strict dress code but they were closed for the day - The UN and South Korea were having a chat with North Korea about the submarine that got shot down and the nuclear tests - no idea why they thought I couldn't help out with the negotiations! Here's me at the train station between the two capitals - it used to run between the two but international relations have soured recently and no trains run on this line anymore. There was an underlying feeling from this tour that South Korea wanted to have a better relationship with North Korea and open it up again but politically its complicated and there's such a large amount of propaganda that when I spoke to South Koreans about things like the submarine incident they were frank and said that honestly they didn't know what to believe! One day I hope I'll be able to go back to this station and see it in action...

Got up early and headed on the DMZ (de-militarised zone) tour which is a 4km strip across the length of the country between north and south korea. Its surrounded by barbed wire, sentry towers, its mined, there was a heavy military presence and South Korean civilians aren't allowed in the DMZ - needless to say this was a bit different from your average tour!

Headed up the tallest mountain in Seoul the next day - it was an absolute trek a good 5 hours and when I got to the top they'd closed the peak and it was covered in cloud but this is where I was headed! Awesome trek there's very few signposts you just keep heading up!

Given the afternoon to myself I headed up a mountain looking over the city in search of some city walls - not quite the great wall of china but from up here you could get some idea of just how huge Seoul is.

The next day we headed to Seoul station to drop AB off on his trip back to Seoul and meet up with a friend of his - so I confidently strode off and got completely lost only to find AB's friend again who told me where to go otherwise I'd still be standing down in the tube station!

We had some Soju and headed out to a club called Via in Seoul where some DJ friends of AB had sets - crazy dancing ensued! we stopped of for some 'rcie champagne' called makala which tastes fairly horrible but has a real kick to it!

The Korean BBQ! awesome little places across Korea where you can cook your own meat its so tender and tastes amazing I want to bring these places back to the UK - look at the concentration!

Me with the Korean police - there's national conscription in Sotuh Korea which you can either do in the army or you can apply to be a policeman on rollerskates in a jazzy red suit... think I know which I'd go for!

More korean palace scenes!

With AB as photographer and an slight obsession with angled photos we headed round Seoul to see the sights.

Next day we headed into Seoul to explore, go shopping and sample some of the local food then headed to Nanta a comedy show based in a Kitchen. What AB didn't tell me was that they made people go up on stage and he stuck me on the end of a row...... so I got chosed to go up on stage! I got dressed up for my 'wedding', fake clubbed over the head with a rolling pin, had to try some soup then finally got married to a japanese girl that got picked to come up on stage too! great show really fun.

We went for a wonder round Seoul which literally never sleeps - this was one of the huge multi storey stores which were still open at 4am!

My first Koreans! Nice guys sat next to us at the night market so while sampling the local street food and my first taste of Soju, the Korean national drink, which is a hideously strong spirit drunk straight with dinner we chatted to them and they insisted I hadf a picture with the first koreans I'd spoken to.

Seoul the capital of South Korea! AB came and met me at the airport and we headed into town to check in and grab some food at the local night market, the oldest in Korea.

Me with my hire bike cycling down the river from the forbidden city back to my hostel in Beijing to jump on a plane to South Korea!

Me chilling out in front of the forbidden city.

The longest corridor in the world, from memory it was a couple of miles long, which everyone could walk along except for when they were blocked by tourists taking pictures of themselves...

The forbidden city! We cycled about 10k to get there and then went round with an audio guide telling us all about these really impressive buildings and heres me in front of the drum tower.

Back on the blog after 2 months! so back in Beijing the morning after the great wall and me and my american friend hired bikes and braved the roads of Beijing to head to the forbidden city - stopping on route to join in the back of this tai chi class which happens in every single park across china just a shame we didn't have the white suits as well!