I traveled up to the country of the "dear leader" last weekend. I went through a Seoul travel club with about 90 other foreigners. On Friday, we squeezed in two buses, received the schedule and certain instructions/warnings:
-Do not take pictures on the bus. A one hundred dollar fine and camera confiscation if a soldier sees anyone take a photo. Soldiers will raise a red flag and all buses will be stopped.
-Flags of a USA, Japan or South Korea on bags need to be covered. But the only currency accepted is US dollars.
-Do not bring in any reading material from South Korea. Choose your reading material wisely.
-Cell phones are not permitted.
We drove all night and after passing through the Demilitarized Zone(DMZ) we were greeted with stare downs from soldiers along the wall in the morning. Along with the soldiers, one of the first scenes was about five farmers using a piece of machinery that looked 30 years old. Just beyond the field I could see three garages on the hill with something, maybe a truck, parked in each of them.
We arrived at our "village" and set off for long hike. The hike was pretty steep and it was pissing down rain. We got to the top and the peak was too foggy to see the view. The hike was the normal Korean parade. Korean after Korean in their full gear(Northface from head to toe, hiking boots, backpacks, walking sticks, huge visors). And the older Korean men pushing past and farting in your face with no shame.
After the hike, a bunch of people went to an acrobat show. I wanted to limit spending money that might go towards the Korean government so instead, I walked down to have my picture taken with the "dear" leader. On the way I passed abandon houses and dozens of NK soldiers. About 10 minutes into it, I realized what a bad decision I had made. I am a woman. I do not speak Korean. I have an American passport and didn't even know the hotel's name. Stupid. I got my creepy picture and thankfully made it back fine.
The next day we did a hike to some waterfalls. It was much more enjoyable. We headed back to Seoul that day. I managed to capture the DMZ sign but the photo I really wanted was forbidden:
As we were leaving we, again, saw people farming in the fields. The soldiers walked alongside, overseeing the peasants. Just beyond an ox and cart in the foreground stood the tanks that were previously parked in the garages, out and ready to fire.
the way of life there is hard for me to wrap my mind around, sometimes I forget, or just put it in the back of my mind, what is really happening in other parts of the world. This blog is awesome by the way.
ReplyDeleteI just posted a link to a fatal shooting that happened at the same mountain I visited.
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