HERB ISLAND, THE BULLET HOUSE, AND KOREAN DINNER

yesterday was busy.. full day! first we went to herb island, Located in Pocheon, Herb Island grows mediterranean herbs, both indoor gardens and outdoor gardens…huge gardens, and lots of beautiful flowers and plants and trees, filled with trees with all different colored lights, like a botanical garden…over the top!
james, eliza & shel sitting on a swing,kiss ing…not really:)you have to sing that!

this is near where james rode inside the big bubble, when they first got here

the bakery that had really really good garlic bread with a touch of sweet to it

getting candy from her admirers

our tour guide

i took a long movie walking through the gardens,

then we headed to the “bullet house” up near the north korean border,(that’s what the guys up here call it) i don’t even know how to explain the feeling that came over me walking up to this building, pretty intense …shel said this building used to be north korea’s, until after the war…. there were people brainwashed, tortured and killed here

as we were walking up to it, james was going into the little shop near it, he asked if i wanted something to drink? and i said “yea, a beer” not really even thinking they had beer, and he comes walking out with 2 beers!!! refreshing on a hot day:)… he said he hasn’t come up here… without having a beer

the stairs going up were crumbled, they said that was where the sherman tanks went right up the stairs! i think shel has some pics of that

the sign explaining what happened here:

The House of the Labor Party, Gwanjeon-ri, Cheorwon-eup, Cheorwon-gun, Gangwon-do. This imposing three-story building was built by the North Koreans before the Korean War, when Cheorwon was under their control. It was gutted during the war, but the walls remain.
here you can see the support beams they have installed to keep it from falling

Now it’s south of the DMZ
it was constructed in Soviet style using Soviet building techniques, this concrete edifice was erected in 1946 to serve, as the name would suggest, as the regional headquarters of the KWP. The KWP, of course, is North Korea’s ruling party, and the Cheorwon area — located as it is north of the 38th parallel — originally fell under North Korean administration. Then came the Korean War, and when the armistice ending the fighting was finally signed in 1953, South Korean/UN forces controlled Cheorwon…after some brutal fighting in the so-called “Iron Triangle.”
after todays trip up to the north korean border area, this is one of the gates in south korea, heading into north korea

i felt like i saw a part of korea, i didn’t think i’d ever see… james bought tickets for us to go back on friday and take a tour of the dmz. on our way up there, we met a convoy of the south korean army, big tanks driving down the road, i got a movie of it, we will have to show when we get home.

this is a pic of a rockdrop.. i’ll explain in another post… about rockdrops

here, eliza was pointing out the window, over the mountains we were riding close to, is north korea… eliza was ponting out north korea for us!

then out to dinner at a korean restuarant, we went with with tori and jason. the guys cooked our meat in front of us and we sat on the floor and had a bunch of bowls filled with korean stuff:) tried kimchi, didn’t like it, the pork and steak was delicious, ate everything in lettuce leaves that we put the stuff in and wrapped it up…everyone ate with chop sticks, i tried and gave up and ate with a fork! tori got a pic on her phone, no camera’s tonight… maybe another time.

felt good to be back “home”