DMZ with the fam

The next day was another long day…I’d signed us up for a DMZ tour…when we checked into the first hotel in seoul, there were brochures for various DMZ tours, many of which didn’t include the area most people know, the area with the blue buildings…and all those tours were expensive, especially those that did include the JSA area…I remembered that I’d done this tour with a high school classmate back in 2006, so I went looking for that information and eventually found it…the USO web page isn’t very helpful, I had to email them directly…fortunately, they were good about responding quickly…the USO facebook page also isn’t terribly helpful…the DMZ tour starts with checkin at the USO at 0700, and to get there on time I wanted us walking out of our hotel at 0600…the buses leave the USO at 0730…we thought we’d have a chance to grab coffee at a coffee shop nearby, but since it was Saturday, the coffee shop wasn’t open…argh…

As the bus was driving north, there wasn’t much traffic…(thank goodness)…Saturday morning is a time for sleep for most people…our guide was giving us various bits of information, some people were trying to sleep, etc…at one point, our guide was having a trivia quiz, finding out who knows what about north Korea…one of the questions: what is the most important holiday of the year in north Korea? I answered that one (the birthday of kim il sung, their eternal president, which is in april) and got myself a free XXL t-shirt…other questions included how long mandatory military service times for north Koreans, what you should NOT do when taking a picture with the famous kim il sung bronze statue in Pyongyang, etc…I like those kinds of questions…I’m a geek, I know…as we were driving north, our bus took us through a couple checkpoints, and we started to see barbed wire and the like…

Then the bus stopped…this was the outer boundary of the DMZ…the DMZ is 4km long, and runs the length of the entire peninsula…2km on the north side, 2km on the south side…despite the name, it’s actually the world’s most militarized area…there are soldiers along the entire length of both sides, there is constant tension, and shots are fired from time to time…to enter this area, you have to have a military escort…we had an army specialist, and I’ve forgotten the rank of the other guy…as we quickly learned, our guy could be pretty entertaining…some of the stuff he said was pretty funny, but it was even funnier because he said it all with a completely straight face…living in this area of the world has to be pretty stressful…one of the nifty effects of having an area hardly touched by humans has been the proliferation of wildlife…environmentalists hope that if north and south Korea do reunite, the DMZ will be kept as a national park, or some kind of protected area…quite a few species have shown up there that aren’t easily found in other areas of the world…our guide had some entertaining stories about which animals he’d seen, and how…our army guide told us the regulations of what was coming next, and what we’d be doing…

After driving through the gates/checkpoint, we had to get off our buses…because we were now in a military area, we had to switch buses, but we couldn’t take anything with us…only cameras, and some money we could put in a pocket…no camera bags, no purses, etc…it couldn’t appear at all that we were trying to take something with us to try to give to the north Koreans…if we had jackets, we needed to be wearing them, the jackets couldn’t be tied around our waists…before switching buses, all of us trooped into a small theatre area, where one of the army guys gave a briefing on the history of the area…the Korean peninsula hasn’t been united as one country for a good portion of it’s history…most recently, at the end of WWII, it was divided in two for the purposes of accepting the Japanese surrender…in the north, the Japanese surrendered to the Russians…in the south, they surrendered to the US and I’ve forgotten who else…the idea was that the two sides would then come together and hold democratic elections for the future…needless to say, that didn’t happen…the south held elections, the north didn’t…instead, a man by the name of kim il sung was supported by the Russians (and the Chinese) and put in charge of the north…both sides still talked about becoming one nation again, but kim was the leader who actually did something about it…on 25 june, 1950, the beginning of what the US calls the Korean war,  north Korean troops poured across the border in a sneak attack…they conquered nearly the entire peninsula, and were all the way down to the busan perimeter before the US (under the flag of the united nations – UN) stepped in…when US troops came, north Korea was stretched to it’s limits supplywise, and wasn’t able to fight back with much force…so US troops pushed back, and eventually recaptured most of the south…general macarthur planned and launched a surprise landing at incheon, helping to recapture seoul, and push the north Koreans far behind their original lines…and this is where macarthur was an idiot…with winter coming on (which ended up being one of the worst winters Korea has ever seen) macarthur wanted to keep pushing, and take over the entire Korean peninsula for the south…the yalu river is essentially the boundary on the north, between Korea and china…he pushed US troops farther and farther north, without doing proper checking into the situation…the Chinese didn’t much like the idea of a fully southern peninsula, so in secret they sent a bunch of “volunteers” from the Chinese army to help the north Koreans fight…some of these “volunteer” units had been fighting for a loooong time already (this was the end of the fighting between mao’s forces, and the forces of chiang kai shek, for control of china) so they knew how to fight…they ambushed the US in quite a few places, causing a lot of casualties…the weather didn’t help, as US forces didn’t have winter clothing…the Chinese/north Koreans pushed south again…anywho, the long and short of this is that there was a lot of fighting, especially over the middle third of the peninsula, which destroyed nearly everything…temples, villages, etc…in the end, a peace treaty was never signed, only a truce that stopped the actual fighting…so technically, the war is still going, 60 years later…the agreements were finally signed in a building on the north side of the DMZ in july of 1953…3 years of fighting that didn’t change much of anything, except a lot of people died, on both sides…

A number of incidents have taken place in the DMZ, including the most expensive tree cutting operation in world history…the south wanted to cut down a tree that was impeding it’s view from one of the checkpoints in the area, so they sent a number of soldiers to do the job…north Korean soldiers attacked, and in the fighting, at least two US soldiers were killed…not too long later, the US sent soldiers again, only this time with a whole lot of backup…fighter jets flying overhead, a warship on alert off the coast, and a whole bunch of guys waiting to rush in in case the north Koreans tried any more funny business…they didn’t…there is also the story of a Russian defector, running across to the south while on a tour of the north side of the DMZ…that resulted in a firefight…there are other stories I’m sure I’m forgetting…

We got on our new buses, and drove to what I think is called freedom hall…we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, though I don’t know what we would’ve wanted to take pictures of…anywho…this building was originally built in order to host family reunifications between families that were split as a result of the end of the war…but it’s never held any of those reunifications, as the north won’t let it’s people go across the line, not even a little bit…all reunifications have been held in the north…(most of them at a facility built by Hyundai, on the east coast)…walking out of the other side of the building leads you to the sight you most often see in photos…a big building across the way, with one north Korean soldier visible…in between that building and the one to your back are five smaller buildings…the two outside ones are silver in colour, and belong to the north…the three in the middle are run by the south, and are blue…the building in the very middle is where a lot of high level negotiations take place usually between ranking officials of each country’s military…(official government level talks are rare, and don’t take place here)…the border between the two countries actually runs in a straight line down the middle of these five buildings…so if you’re standing on one side of the blue building, you’re technically in north Korea…hana and mom are now in a photo of this…as we walked out of the freedom house, our group was separated into two…the other group went in the blue building, we waited outside, and our army guy told us a bit more of the history…then our group went in the blue building…the door on the north side of the building is blocked by a south Korean soldier when groups from the south visit, so it isn’t possible to open the door, run out and defect to the north…(and in return, when groups from the north visit, the south side door is blocked by a north Korean soldier, so you can’t defect to the south)…groups from the north and south don’t visit this area at the same time…ever…

We got back on the buses and continued the drive to one of the checkpoints…this particular checkpoint is surrounded on three sides by the north, so when you look out, you get to see a lot of north Korea…this is also the point where you can best see the village north Korea has built inside the DMZ…there is a village on the southside as well, and it’s real…people live there, and farm the land…the village on the north side, not so much…only a few people live there, and they all work in Kaesong, a town just a bit farther north…the flag on the north side is 160m, as opposed to the flag on the south side, which is only 100m…these are sizes where the flags will tear under their own weight when the weather is crappy…when you listen to the guides give these statistics, you can tell they are amused by the games played by each side…north Korea usually wants to be the “best” so their things are taller, louder, bigger, etc…

Then the bus drove to the end of the bridge of no return…we weren’t able to get off the bus at this point, so everyone crowded onto one side of the bus to see the bridge…it’s nothing exciting, just a bridge…at the end of the war, POWs on each side were given the choice as to where they wanted to live…it’s called the bridge of no return, because once they walked to either side, there was no return…they couldn’t go back…back then no one knew what the situation would be today…even if you were able to get off the bus and run to the bridge, you wouldn’t be able to cross it, as there is a big barrier in the middle…

For the first few decades after the war, the north was actually doing better…the people had a better quality of life, and a higher income…the south didn’t do as well until the 70s, I think…in the north there is the potential for much more industry…they have more mineral resources, more capability for heavy manufacturing…but in the south there is a lot more agriculture…and that makes a huge difference…if you can’t feed your people (and north Korea has needed food aid for years now) then it doesn’t matter what else you have…

The bus then took us back to the spot where we’d originally changed buses…we had the chance to check out the museum (which shows the history of the area in general, as well as war history) and the gift shop…hana took the chance to ask the guide about women stationed up there…he said normally there are no woman, but at that point, there were a couple air force ladies stationed up there…there is no chaplain position, one comes up from seoul every couple of weeks…

We switched back to our original buses, and drove to the 3^rd tunnel…north Korea has been caught digging at least four tunnels (a 5^th one has allegedly been found, but due to the timing of the find, it wasn’t officially announced, and still isn’t recognized) under the DMZ, into south Korea…the 3^rd tunnel was actually discovered by the south on my birthday…(the actual day I was born!)…it’s size would allow 10,000 north Korean soldiers per hour to get into south Korea…when the south found it, the north tried to say that it was the south who’d actually dug it…again with the blame game…there is a small museum and theatre set up, visitors can also descend into part of the tunnel…there are now three blockages, so no one can try to get into north Korea by going backwards…the descent into the tunnel is quite steep, and there is water dripping all over the place…the guys digging the tunnel back when must’ve been miserable…I wonder how long it took? The powers that be reckon north Korea is still digging, but is better at hiding it now; the south is constantly searching…the 4^th tunnel was discovered in the 1990s…as far as I know, the 3^rd tunnel is the only one open to the public…

After everyone had the chance to go into the tunnel, we all got back on the bus…our third and last stop before lunch was at the dora observatory…it’s on dora mountain, and from this building you can see a bit of north Korea…there are binoculars that allow you to see even farther, though I’ve never used them…you’re only allowed to take photos from behind a certain line, as otherwise you might be photographing a Korean military installation, and they’re not cool with that…the fat lady from Texas sitting in front of hana and me on the bus seemed completely oblivious to this GIANT YELLOW LINE, and was clicking away until a Korean soldier came up to her and pointed out the line…then he watched as she erased the photos she’d taken…how does anyone miss that line?

Then finally, lunch…by that point, I think all of us were starving…or at least it felt that way…the bus drove us to a cafeteria of sorts, where we had two choices…bulgogi or bibimbap…all three of us went for bibimbap…there were plenty of side dishes to go along with it, and as has become the norm lately, my eyes were bigger than my tummy…there were more side dishes (including tater tots!!) on the bulgogi side, but I was stuffed…even so, hana got me a couple tater tots because I said how much I wanted them…(sometimes you have to give into cravings, right?)

After an hour or so, the bus drove us to our final stop of the tour…dorasan station…there is a railroad that goes between north and south…it was built during the previous south Korean government, during the sunshine policy days…(the current south Korean president, lee myung bak, has taken a much harder line toward the north and is making it work harder)…the idea was that people could ride the trains in between the two countries, and that economic ties would help bind the economies…the line does run all the way to this station in the south, on a regular basis…the people who live in the DMZ on the south side take the train to this station, then catch a bus to their village…the train actually did run into the north for a brief while in 2007, but only cargo trains were allowed then…never any people…inside the station they have commemorative stamps, you can use them to stamp the waiver you signed when you went into the JSA area…(this is the waiver acknowledging that you might be shot, and that it’s your own stupid fault if that happens, not the fault of the US or south Korean governments)…you used to be able to stamp your passport, but not anymore…(my old passport has this stamp, from the last time I did this tour)…you can also buy tickets to the train…500won, a whopping 50cents each…that allows you out onto the train platform, where you can take photos and such…hana wasn’t keen on buying the tickets, but mom and I thought it could be fun…and at that price, even if it wasn’t fun, who cares?

And then, we drove back to seoul…I think most people fell asleep on the way back…it had been a long-ish day of driving around and seeing stuff…the only thing we didn’t see was the friendship bridge…the first tour of the DMZ I took saw this bridge, but this one didn’t…I don’t know why…after returning to the USO carpark, hana mom and I went straightaway to the coffee shop that hadn’t been open in the morning…more as a place to gather our thoughts and figure out what to do with the rest of the day than anything else…we ended up deciding to go to myeongdong, a shopping area of seoul…

And by shopping, I don’t mean kitchy souvenirs…I mean full on shopping…clothes, food, etc…it’s super crowded most of the time…by the time we got there, I was way out of it…hana and I looked through one of my favourite stores, but neither one of us could be bothered to try anything on…it was too much work…on the way out of the area, back to the subway station, hana and I stopped at a dunkin donuts…one of their first days in seoul, after we’d seen a palace and had donuts for dessert, we saw that DD currently has spinach, tomato/carrot and broccoli donuts…at the time we didn’t try any of them, but this day seemed like a good day to do so…hana and I split a spinach donut…it wasn’t very interesting…it was sweet and green, but didn’t taste anything like spinach…gutted!

the democratic people's republic of korea

north korea...a place most people don't really know much about...sure, there is a lot in the news, but it's almost always bad, and portrays the country in a negative light...

for starters, a few facts: the official name is the democratic people's republic of korea...(in north korea they simply call it korea...just as they do in the south)...the capital is the city of pyongyang, with just over 2 million residents...no one is sure what the total number of north korean citizens is, as the government hasn't been very clear on that figure...back in the 90s ('95 i think?) there was a terrible famine, and the north korean government was (and continues to be) secretive about the effects on the country...anywho, most estimates of north korean citizens range from 20-25 million...though some people say the number could be as low as 18 million...(by comparison, south korea has approximately 50 million citizens)...the language is still korean of course, but it's different from that spoken in south korea...it's a bit more formal...basically, the language hasn't changed in the north like it has in the south...the president is kim il sung, even though he's been dead for 15 years...when he died, (in 1994) the people mourned him and decided they liked him so much that they still wanted him to be president...his son, kim jong il, the current leader of the country has some other official title...
anywho, for those of you who haven't figured it out, yes, americans are allowed into north korea...at least, they are for the time being...the rules on such things vary, and are never stable...it really depends on the current mood of the north korean government...howeva, there is one additional on americans...americans can only get a visa during the time the arirang mass games are going on, which is usually from mid august to mid october each year...americans also get an extra guide for their group...

my trip started with a meeting in beijing the day before we flew to pyongyang...at the meeting, which took place at the offices of the tour company, we were given some general guidelines on behavior, cultural differences, and general expectations...we were also told what we would, and would not (mostly would not) be allowed to do while in the dprk...no photos unless we had permission...no photos of soldiers, except when we were at the DMZ...no walking by ourselves unless we were on hotel property...no doing anything by ourselves...behave respectfully...(one person in particular in the group had quite a bit of trouble with this)...we were given our group visa and told when and where to meet at the beijing airport...

my group was six people in all...i was the 2nd youngest...the other woman in the group has lived in china for nearly a decade, and speaks putonghua generally fluently...there was another esl teacher who lives in beijing, a lawyer who lives in beijing and is married to a chinese woman...a teacher from minnesota, and the youngun was a guy working his way up in the corporate world and putting himself through school at the same time in new york...
the next day i met the group at the airport, we checked in and boarded our flight...koryo air has old russian planes, they're small!!! one of the things i noticed first was the number of north koreans flying back to the dprk...the way the media portrays north korea, i always had the impression that VERY FEW people travel internationally from north korea...it's easy to tell who is a north korean, they all wear small pins of kim il sung on the left side of their chest...we landed, and deplaned down a short flight of stairs...even though we could see the terminal, a mere 200m or less away, (with a rather large picture of kim il sung visible on top of the building) we still had to board a bus to ride to the building...quite possibly the smallest airport i've ever been through...and also the only airport where it seemed to be okay for us to take pictures...not inside, but outside, before getting on the bus to the terminal, long trip that that was...they had four lines for customs/passport inspection/visa inspection...none of them were designated for foreigners, so it didn't matter what line we went through...but since we were on a group visa, we had to do that together as well...howeva, during our time in line, two of the guys in our group were pulled away into a side room...the first time, we didn't know what was happening, and were a little scared...but when he came back, he said it was just a temperature check...(the swine flu has the entire world worried!)...when they pulled the second guy away, he was in the room for longer, it turned out they checked him twice...needless to say, he was a bit nervous, especially as they had taken his passport to use as identification in case his temperature really was too high...

our guides met us at the airport, 1 woman and two men...they were friendly enough, their english good, their accents good as well...we all introduced ourselves, and hopped in the minibus we'd be riding in throughout our stay in korea...we first drove to the arch of triumph...it looks just like the arc de triomphe in paris (france) but this one is 3m taller, as we were quickly told...mostly the arch celebrates the liberation of korea, and has several dates inscribed on it, dates important in the life of kim il sung...i don't remember what they were, sorry...because there isn't a lot of traffic in pyongyang, it was easy to stand in the middle of the road to get a centered photo...

from the arch we went to our hotel, which is on an island in the middle of the river that runs through the city...(again, i've forgotten the name of the river)...our hotel is 47 stories tall, the highest of which is a revolving restaurant...we checked into the 19th floor, and our rooms were just like what you would find in any hotel in the US...two large beds, ensuite bathroom with a tub, trial size stuff on the bathroom counter, area to hang up clothes, tv that got bbc, window with a fabulous view of the city...there didnt seem to be many other tourists...one thing we never did find out was how many floors of the hotel were actually occupied...the hotel also had a basement area with a sauna, casino, and more...

we met our guides for dinner tonight at one of the restaurants in the hotel...i believe it was restaurant #2 that night...it was the first of many HUGE meals...they just kept bringing us food!! i was happy, as i like korean food, but i noticed not everyone in the group felt the same way...anywho...after dinner, we assembled again, hopped in the minibus, and drove to may day stadium to see a performance of the arirang mass games...
WOW...WOW...WOW...WOW...there are no words to adequately describe this performance...think marching band halftime performance at a gridiron game...then make it last 1.5 hours instead of 10 minutes...then multiply the number of people involved until you get to 80,000...then, instead of the entire stadium being spectators, think the other side of the stadium as another 20,000 people holding up coloured cards and creating amazing backdrops...absolutely outstanding...i took a gazillion photos, of course...but they don't do the event justice...it's incredible...after the show, we went back to the hotel, my roommate kitty and i went to sleep fairly quickly...
driving through the city several times that first day one of my observations was that the city seemed so empty...there were six lane and four lane roads everywhere, but so few people have cars (those are only allowed for the super high and mighty elite) that there is virtually no traffic, save for buses and trolleys...it was a bit eerie...while driving back from the mass games i also realized how dark it was...really really dark...the roads are lit at night, but just barely...and i doubt they're lit all night...this is a city of 2 million, but there isn't much light...certainly no neon signs...there is no nightlife...

the next day was a full day of touring around the city...i dont remember each and everything we saw, but the day included several LARGE monuments, the juche idea tower, (north korea isn't the first to come up with the idea of self reliance, but they do take it to a whole new level,) the grand people's study house, and more...lets just say that nothing in korea is normal sized...we saw at least one museum that day, maybe more...we also saw the sight where the USS sherman was fired upon (way back in the 1800s...the dprk generally considers that the beginning of it's ongoing fight against western imperialists) which is where they now display the USS pueblo...according to the dprk it was an american spy ship (in the 1960s?) they captured...after confessing (the written confessions are displayed in the ship,) the crew were repatriated to the states...the US says it was a vessel on a peaceful voyage...i'm sure the truth of the story is somewhere in the middle...throughout the day, as we visited each place, we were given a brief history of what it was, and thanks were usually given to "our president" (kim il sung) or "our leader" (kim jong il) for their assistance in creating these places...the juche tower was one of the most interesting to me, it basically is a tower with a flame (not real) on top of it...i liked it because we were able to ride the elevator to the top, then step outside and have great views of the city...unfortunately, it was rainy and windy, so we didn't stay out there for long...
the next day was another day of touring around the city...but that morning we started with two of the most important places in the city...well, important to koreans...first, the mausoleum of kim il sung...it isn't open to the general public, even koreans must apply for an invitation...for the mausoleum, visitors are asked to dress properly...that is, close toed shoes, knees and shoulders covered for women...korean women wear their traditional dress, called a chosunbok...(hanbok in south korea)...men are asked to wear shirts and ties, preferably with slacks...as soon as we got there, we all wished we were wearing more, they have the air conditioning cranked in the entire complex...and a complex it is...it makes the mausoleums of other former leaders i've visited (lenin, sun yat sen, ho chi minh) look small by comparison...in one of the first rooms we entered, we deposited our cameras...the room is large, but i don't think they ever have to hold onto much, as koreans don't have much...we road along several of those flat escalators for a while, during which we noticed no one was smiling or talking...eventually we reached a large room with a large statur of kim il sung...it was white, and the white area behind it was lit with pinks/blues/purples...supposed to create a sense of peace i think? i'm not entirely sure...i was freezing already...out of that room we walked into another large room where we faced a bank of elevators...we lined up and were ushered into the next elevator to open...(throughout this particular visit we never had to wait for the koreans who were also there visiting...they seemed to just patiently watch us walk ahead)...a quick ride to the next floor, and we lined up again after walking out...walked through a metal detector sort of thingy that blew air at us...combine that with the shoe cleaners we walked over as we entered the complex, they weren't taking chances on anyone bringing anything into the complex, howeva unintentional...and finally, we walked into the room where the body is kept...we lined up again, in rows of 4...starting at the feet...at a cue from our guides, we bowed...then walked clockwise, and bowed again on cue...walked to the head, no bowing...bowed again on the other side, before walking out of the room...so quiet, and so cold...we also visited a room where every single medal/honor given to kim il sung is displayed...they're arranged mostly by area of the world...that is, by continent...he's apparently an honorary citizen of lots of cities, and has a few degrees as well...some of the medals he was given are actual honours in those countries/cities...some of them they probably hand out to just about any visitor...there is one from the US...well, not the country itself...a uni in the US gave him an honorary masters in international relations...whateva your opinion of the guy, you have to admit he knew all about internationa relations...
from the mausoleum we drove to a cemetary dedicated to the martyrs of the anti japanese revolution...(before what we call the korean war, the koreans has finally gotten rid of the japanese colonialists)...i don't remember how many are buried there, but it's quite fancy...each person has a bust, and the busts all face down the hill, looking over the city...they're spaced so that each of them has a view of the city, they're not blocking each other..at the top of the cemetary is a row of the most important folks...one of those is kim il sung's wife (for the life of me i can't remember her name)...she's commonly referred to as the anti japanese heroine...i think she is also kim jong ils mother?
later that day we went to the hut where kim il sung is said to be born...again, history has been changed in korea, no one outside of korea really knows if he was born there...it seems awfully convenient if he was...one of the stories guides like to tell there is that his grandfather continued to work as a farmer, even after kim il sung became leader of the country...he is supposed to have said that he wasn't a leader, he was a farmer...
after that, we went to what they call the schoolchildrens palace...it's not actually a palace, but it is a huge building...the luckiest kids in the city go there for three hours each day and take extracurricular classes...ballet, calligraphy, accordion, and a whole lot more...we were able to peek into a few classrooms...after seeing some of the classes we were taken to the auditorium for a performance...part of the auditorium was filled with korean schoolkids, i'm not sure whether they also attended the schoolpalace classes?...i don't know how often this performance is done, probably once a week or so...anywho, it was another highlight of the trip...singing and dancing...i know part of it is because they practice practice practice, but these kids are good...really really good...and as the pit was raised at the end of the show so we could applaud the orchestra, i realized they had played the entire show w/out any music...really really impressive...i also noticed that the percussion section of the orchestra was more than half female...that's not the norm, at least not in the states...
the last full day in korea, we took a day trip...about a 3 hour bus ride down south, to the town of kaesong...it's an ancient town, and was a capital of one of the dynasties that existed before the current countries of north and south korea...the silla dynasty i think? we saw an old temple, one that was used by that dynasty as a university to teach about confuscionism and buddhism...(the current regime doesn't have religion in any form, but they don't mind showing that it did used to be a part of life)...we also visited the DMZ from the north side...a very different experience from visiting on the south side...believe it or not, the visit on the north side was much shorter, and far less full of propaganda...we saw the blue buildings that sit on the dividing line of the two countries, and entered the middle one through the door on the north side...as i've been in that building previously, it didn't mean as much to me, though i knew a few things that weren't mentioned by our soldier/tour guide...we walked through the buildings where the armistice meetings were held, and where it was actually signed...interestingly, the US formed one side of the meetings, but operated under the flag of the UN...not the US flag...then the drive back to pyongyang, for our last dinner in the country..
the next morning we left the country...after giving gifts to and thanking our guides because they were fantastic...

KUMGANSAN, KOREA (AGAIN)

Monday, November 06, 2006
NORTH KOREA (AGAIN)
i'm sure that most of you reading this think i'm completely crazy for doing it, but i went back to north korea...the same program i did back in march, but i did different hikes this time around...
i'm not going to rewrite the first part of the trip, (the bus from seoul, picking up IDs and visas, going through south korean customs, going through north korean customs,) as it was essentially the same (only a few minor differences) as last time...
after going through north korea customs, we got back on the bus, and drove to our hotel...we didn't get to check in, but we did get to drop off our bags, which was nice...it meant we didn't have to find them on a bus later in the day after hiking...this time we stayed in hotel oekumgang...a new hotel, it opened in august...it's staffed by chinese mostly...they speak korean, (i don't know how well, but enough to run the hotel) but if you look at them, it's not difficult to see that they aren't korean...my travel partner later discovered that they are hired to come for two years at a time...we decided that would be crazy boring...it's not like there is much of anything to do outside of work...they can't just go hiking on their own, and night life is nonexistant...after dropping off our bags, we got back on the bus for the 30 second ride (we later found out we could walk it, as it was so close, unlike the hotel last time, where walking was NOT an option) to the shopping area...we bought tickets for lunch and the acrobats, and after only a little discussion, dinner tickets so we could eat north korean food...more on that later...
after the ticket purchases, we got back on the bus and headed toward the hike for the first day...it was the same hike as the last trip, so i'll spare you most of the details...howeva, this time the weather was very different...beautiful fall weather...the leaves were all sorts of colors, it was beautiful...it was nice to have secure footing too, instead of slipping quite a bit on ice and snow...we hiked up to the temple, same as last time...howeva, on the way down there was a little turnoff that i didn't get to do last time...(after hiking it, i know why...it would've been fairly dangerous with the ice and snow last time)...not knowing what we were getting ourselves into, we decided to do it...we saw some steps going up, but figured "how hard can it be?"...20-25 minutes later, after going continually UP, we finally got to the top...absolutely beautiful, and we got to take a couple pictures that were the same view seen on a couple of the postcards available...awesome...after coming down all of that, both of us ate some of the food we had brought along...let me tell you, i've never had an apple taste so good...
lunch was the same lunch we had the last time...bibimbap as the main course with a number of side dishes...
after lunch, we got back on the bus, and went back to the shopping area...we decided to go see the lake (samilpo) as that was an option we hadn't had last time...it was pretty, and this time there were two north korean ladies (at different spots) talking about the lake, it's history and all that...one of them sang a couple songs, they were neat to hear...i really wish i had been able to understand what they were saying...after the walk around the lake, it was back on the busses for the ride back to the shopping platz...when we got back, we even had time to go to the hotel, check in, and "freshen up"...(brush our teeth, take off sweaty undergarments, revel in the fact that we got to stay in a suite!!!!!!!!!)...
we went to the acrobatic performance, which was slightly different this time...i suppose they have to mix it up, since they do the same thing every day...they didn't drop any of the trapeze artists this time, it was impressive...
dinner that night was at the hotel we stayed in the first time...we thought we were buying tickets for a buffet...but it didn't work out quite that way...we were seated, and they started bringing out food...small plates with just a bit of everything, so it didn't seem like a lot...but it just kept coming...by the time they brought out the soup and rice, we were both stuffed...tofu, a roll with meat in the middle, rootlike veggies to put into lettuce leaves, acorn jelly, fish nuggets, sweet potato, rice, chicken soup, little meatballs, mandu, and finally, tea to finish the meal...after eating, we wandered outside, and i looked at the mural that was in front of the hotel...the last time we were in north korea, it was a picture of kim il sung on a park bench, reading to kids...(or something like that)...they had changed it...this time, it was a picture of father and son...kim il-sung and kim jong-il...(kim jr was painted to look a lot more slim than he is in real life)...though i don't know if i was supposed to, of course i took a picture...
back to the hotel, just chilling and relaxing, watching a little tv...(a luxury most north koreans don't have...if they do have it, they don't get to watch the channels our hotel has, like cnn)...i ended up falling asleep around 9pm...my traveling partner wanted to see the bar in the hotel, called the sky lounge...it was on the 12th floor, and apparently was almost the entire floor...i fell asleep long before he got home...the next morning, when we got up, i asked him about it...turned out he was the only guest up there, and hadn't gotten back to the room until midnight...this was when he found out that the staff is mostly chinese, not south korean...even though he and the staff didn't really have any language in common, they communicated as well as possible...ivan asking details of their work, them asking him about his life...
the next morning our alarms (and wake up call) went off at 630am...so early...same deal as last time, checking out at 730am...only this time, instead of doing the walk around the lake and the seashore, we chose to do the hike called manmulsang...the bus ride to the starting point was 11 km, mostly switchbacks for the last 10km...i've gotta give credit to the bus driver...normally i get very carsick on those sorts of drives, but i didn't feel a darn thing...we got out, and started the hike, with all the craziness that comes from people sorting themselves out...the people who mosey...the people who want to do the hike in world record time...the older ladies who hike in dress flats...(i saw several women who fit this description)...this hike was much like the second part of the previous day's hike...going up up up...only it went on for a lot longer...great views though...going up could basically be divided into two halves...the second half was rather windy...in a couple pictures ivan took, my hair is nearly straight up over my head...i did have some fear of being blown off the mountain...howeva, when we got to the top of manyeongdae (a cliff) we were able to see the shore in the distance...it would've been even better if there hadn't been any haze...definitely worth all the wind and steps...going down ended up being tougher for me than all the going up...my legs just weren't used to supporting me going down down down down...a lot of the way down was uneven, making my footing not so good...ivan was great at it though, he didn't seem to have any problems getting all the way down...
after the hike, the routine was the same as the last trip...shop a bit, kill time for several hours, then do everything backwards...north korean customs, south korean customs, then the bus ride back to seoul...
another great trip, even though it was short and i didn't understand nearly everything that was said by anyone other than ivan...the next time i go back to north korea (and i really hope there is a next time) i want to go to a different area, see another part of the country...here's hoping that works out sometime:)

KUMGANSAN, KOREA

The trip started with a bus ride from Seoul to the town just south of the North Korean border, Goseong. The bus left at 11pm Friday night, and arrived at Goseong at 3 a.m. We were herded off the bus and into a house where we slept for a couple hours on a floor heated in the traditional Korean fashion – by hot water pipes.
When we were woken up by the bus driver, we sleepwalked back onto the bus, and went to a hotel to pick up our ID/visa holders (these were extremely important: we had to wear them at all times). The next three hours were a tedious process; getting through South Korean emigration was slow because we had to go through the “foreigner” line.

We got onto a different bus to ride through the demilitarized zone (DMZ), and were immediately informed that it was against the rules to take pictures while on the bus at any time during the trip. The DMZ is the world’s most heavily fortified border. The bridges have concrete on either side that is filled with explosives. If North Korea ever decides to invade South Korea again, those bridges will be blown up so that tanks have no way to travel south. At regular points along the road, we saw guards posted, who were no doubt watching every move the bus made.

We knew that the North Korean soldiers were armed, and that there were probably quite a few more observing us that we didn’t see. We all wondered what goes through the minds of the soldiers as they regularly watch the tour buses going back and forth. We slowed down as we got closer to North Korean immigration, and we were able to get closer looks at the faces of these soldiers; very bland faces that showed no emotion.
Going through North Korean immigration was not exactly an organized process. As everyone piled off the buses, we were herded into an oversize tent, into lines that seemed to move very very slowly.

The officials who looked at our passports and visas at South Korean emigration were civilians. On the North Korean side, soldiers looked at our paperwork, and checked everything against the lists they had ahead of time. We figured that if our names hadn’t been listed correctly, we wouldn’t have been able to continue the trip. After finally making it through the lines, we got back on the buses, and rode to the central area of the “resort.”
Just before arriving at the resort, we passed by a ski run. The guide for our bus told us that since there hadn’t been enough snow this winter, it hadn’t been opened. We wondered when it had last been opened and used. There were no cable cars or T-bars, so I don’t know how skiers would have gotten to the top of the slope.

We left our bags on the original buses, switched buses (I’m not sure we ever figured out why those first buses weren’t used continuously,) and rode the new buses to where we started our hike. The hike was about 2.5 hours long, up and down stairs and a path. Some of it was covered in slightly melted snow, while some of it was clear.
It was frustrating because everyone had to hike together, but that's the way the rules worked on this trip. Every activity was planned, and deviating from the itinerary wasn’t an option.
The river along which we climbed was beautiful, and frozen in a number of places.

At the upper end of the hike was the 230-foot Guryong Falls waterfall flowing over a granite cliff. The waterfall was frozen as well. On my way down I slipped and fell a number of times, keeping people behind me highly entertained. The hike wasn’t strenuous, but when we finished, all of us were exhausted, mostly because no one had had a decent night of sleep.
After the hike was lunch, served in a restaurant staffed by North Koreans. As much as we would've liked to, we weren't really allowed to interact with them. They served us and that was about it. We again wondered what their thoughts were in seeing tourists all the time.

Lunch featured bibimbap, made the North Korean way, slightly different from the South Korean dish, a bowl of warm white rice topped with sauteed and seasoned vegetables, beef, a fried egg, and hot sauce. Our waitress was very emphatic in showing us the proper way to eat the meal, apparently she thought we wouldn’t know the proper technique.
Then it was back on the buses, and back to the shopping area. After hanging out for about an hour we boarded the buses again, and went to our hotels, and cleaned up after calling down to the front desk to get the heat, hot water and electricity turned on. North Korea doesn’t exactly have electricity to spare, so it isn’t on all day. Our little group checked in earlier than normal so the hot water hadn’t been turned on yet. We then got back on the buses again, and went back to the shopping area.

There we watched the Pyongyang Moranbong circus, an acrobatic performance. It was amazing. The North Korean performers were really talented, though I'm sure they had practiced for years. They presented all sorts of different acts: juggling, bicycle/unicycle riding, trapeze artists, etc. For those who didn’t fall asleep from the really long day, it was a great performance.
Dinnertime was another experience we’d never had before. There was a food court and after examining menus, we chose the restaurant we wanted, even our specific menu items. But when we tried to order, we were told that those items weren’t available.

So we walked to our second choice, and again tried to order. We tried to order chicken, but were told that because of the avian flu, they hadn’t been able to get chicken. It was the first experience any of us had had with the bird flu.
After finally finding something to eat, we got back on the buses to the hotel. You've probably gotten the idea that we weren't allowed to walk anywhere by ourselves. It was true. Since it had been a long night/day, most in our group were in bed and nearly asleep by 9 p.m.
We woke up entirely too early, at 6:15 or so, had breakfast, and checked out by 7:40 a.m. Once again it was back on the bus to the shopping area, and a switch to another bus.
On Sunday we had the choice of two different areas to visit: The Manmulsang area of mountainous terrain and valleys, or Samilpo Lake and the Haegeumgang Seashore. Due to sheer exhaustion, our group chose the lake and the shore.

On the way to the shore we passed by what appeared to be a community meeting, as everyone was seated in straight rows, and there were several people at the front addressing the crowd. On our way from the shore to the lake, the meeting had broken up and a game of volleyball was taking place. We thought this might have been staged to a certain degree, so that the tourists could see North Koreans having a good time.
Both the shore and the lake were beautiful. In contrast to the previous day, seeing these areas involved strolling instead of hiking. After visiting both areas, we got back on the buses, and drove back to the shopping area.

Then came the part of the trip that wasn't fun: we had three hours to kill before boarding the buses to start the trip back. We found a coffee shop with comfortable chairs, and found ways to occupy our time: journal writing, addressing postcards, reading, etc…
Then we did everything backwards. We went through North Korean emigration, drove through the DMZ, and went through South Korean immigration. We switched buses (for the last time, yippee) and headed back to Seoul. Note: we did not get entry and exit stamps in our passports from North Korea, even though we'd all crossed an internationally recognized international border.

The trip was awesome. Sure, there were a lot of restrictions, which was frustrating, simply because we all wanted to see the real North Korea. In talking with the South Koreans on the tour, we found out that most of them wanted to do the tour for the hiking opportunities, not because of any political or personal interest in North Korea itself.
Only the roads the buses were driving on were paved, but North Koreans don't have cars, so they don't need paved roads.
Some of them have bikes, but that's about it.

We were told what we were allowed to take pictures of, and what we weren't. It goes without saying that we still took pictures of some of the things we were supposed to avoid.
The rules boiled down to this: we were allowed to take pictures of nature, but not of human made things, or of North Koreans. No pictures were to be taken while we were on the bus.
We found out at the end of the trip that the North Korean government had told the villagers the times the buses would be passing by. They are supposed to stay inside during those times.

But as many restrictions as we felt we had, the North Koreans live under a much more repressive government. In order to build the area where we stayed, at least one village was moved. North Koreans aren’t allowed to just pick up and move, the government dictates where they are allowed to live. If the government says the village needs to move, then the village moves.
We didn't get to see the real North Korea, but since that won't be an opportunity for a while, I'll take what I can, while I can.
Anyone who has a chance to get there: do it!!!