NORTH KOREA (June 14-15 2008):
Brad and I did an organised tour with a company called Adventure Korea. All foreigners. Two bus loads full. We left Seoul by bus on Friday night and drove to the East coast, to Hwanjinpo beach where we watched the sunrise (nothing special, it was cold and rainy) and had breakfast. So I touched the Sea of Japan--er I mean East Sea. We got our "passports" sorted out at the Hwajinpo rest area along with at least 30 other buses of Korean tourists then went north a bit to the Goseong Inter-Korean Transit Office to go through security and stuff. Once through we had to get on our assigned bus and the huge bus convoy (like I said, 30 or so) drove out in assigned numerical order. We couldn't take pictures on the bus from this point onwards because we drove through a military area on the South side and we just aren't allowed to take clandestine photos from buses at all in the North.
We drove through the militarized zone on through to the demilitarized zone, being waved farewell by a couple soldiers. The DMZ was nocitably demilitarized. The coastline within 10km I guess of the DMZ on both coasts is lined with hard core barbed wire and some guard posts. The DMZ was disturbingly quiet and clear of any development save for the road and a railroad. I read in my guide book that the lack of human activity in the DMZ has created an accidental nature preserve, better kept than many in the world. They hope that when/if Korea reunites it will continue to be preserved. The DMZ if you didn't know is the no-man's-land between the North and South; it technically belongs to neither though there are some special farming villages within it, and Panmunjom is a town in it as well and these are under South Korean jurisdiction I think.
The crossing into DPRK was unceremonial and unmarked except for the guards at the road block and the occasional soldier standing at intervals along the railroad or in guardboxes at small intersections, each holding a small red flag which they wave to let you know to stop whatever you're doing and frig off. While the South Korean Inter-Korean Transit Office was new, modern and huge the North Korean version was four small hardshacks each with an x-ray scanner with its computer, metal detector and desk, all under essentially a big sort of tarp tent. Port-a-potties outside. Blasting over and over was this catchy, boppy, synth-y, drum machine-y, happy song which we found out later had something to do with reunification and togetherness. We had to go through security in order of bus number and within the buses each person was assigned a number as well. We didn't even show them our proper passports, we had these special cards with our photo, name, nationality, place of work, occupation, that kind of stuff. They stamped that (unfortunately no stamp for our proper passports except the South Korean "departed" and "entered" stamps from Goseong). Our guides kept reminding us that we had to take care of our "passports" because there was a fine if they were damaged. But we were also supposed to wear them all the time. One guy from our group damaged his somehow, like a little rip or water damage or something and apparently on our way out of the country the guard was "very upset."
So we were in North Korea. All the North Koreans we met had the small pin of Kim Il Sung over their hearts, the train station had a big portrait of him on the outside. We weren't allowed to take pictures as I mentioned, so I haven't any pictures of the small villages in the distance we passed or the people working in the field or the many many bicycles going up and down the dirt track a short distance off. Every so often there would be a guard post at a road junction which lead off to a village or military something or other. The soldiers hats look disproportionately large, and the soldiers, while mean looking, were rather slightly built. They told us that we shouldn't take pictures of anyone without their permission, but unfortunately no one seemed to want to oblige.
The first day we went to an area called Manmulsang. There was a heavy drizzle and a heavy fog but Brad and I went all the way up to the craggy peaks. It happened also at the hike the next day that many of the other foreigners only hiked part of the way, and I kept thinking if you know this is a hiking trip, and you know that you aren't fit enough or willing to do it, why on earth would you shell out that much money to mill about the base of a mountain, even if it is in North Korea. Go on the Kaesong day tour for that. The hike wasn't easy, though. It wasn't that high up but we were like mountain goats clinging to iron rails and ladders and stairs, dodging ajummas and adoshis (middle-aged women and men respectively, of a certain character), all shrouded in the mist. Near the top it got so that all you could see was the person behind and in front of you, the path below you and the rock beside you. Otherwise it was like we were in a cold, wet, white void. It was at the bottom of that mountain that I bought the postcards.
We got back to the tourist village and got settled into the hotel. This area, Onjeonggak, is owned and operated by Hyundae-Asan, a South Korean company. There is a small South Korean bank (incedentally the one I have an account with) some restaurants and a bar, and convenience store (Family Mart), a "Korea Sparkling" (South Korea tourism) duty free store, an auditorium, a hot spring, and a few hotels. They are nice hotels, with South Korean TV stations available. Fucking weird, this is. A little capitalist oasis surrounded by the simple calm of farmland DPRK.
After we got cleaned up and changed we headed over to the auditorium for an acrobatic performance. The Pyeongyang Acrobactic Troupe. They did a lot of the Chinese/Russian (as far as my limited impression goes) with spinning plates, bicycles, climbing poles, etc. Some of it was spectacular, some of it didn't dazzle me. Not that I could do any of it. *shrug* I'm glad I went though. They played that song from the check point. The ajummas were lovin it, waving enthusiastically at the performers.
We had some basic food court kinda meal because all the restaurants were booked up, made a reservation for the Northern style restaurant, bought some stuff at the duty free (candy, liquor) and had a bottle of Taedonggong mekju (mekju = beer). We went to bed early because we essentially hadn't slept for two days. We woke up early for breakfast then we were on the buses again to the Kuryong Pokpo (pokpo = falls) hike. As we left the tourist village the hotel and "Korea Sparkling" staff were all in a line waving to the dozen-or-so-bus-long convoy. Weird.
The day was clear and gorgeous this time. We had the option of doing a light walk around Samilpo lake as well, and some people opted for that. But again, we wanted mountains. There were relatively less people on the trails this time and the paths were wider so we could pass the slowbies. There were a few children's groups, girl scouts and taekwondo classes and that sort of thing, and a busload of particularly older people. The main route was a pretty easy climb, following a beautiful crystal clear, pale rock bed river with little falls and bigger falls and pools. We were told that we would be shot if we touched the water---no not really. We were told we would be fined if we touched the water, but that didn't stop the ajummas from bathing their faces and filling their bottles, and it didn't stop me from stealing a handful to taste. It tasted like water. I'm sure if I had had the guts to fill my water bottle I would have found it to be as sweet and wonderful as the spring water I had at Top of the World park in the Rockies. The main path ends at a pavilion with a good view of Kuryong falls.
We back tracked a bit and went off on another trail, more precarious, that took us up the water way even further so we could see where Kuryong begins to fall. It was there I built my tiny inukshuk. Not all the foreigners went up that high but they should have because the wider view over the mountains was stunning. Literally breathtaking.
There are a number of trails all over the place, but we had to stay on certain ones. There was always someone standing at junctions and branch-offs. It was interesting because they'd be decked out Korean style with the height of mountain hiking apparel--plus Kim Il Sung pin. We saw some workers, general labourers I guess, closer to the trailhead all wearing the same thing, which was also the same thing as the workers we saw randomly on bus rides along the roads or in the fields: something vaguely reminiscent of a Mao suit. These guys looked rougher. Also all along this hike were all manner of Korean and Chinese writing in the rock. Some were accompanied by sophisticated-looking reliefs, others looked like ancient graffiti, some were haphasard, some were official looking and probably just telling us to stay on the trail, or telling us a legend for that spot or the name of the falls, and some were just GIANT. These mountains have been a place of pilgrimage for a long time. There are a lot of Buddhist legends and sort of hagiographic stories that take place there. There used to be temples and hermitages and whatnot before the war. So that would explain a lot of the writing. But I don't actually know because I can't read Korean that well and Chinese not at all.
There were shuttle buses ready to take us back to the tourist area whenever we were ready. We still had a few hours before we had to leave to go back south, and we had a lunch reservation at Okryukwan the northern style restaurant. 'Ok' is 'house' I think and 'kwan' is pheasant but I dunno what 'ryu' is but it might be a kind of food. We had kwantang (pheasant soup). Pricey and pretty basic but delicious. Then we went to check out the big portrait of the wee Kim dynasty in which Jong Il looks much taller than he actually is, and less weird-looking. We could have our pictures taken by a staff member of the adjacent hotel. As far as we know it's to ensure we don't take an inappropriate or unflattering picture of the picture. So this either means they haven't quite caught onto photoshop or they haven't figured out how to get around it without enraging the money givers (tourists). I dunno. The picture turned out pretty good of us in front of the picture though. Only after the fact did I realise that we should have mimicked their poses but they may not have let us do that.
After that we mostly just strolled around. We did get a personal shuttle bus (only because we were the only ones wanting to go) to the seaside. I wanted to touch the communist East Sea/Sea of Japan. The shore was built up with hotels and things so there wasn't a good view but I touched the sea and we saw some small villages in passing, and workers fixing a sort of bunker, and workers in the fields and cyclists. Nothing jarring at all though. At the tourist village they had a big tableau of pictures from the past few years. They all had to do with some celebrations having to do with inter-Korean cooperation and brotherhood and solidarity. They were handing out little Korean flags (this is just the whole Korean peninsula in blue on white) but I didn't manage to get one. They had some photos covered up and we learned as they were uncovering them as we drove off in our convoy (as we had guessed before) that these had Kimmy J in them. Too bad. Woulda been nice to see them properly. That weekend seemed to be an anniversary of something to do with inter-Korean cooperation. Maybe the tourism deal, I dunno.
The way out was pretty much the same as the way in but backwards. The South Koreans were very concerned about illnesses on us, as they would be. The North Koreans as far as I know didn't check anyone's cameras for illegal photos. I figured they'd pick us apart, being foreigners.
I'm definitely glad we went. I'd still like to try to get to Kaesong and Pyongyang someday. The mountains were absolutely beautiful. Nothing like you can find in the South. There was a feeling of calm and quiet because there isn't so much development, neon, cars, etc. Idyllic in some ways. You're always thinking "communist this" and "communist that." And we would always make fun of Kim Jong Il under our breath. Brad and I watched some documentaries about DPRK; the one about the gymnasts, and a CNN one about clandestine video footage by North Koreans. To remind us.
I posted a BBC article on Facebook about how a South Korean woman was shot dead in the Geumkang area for being in a restricted area. It was probably by accident that she was there. This was about a month after we were there. They sent all the tourists packing and they aren't allowing anyone in for awhile. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7501126.stm
Anyway, there it is.
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