Dramatic DMZ Adventure

This was my Friday night. I took the high speed rail 3 times that night...because I'm dumb.

The plan was to go to the DMZ on Saturday morning. We had to meet at the army base in Seoul at 7:00 or 7:30, Australia and I weren't sure which because England had planned this. She had found the tour, booked it, and even told us to dress in layers because it'd be cold. She's sort of a motherly figure. We had to go Friday night because the earliest KTX wouldn't get us there in time so we thought we'd go down Friday, have a nice night out getting tacos and whatnot. England had a late class on Friday night so Australia and I went right after work and got there about 9:10. We casually got on the subway, took the right line in the wrong direction, stopped for a taco so we weren't starving while we waited, and then headed to the hostel that England had booked. The owner met us outside as he was heading to get his own dinner. He knew Australia and England from paragliding last weekend. He asked where I was from and said we were a real international group.

Suddenly Australia said, "Did you remember your passport?"

"No."

"Shit. Me neither."

It was about 10:30 and the last KTX to Cheonan is at 11:30 and takes 40 minutes to get there. We're looking at slow train schedules, subways, buses, everything. We were ready to take a taxi from this city to the next, that city to the next, and so on until we got back to Seoul. We didn't want to miss this tour because it'd be a month or two before the next one was open. But everything closed too early and started again too late.

Then the hostel owner saw on his phone the KTX schedule for "tomorrow" which was everything after midnight. He told us, "The last one from Cheonan to Seoul is at 12:3--"

Australia interrupted, "We gotta go now if we're going to make it."

We paid for our rooms because we were sure we'd be back. We ran through the neighborhood to the mini-New York with all the cabs. We flagged one down and went to the KTX station. We booked it through the station, weaving, shoving, wrecking our way to the ticketing counter because Seoul Station is always busy and there's always a protest outside and there's always shopping and people heading here or there. It's a hub for everyone.

We got there in time for the second to last train, but it was full. No first class, no standing room, nothing. So we got first class tickets on the last train back (because that was all that was left) and we had to wait 30 minutes. We got KFC and checked the time constantly. We were planning the journey in our heads. 40 minutes to Cheonan, maybe 3 minutes delay, 5 minutes by cab each way. We'd make it by seconds if it's 12:30 and it goes smoothly. Australia asked "Was it 12:30 or 12:40?" We couldn't remember.

We got back to Cheonan and bought our tickets for the next train before getting a cab just in case they sell out. We ran to the cab stop outside the station but everyone who just got off the train needed a cab too. There must've been 50 people waiting.

But there was another cab stop about 5 minutes on foot away. It was icy and cold but we ran (skidded) anyway. We got within 200 meters and saw a cab with its light on at the stop. We couldn't even check the time because it'd be too damn depressing how little we have.

The cab pulled away.

We waited for maybe three minutes. The ticket said the last train leaves at 12:39, so we had time, but we were waiting for a cab and all of them had passengers or they were headed the wrong way.

We saw one that was going to pass us without stopping so we ran into the street and waved him down.

We wouldn't have time to get another cab back at the apartment. It'd take too long. We had to figure out how, without limited Korean skills, to tell this guy to wait for us while we got our passports. We also had to tell him we weren't running off without paying. We headed to the apartment. There was no real traffic. The roads weren't icy so he went normal speeds. But we only had 10 minutes and it was 5 minutes each way.

And there was a light that would not turn green. Actually it was green, but it wasn't a green arrow so he wouldn't go. There wasn't even anyone that'd hit us or anything!

But we got to the apartment, told him to wait, bounded up the stairs two at a time, got our passports and were down the stairs in 30 seconds. We had 3 minutes to get to the station.

There was no traffic, but he took the long way around the station. It was 12:38, one minute left.

We paid with exact change then took off for the station running across the ice, taking the stairs three at a time, even going up the escalator the same way. We got to the tracks and...

There was no train.

"Fuck," we both said.

Then...

30 seconds later, the train rolled in. We saw the board and it said the train was delayed 3 minutes.

We were so excited! I got out my ticket and Australia went for his but...where is it? This pocket? That? Nowhere! He had dropped it when searching for his keys at the apartment! But they never check tickets so we risked it anyway and got on the train. We were talking about how dumb we were and what if we had bought the tickets after getting back or if we had made it in time for the second to the last train and what if this and what if that and would we have still made it?

And then we thought, well what if we just weren't dumb idiots who forgot their passports.

We got to Seoul Station and had to go to Itaewon where our hostel was. The subways were all closed and the cab stop was busy so we decided to walk to the next cab stop. It was snowing and quiet and nice. But we never saw another cab stop so we walked for an hour to get there.

The DMZ was a lot more interesting than I expected. We crossed a bridge with live explosives attached to its supports in case of tanks. They were friendly explosives, I guess.