Bride of Sidewinder

We arranged to visit the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) in Korea. Since we had such an early wake-up call (4:45 am), we had not planned to spend the previous night partying. We simply went downstairs to the famously hip "WooBar" at the W Seoul to have a few drinks. When Keith & I returned to our room, we discovered we still had unfettered internet access (no firewall=phone calls for free!) It was 4:15 am when we went to bed.

Even with a half-hour of sleep, the DMZ was too beguiling to blow off, so: on with our warm clothes, into a cab, and onward to the USO office in Seoul. Boarding the military bus in 40 degree weather was enough to keep us awake. We napped through part of the ride there and were rewarded with hours of faux danger as we peered into North Korean territory.

The North Korean soldiers were intimidating. We understood we were to be careful making any hand gestures-- pointing could be construed as "American tourists condemning North Korea", laughing or smiling meant "the American tourists support North Korea's honorable mission" etc. We were told stories of the North Korean government using candid photos of DMZ tourists for their propaganda machine. I wondered if having continuously adjusted my sunglasses on my nose constituted a North Korean "salute"; perhaps I'll see my photo on "Drudge Report" sometime soon.

The next morning, as I awoke, I had a horrible sore throat and plenty of congestion. It was my turn to fall ill. Loaded up on decongestants and cold medicine I trooped on, meeting up with two of our South Korean friends for lunch. The very next day we had 16 hours of transport time getting to Mumbai. Let's just say it was an unpleasant flight. (I ate chicken in Hong Kong, but I certainly didn't play with them!) I thought bird flu was a very unlikely diagnosis, and thankfully didn't get tagged by immigration.

The next day was spent in bed, feverish in Mumbai, watching CSI: NY re-runs and ordering room-service. Keith procured a much-needed bottle of codeine cough syrup (Indian pharmacies actually do deliveries-- and the bottle cost less than US $2). I didn't think Inida would kick my a** so early in the trip!