An Unforgettable Trip To North Korea Border & DMZ - Korean Demilitarized Zone / Strict Filming Rules
Trip to the DMZ
Transcript
0:03
Welcome everyone. Adam the Woo here as
0:03
the recording of is Thursday, April
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10th, 2025 about 900 a.m. in Soul, South
0:10
Korea time, which is drastically
0:12
different than what I'm used to in my
0:15
home state of Florida celebration and
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where I was on my layover at LAX for a
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day or
0:24
so. Still a little jet-lagged, not used
0:28
to the time. It's going to take me a
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couple days to get on board with that.
0:31
But today I am heading to the
0:33
DMZ, which is the Korean demilitarized
0:38
zone. I'm doing a tour leaves in about
0:41
2530 minutes. I'm inviting you to join
0:49
me, shall
0:52
you? Fascinating thing is it is 8:00
0:56
p.m. in Florida right now. the night
0:58
before this. So, I'm way ahead. It's
1:01
only 8:00 p.m. in Central Florida, 5:00
1:05
p.m. in LA. The night before, I've time
1:09
traveled. It's hard to wrap your head
1:11
around. So, the DMZ is short for the
1:14
Korean Demilitarized Zone, which is a
1:18
stretch of land, I believe two, two and
1:19
a half, three
1:21
miles. That's a buffer between South
1:24
Korea, where I am, and North Korea. At
1:26
some point, I got to go up in that tower
1:28
there. I'm here for a while. And
1:32
evidently, you have to do a tour in
1:34
order to get to these
1:36
spots. And they're probably spots I
1:38
would not want to go on unless I was on
1:41
a tour. So, that's why I'm doing the
1:42
tour. Tour starts at 10:00, but they're
1:44
picking me up here in front of the Hotel
1:47
Sky Park in the 7-Eleven at 9:30. Said
1:50
to be here 5 minutes early. So, I'm here
1:53
5 minutes. I'm actually here about 20
1:55
minutes early.
2:00
be with a group. All right, this is the
2:00
bus. I just met my guide. Moon is her
2:03
name. It's going to be an English-
2:06
speakaking
2:07
tour. And I believe the cost of it was
2:10
$55 US. I don't know. Don't know what
2:12
that translates cuz I purchased it
2:19
online. Going to be departing very soon.
2:19
Getting on this big bus. Also, I know I
2:21
was kind of doing a quick little browse
2:24
of the internet about certain areas in
2:26
the area that we're going to. I don't
2:28
think I think some parts photography
2:31
might not be allowed or video might not
2:33
be allowed, but I'll film everything I
2:35
can till the guide says put the camera
2:37
down if you can't film this. We'll just
2:40
see where it goes. My name is Moon. Just
2:42
like the moon for ease to remember,
2:44
right?
2:50
So, my name is Moon. Okay. So, please
2:50
remember my name, my face. It is
2:54
called Oh, very
2:57
nice. Oh, you're very
3:00
nice. Oh, so when I say one, two, three,
3:03
let's try to see each other. If look at
3:05
the behind each other, recognize each
3:07
other. Be friends with all moon markers.
3:10
Okay. So, three times.
3:12
Okay. One, two, three.
3:19
Look at the behind this world. One more
3:19
time. Okay guys, don't be shy. I told
3:21
you one more time. One, two,
3:27
three. That's good guys. Just be
3:27
friends, right? So markers is always the
3:29
best markers around the world. Okay, you
3:31
will meet other markers keep coming and
3:34
coming. So anyway, so I want to say
3:36
thank you for your cooperation. So now I
3:38
have a three pro to you. This
3:39
influencing Korean peninsula. So this
3:41
started during the Korean war happened
3:42
North Korea against the South Korea. So
3:44
border million soldiers from China they
3:46
dispatch soldiers in North Korea.
3:48
Another word begot. They were coming
3:49
down. They coming down. They kept the
3:51
border. They captured this again. Do you
3:53
know how many times her was capted
3:55
during the Korea war? Any idea?
3:59
Oh, what's your name?
4:02
I have a gift for you. Wait for a
4:03
second. Wow, that's very nice. Very well
4:06
educated worker. This I'm going to give
4:09
you as a present. So this is the apple
4:12
apert juice that was grown in the DMZ.
4:14
The DMZ area is actually very uh solid
4:17
condition very nicely and the chemical
4:19
only remember about about their young
4:22
age was being hungry. The the only thing
4:24
they remember was being hungry because
4:26
there was nothing to eat because you are
4:27
the second poorest in the world. So they
4:29
are so poor. So that's why they have to
4:31
work very hard. That's why our
4:33
grandmother and parent generation they
4:35
are so proud to see this economic growth
4:37
because there's no such country in the
4:39
world is a developers in 50 years like
4:41
this. South Korea Korea we are enemy
4:43
nothing is possible to go to North Korea
4:45
to come to Korea of course impossible.
4:46
So actually uh a lot of people ask me
4:49
have you been to North Korea? I can
4:50
never go to North Korea. Actually last
4:52
year I went to China the city called
4:54
Tandong city. Tandong city is pretty
4:56
famous for the North Korean def
4:57
factories to be hidden. So, I literally
4:59
went to Tandong City to see North Korea
5:02
because when you go to China, uh, North
5:05
Korea is a lot closer because there's no
5:06
DMZ, right? So, I went to Tandong City
5:09
and there was a North Korean restaurant
5:11
that was owned by Northkin government. I
5:13
went there to have dinner. So, I went
5:15
there and they asked me, are you from
5:17
South Korea? I was proudly said that, oh
5:19
yeah, I'm from South Korea. And they
5:21
right away they were they kicked out us.
5:24
I was kicked out right away because
5:26
because I'm South Korean. I was kicked
5:27
out because they literally say that we
5:29
don't want any South Korean bastard. I
5:31
was very very sad and I went to another
5:33
restaurant that was owned by Loris
5:35
Camper. Privately I was welcome. We
5:38
talked to each other. We exactly speak
5:40
the same language, same style of their
5:42
way and also as soon as they showed me
5:45
such a beautiful smile, I happened to
5:48
cry because just we are basically the
5:50
same that we are just divided as a
5:51
different ideology. It makes me feel so
5:54
weird that time. Very, very emotional.
5:55
All right, I got my lanyard. She said
5:57
make sure you have the lanyard on at all
5:59
times. There's two places I can't film.
6:01
That's in the tunnels and on the
6:04
observatory. And evidently, something
6:07
happened recently where we're not
6:08
allowed to go to the third floor of the
6:13
observatory. Those are the two places.
6:15
She said everywhere you're allowed to
6:17
film and take photos unless she just
6:19
lets us know. but not on the third floor
6:21
of the observatory. We're no longer
6:23
allowed to go and no pictures or photos
6:26
or videos in the tunnel. But I guess
6:28
everything else is okay.
6:59
How about the
7:02
other? No, no, no,
7:05
no. Okay, follow me.
7:27
There's a lot of tour buses. Holy cow.
7:52
Yeah. We can go further. This is the end
7:52
of 320 km away. So it's quite far over
7:56
there in the left side. Can you see the
7:58
table? Table. So this table how we use
8:02
it like this. Can you see the table with
8:04
the people with the food and then
8:05
putting some food like bowing that one?
8:08
So that's the manga. So manga means to
8:10
have a ancestor ceremony. In Korea we
8:13
have a two biggest
8:14
holiday screaming wounded and the day
8:17
survivors were and
8:30
ugly symbolic because that means the
8:30
connection with the sauce. We had a lot
8:33
of tours to make connection together for
8:36
better relationship. But just in one
8:38
second they desperate everything
8:39
related. It really makes me upset to
8:41
decide whether you want to get it or not
8:43
because I they ask me instead of real
8:45
money I study. I also got the money from
8:47
here. I think if the unification ever
8:50
happens maybe this
8:53
kind. So when you actually go inside
8:56
actually remember when you actually get
8:58
a North Korean money you can only get
8:59
the North Korean money from the market
9:01
officially you cannot get it because all
9:03
North so san means politically
9:05
economically you can have any
9:07
interaction with other country. So
9:08
evidently this is the only place in
9:10
South Korea where you can get North
9:12
Korean
9:13
currency. So I'm going to get some just
9:15
to take home with me.
9:25
All right, I got North Korean currency
9:25
here. It's a little inflated, but yeah,
9:28
figure why not, right? Get it from
9:30
inside this little
9:33
spot. And somewhere to add to my South
9:35
Korean currency,
9:37
obviously. But now I got some North
9:39
Korean. The guide on the bus was really
9:41
telling emotional story about her father
9:44
and her grandmother. Her
9:46
grandmother was living during
9:50
the war 70 years ago I
9:52
believe she said 70 years ago is when
9:55
they have the split and they can't
9:59
even they don't even know what happened
10:01
a lot of them don't even know what
10:02
happened to their family members that
10:03
are now on the north side versus the
10:05
south
10:06
side about 45 minutes from this point to
10:09
get back to the bus to go to the next
10:11
stop there is a gondola ride which I do
10:13
not think was included in my ticket but
10:15
that would probably take a good portion
10:16
of it there is a lot to
10:23
Got the Korean flags there. Got the US
10:23
flags as well. Here's Harry S.
10:25
Truman, 33 33rd president of the
10:29
US. A tribute to the late Harry S.
10:32
Truman of the United States whose
10:33
decision to cause the freedom of
10:35
peaceful resulted in the dispatch of
10:37
Allied troops to the Republic of Korea.
10:47
And that is the peace train over there.
10:47
There's also the iron horse. I'll get a
10:49
closer look. The iron horse over there.
10:52
But then there's also the peace train
10:53
behind this
11:00
sculpture. One thing I've noticed about
11:00
South Korea is a lack of trash cans.
11:03
There's not a lot of trash cans. So when
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you have like I have my coffee cup from
11:06
earlier, still looking for a place to
11:07
discard it. They're not as prominent as
11:10
I am used to trash cans in the in the
11:13
US. There are trash cans, but they're
11:15
definitely few and far between here.
11:16
That's one thing I've noticed. This
11:18
one's definitely open and everyone's
11:20
taking photos. So, maybe this is a spot
11:21
you could take
11:23
photos. There's the gondola over there.
11:26
Goes across a
11:38
Here's the bridge, the railroad
11:38
bridge. And that wooden bridge, I
11:40
believe, is now closed off, she was
11:41
saying. I'm going to walk down
11:45
there. There's more
11:47
people looking off in the distance. And
11:50
then down
11:51
here, here's the fence.
12:12
means means ba means alter. That place
12:12
was set up for the dispersed family
12:15
during the national holiday. New year,
12:18
Luna New Year, Korea Thanksgiving Day.
12:20
You can send a postcard
12:22
or this is a mailbox of unification
12:28
urining.
12:36
She was also saying there's a gift shop
12:36
over here, but she said there's other
12:38
places we'll be able to buy buy things
12:40
as well.
12:55
I feel like I should probably go ahead
12:55
and get one anyway. This is a magnet.
12:59
the DMZ.
13:02
I'll get that anyway cuz I'm just just
13:04
in case.
13:23
And it's literally an area joint
13:23
security area. It was open to the public
13:27
but it's closed since 2023 and DMZ GSC
13:31
is a completely
13:32
different and there was one of the
13:35
United States soldier called Travis Kate
13:37
he was a soldier in South Korea he had a
13:39
lot of trouble in South Korea such as he
13:41
had a lot of fault and he kicked the
13:43
police car so he had to pay a lot of
13:45
penalties no longer able to go over to
13:47
the states again but before that he
13:49
booked the JSC tour and he was having a
13:52
tour like ours last suddenly he sprinted
13:54
the military ary demarcation line
13:55
crossed the line went to North Korea. He
13:58
was in North Korea for 2 months. He got
14:00
deported to China and he came back to
14:02
South Korea and he was sent back to the
14:04
states and
14:06
and from 1953 we made the anti-communist
14:10
party and communist party.
14:15
Are you ready?
14:48
who also class will ask hey Alex if we
14:48
cross this wire fence is
14:51
I will say no. Then what is this
14:53
broadcast? This is civilian access
14:57
control line. As I mentioned, if this is
14:59
the military demarcation line 2 km to
15:02
the south, southern limited line, this 2
15:05
km South Korea DMZ, it's very dangerous.
15:08
A lot of landmines, military facilities.
15:11
So to protect from this area for the
15:14
civilians, we made civilian access
15:17
control. This is the statue of peace
15:19
towards the reunification of
15:22
Korea. You can see they have some
15:25
knitted shoes
15:38
One of them expresses the aspiration of
15:38
those who were not able to return home
15:41
in the north due to the natural division
15:43
in which to go home after they their
15:46
reunification. Again, not a lot of trash
15:48
cans still carrying this cup
15:55
around. Not just on this property, but
15:55
I'm just noticing walking around the
15:57
area I'm staying at in
16:03
Seoul. Few and far between on the trash
16:03
can. This is the peace bell.
16:37
Oh, here we go. Here we go. Not plastic,
16:37
not canned. This would be considered
16:40
trash. Those are the first ones I found.
16:42
I've been walking around a while. Some
16:43
of the sites, a few of these I got to
16:45
see. I didn't see these these little
16:47
sculptures here. Didn't see where that
16:49
was. There's a bunch of photos someone
16:52
else has taken and put on display here.
16:54
There's the bridge right there. Saw
16:57
that. There's the
16:58
train. There's the
17:01
little pigota. Is that what that's
17:03
called? Here's a layout of the land or
17:05
the area I'm specifically
17:08
in. This says shelter on it right here.
17:11
And then up top, look at those big
17:14
speakers right there. This says
17:17
shelter. And there's a little door you
17:19
can go inside there to protect yourself,
17:22
I guess, to get from the shelter.
17:24
There's another one over there as well.
17:27
This next spot we're going, we need our
17:28
passport. You need Thank you. Taco.
17:32
Thank you. Together.
17:40
Got to bring the passport with you.
17:40
Good. Finally, we are heading to the
17:42
tour. Okay. So, first, can you please
17:45
check out your passport because now the
17:47
Korean storage will get on the bus. He
17:49
will check your passport individually
17:51
with the name that you wrote down. So,
17:53
please guys, everyone, I'm going to give
17:55
this paper back. You wrote down your
17:56
name here, right? On the left side of
17:58
your name, there is the number. could
18:00
you please check your number because
18:02
soldier will check your name but this so
18:04
confusing so just say hello my number is
18:07
four and he can find your name right
18:09
away to check your name so we can be
18:11
checked by soldiers easily and quicker
18:13
not even Korean South Korea is a whole
18:16
peninsula this is the best so condition
18:18
so our government didn't want to waste
18:20
the land they decided to utilize it so
18:22
people live inside cultivate rice cheese
18:25
and so it this is the rice bridge you
18:28
know it's going to be soon There you
18:30
there will be lots of farmers to be
18:32
doing their agric thing and there's a
18:34
chinsen bridge on your right side. But
18:35
do you know what chinsen? You know
18:37
chinsen right? Do you know what chinseng
18:39
by the way? Jin jinseng. Yeah. Every
18:44
time I say jinseng they don't
18:45
understand. But when I say jinseng oh
18:46
jinseng what is the differences anyway?
18:49
Right. It is really interesting. They're
18:50
pumping music. It go travels 40 miles
18:53
over into North
18:54
Korea and there's a whole viewing area
18:57
and all that. Again, once you're in the
18:59
building looking down, there are strict
19:01
photos. And the guide said when we came
19:03
through the checkpoint, an armed guard
19:05
came on, checked all our passports,
19:07
said, "Do not film them. Do not film
19:10
looking into the north." So, where we
19:12
were was like another mile or two that
19:13
way. So, we now we're the closest we can
19:15
look down from an aerial view from a
19:17
mountaintop. If I was looking that way,
19:19
went into this building and looked down,
19:21
you would see all of North Korea. And
19:24
they give you tell they give you uh you
19:25
know binoculars and things but they
19:27
can't show any of it. So you just have
19:28
to look to the south not the
19:31
north. All right. Gonna walk back down
19:33
and go back to the van. I mean they were
19:35
very very stringent about going in
19:37
there. Once once you're in there just
19:38
signs everywhere.
19:40
So back to the van and hopefully be able
19:42
to show some other stuff. So Moon just
19:44
said that this is you're allowed to take
19:46
photos of this.
19:51
I was kind of wondering, but now that
19:51
we're not over at the observatory
19:55
anymore, God said that this is allowed.
19:58
The end of separation, the beginning of
20:02
unification. You can hear them pumping
20:04
the sounds out. I saw a lot of people
20:06
here taking pictures of this. I thought,
20:08
wonder if that's allowed. And she just
20:10
said it's okay. This is Look at this.
20:13
This is incredible.
20:31
So, the observatory is definitely the
20:31
one that's completely off
20:39
limits. Whatever this building was is
20:39
not in use anymore. We heading to the
20:41
tunnel, but the thing is this tunnel is
20:43
so deep from the surface. You have no
20:45
idea how deep it is. about 25 stories of
20:48
the bridging heights. Are you ready?
20:50
Going down. Okay. Going up. Nobody talks
20:52
this way. Okay. So guys, here is the uh
20:55
tunnel. But first, we are going to watch
20:57
your video. And this video is about 8
21:00
minute documentaries.
21:01
Okay. So, first guys, 2:15 to the bus.
21:05
But first, follow me. I know you uh so
21:08
even if you don't want to go down the
21:11
just follow me.
21:27
the third tunnel.
21:40
film inside the tunnel.
21:40
I believe she said that that is not
21:43
allowed inside the tunnel. About to
21:44
watch a 8minute
21:46
film before going into the tunnels.
22:04
All right, takeaway from that is I
22:06
learned that there are four tunnels that
22:08
have been discovered. So there's
22:10
possibly a lot
22:12
more. First one was found in
22:15
1974. Next one was in 75. I think the
22:19
last one was in 1990. I'm not sure when
22:21
the third one was, but this is the one
22:22
we're going through. Location. We only
22:24
prepared to discover the tunn. So what
22:26
we did is so this is where we are under
22:28
the ground. We built the pipes. are very
22:30
very very strict on filming in the
22:32
tunnel for whatever reason. In fact, you
22:34
have to lock up everything. Any kind of
22:37
phone, any kind of camera, you have to
22:39
put it in a locker and then they check
22:41
everyone as you're going in.
22:50
This is part of the photo zone.
22:57
Oh, he can even put a little hat on
22:58
here.
23:03
The lockers here. You put your stuff in
23:03
the
23:04
locker. There is enough
23:06
evidence that this tunnel is intended
23:08
for invasion of the south. Sloped
23:11
approximately 3° to the north. Causes
23:13
water to drain to the north. Movie that
23:16
they were playing, they were saying over
23:17
in the DMZ there are so there's so much
23:19
animal life because there's no there's
23:21
no human interaction and there's no
23:23
humans to disturb the animals. So,
23:24
there's just so much nature over in the
23:27
actual DMZ. The tunnel goes underneath
23:29
this. Some uh totem poles
23:32
here. And over here,
23:35
couple little
23:37
sculptures. The DMZ
23:41
guards. Oh, and then over here, here's
23:43
some of the wildlife. This little water
23:45
fountain
23:47
here. Oh, there's a water fountain. Look
23:49
at
23:50
that. Doesn't work anymore.
23:58
Look at this. This has a Montreal up
23:58
here. DMZ Montreal. Doesn't appear to be
24:01
running,
24:24
What is
24:24
this? And where does this
24:27
go? Oh, wow. Look, it goes through that
24:30
door. This is not working at the moment,
24:34
but yeah, it must start here and go into
24:47
mountain. No boarding the Montreal if
24:47
mental and physically unfit. those who
24:49
objectively judge to
24:57
be. It goes right through there. It's
24:57
not working though, man. That'd be cool,
24:59
right? No. It' be all over that like
25:02
flies on dunk. Nice little breeze out
25:05
here. Got the
25:07
flags waving in the
25:11
breeze. It's been a It's been a good
25:13
day. It's wild. So, the overlook was way
25:15
up there where they blasted the music.
25:16
You could faintly, well, not even
25:18
faintly, you could hear it all the way
25:19
down here cuz it would be going that way
25:22
or no, it would be going I'm losing my
25:24
bearings. Either way, you could hear the
25:25
music coming from the like the the tower
25:27
up there. Look at the house. It's very
25:29
interesting. Uh there's no gate outside.
25:32
No house has the gate because no one can
25:35
come. No one no here, you know. No one
25:38
can come here anyway, right? So no
25:40
formation. So that's why there is open
25:42
each
25:43
other. And then uh yeah so no gate
25:47
outside because no one can come also in
25:49
the left side you're going to
25:55
see in the left side there is the
25:55
element skirt. So this is a state 11
25:58
students goes this square but when they
26:00
become this high school university they
26:02
have to be outside of the town they have
26:04
to take a shutter bus but you know
26:05
there's no koke no entertainment no no
26:08
bar you know it's kind of boring for us
26:10
to live in so older generations they
26:12
live here people who are retired here
26:15
and here's the community center the
26:16
governor work and in the left side
26:18
that's the old banka just in case of a
26:21
Korean war they used to hide here but
26:23
not anymore the new bunker is actually
26:25
from the observatory do you limit
26:26
Remember I said three months ago uh the
26:28
North Korea explode the road. I was on a
26:31
tour right away. We were kicked out. We
26:33
were on a tour. We were kicked out. The
26:34
people who are living here they were
26:36
asked to evacuate to the observatory. So
26:38
this area is very very sensitive too.
26:40
But they seems to be very content living
26:43
here because they make a lot of money.
26:44
You know some people they say they look
26:46
so poor. How so small? They are pretty
26:48
rich. Actually they're a lot richer than
26:50
average people in Korea. Our average
26:52
income is about $40,000 and they make
26:54
about $70 to $80, $80,000. So it's
26:57
they're pretty happy. First people who
27:00
started down here, they were disturers
27:02
who were actually who got the free land.
27:04
But now if you want to live here, you
27:06
have to get the uh permission. You also
27:08
have to buy the properties here. So but
27:11
seems like they are not really welcome
27:13
the people from outside. Apparently is
27:16
the richest man in this town. And also
27:18
they are trained to use a gun. Do you
27:21
know how to use the gun? Do you know
27:23
kabage village in Israel? The kibbage
27:25
village they are trained to use the gun
27:27
so they can protect themselves. So they
27:29
are the either farmers and the soldiers
27:30
as well. Interesting part. Okay. So
27:33
that's the end of the unification
27:34
village. Oh, I forgot to also mention do
27:37
you know Olivang in Korea the heaven for
27:39
the cosmetic store. There's a little
27:41
Olivian part. There is a cosmetic store
27:43
but not from unification release. Same
27:45
product from the Korean brand but the
27:48
price is a PX price army base price.
27:51
cheaper. So you can buy a lot cheaper
27:53
than our two. You can find a lot of
27:54
stuff. But if you guys want to give a
27:56
really good present for your wife, your
27:58
girlfriend or so for yourself, I
28:00
recommended to one maybe get a two one.
28:02
Okay? Because I'm using it too. Uh uh
28:05
because at first I didn't use it. But a
28:07
lot of moon cards gave me a feedback.
28:08
Moon, I really like it. I want to use it
28:10
more. Can you buy it for me? And since
28:12
then I started using it. Also, I'm
28:13
pretty satisfied. Why I'm recommending?
28:15
Because this one price a lot cheaper
28:17
than uh online 70% cheaper. I found it.
28:21
So what to get it? If you want to get
28:22
it, there is a snake cream. The not the
28:25
snake snail.
29:26
tells me they always
29:26
choose. So that's why
29:59
Multivitamin confidence. That's
29:59
interesting.
30:19
Evidently, there was a time when you
30:19
could go to this
30:21
spot, but something happened few years
30:24
ago that they no longer take the tours
30:26
down to this. This is where the line is
30:29
right
30:38
there. Let me get some DMZ apple juice.
30:42
$5.
30:59
Pretty
30:59
good. It's apple juice.
31:11
Tasty apple
31:11
juice. I think we're going to start
31:13
heading back now. I think that this
31:14
might be the last stop. About an hour
31:16
commute back to the drop off
31:19
point into
31:21
Soul. Look at
31:24
this this building here. And there's a
31:27
little satellite dish right up there.
31:30
Little one. I don't even know if that's
31:31
even in use anymore. pinpoint the photo,
31:33
how to get it from me, all everything
31:35
information. 5 minutes only, you will
31:37
get a good nap. Okay, please don't fall
31:39
asleep yet. Okay, thank you guys.
31:42
Show the passport on the way back in.
31:46
Put on the Wi-Fi if you guys want to use
31:48
the Wi-Fi.
32:34
now. That's going to do it for
32:34
today. I did it.
32:37
I went to the DMV.
32:42
Thanks for watching. I'll see you in the
32:42
next video. What is
32:54
this? Thanks for
32:54
watching. The
32:56
vlog is over.