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Published: July 10th 2006
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Kim Jong Il and Father
This is the picture we got in trouble for What can I say about my trip to Kumgangsan? It began with me barely making it to meet the bus because of me being stupid and trying to take the subway all the way to Hongdae...i made it with minutes to spare and we were off on our 5-6 hour drive to the East side of Korea and up through the DMZ to the mountain of Kumgangsan. Crossing into the DMZ was a strange feeling, it seemed like we were crossing a line into a world of the unknown and stepping back into time by at least 20 years. The first thing I noticed was how the landscape changed from green plush mountains to tall rocky mountains. There were barbed wire fences along both sides of the road so no one could cross over and everywhere I looked I could spot a North Korean guard staring intently at us making sure no one was taking pictures. They each held red flags and had whistles around their necks in case they spotted anything. If they did spot something they would blow the whistle and raise the flag. It was like they were pop up dolls popping out on top of a hill
Leaving for N. Korea
Anna is saying bye to me before my awful trip to meet the bus. Almost didn't make it... and it made we wonder how the heck they got up there and how long they had to stand there for. People were plowing fields with mules and everyone working out in the fields were doing things by hand. Of course for some reason Kim Jong Il wanted "the outsiders" to see this for a reason. The guy sitting next to me summed it up perfectly; North Korea wanted to show that they can succeed as a country by hard, old-fashioned sweat and labor and complete trust in their government. The perfectly manicured fields and people riding their bikes down dirt roads seemed to be staged, as though the child running to its mom in the fields was cued to do that at a certain moment. There was a huge mural of Kim Jong Il holding a childs hand as we drove in as if to say he supports the younger generation and that they are the future of North Korea. Immigration in North Korea was the weirdest...we were all lined up with some other Korean tour groups like cattle. We had to line up according to the number on our tourist badge that we had to wear around our
The Convoy
There wasn't much in our little tourist town necks. I was number 44. Second to last. So number 45 and I had plenty of time to take in the North Korean soldiers lining the mountainous terrain surrounding us as well as the one staring hard at everyone right next to us...they seemed so tiny and tan. Thet wore greenish uniforms with the North Korean pin on their jackets and their hats were way too big. Propaganda music was blaring in the background (who knows what it was saying?) and we all got through the line farely quickly. Once we got our passports stamped and crossed through to the other side I was startled to see someone in a old crappy bear costume waving at us and to have 4 or 5 people saying to us "Welcome to Kungamsan". It seemed as though we were entering a theme park. Which we were to an extent. Deprived of sleep and food the convoy of foreign and Korean buses went straight to the mountain and we began the days hike to the top. It was fairly easy and beautiful. There were things written all over the mountains which were guarded by North Korean people wearing the North Korean flag pin on
their chest. We weren't to touch the writing or get too close to it or take pictures of the guards. I felt like we were being watched at all times. I found it a bit ironic that at the top of the mountain there were a bunch of Spanish nuns that had come on the trip and as I began talking to them in Spanish I couldn't believe that I was speaking Spanish In the DPKR of all places...Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.
Throughout the day I enjoyed the hot springs amongst the mountains, ate some pretty gross food...absolutely no meat and EVERYTHING was $10. haha. I had a carb overload. After the hot springs a few of the girls and I were walking back to the hotel and we saw a giant mural of Kim Jong Il and his father. We wanted to take a picture and so we whipped out our cameras....and all of a sudden red flags were everywhere. We raced up to the steps of the hotel and the doormen met us there and asked to see our cameras to see if we had taken a picture of the mural. The doorman looking
1st Hike
The pristine water we couldn't touch at my camera flipped through my pictures and noticed pictures of Seoul on there. He seemed verrry interested in them and asked me about Namsan Tour..it was pretty funny. It was as though I was carrying gold with me or something. Then he took us all over to the mural and took our pictures in front of it. Apparantly as long as someone from N. Korea takes the picture we can't defamate it and therefore its okay.
Later that night we all met for drinks at the hotel out on the balcony and proceeded to polish off all of the drinks in the hotel...haha. North Korean beer is not so good, but hey do as the Romans...or the North Koreans...
Next day we split up into the hard hike group and the not so hard hike group. I joined the hard group and boy was it tough. Straight up for hours and climbing ladders suspeneded over ravines, pretty tough. But worth it. I hiked with a few other Americans (there were more Americans on this trip than I have seen all year) and we had a blast. At the end of the hike my friend Jeremy and I
Can't Imagine what this says
One of the tablets we couldn't touch got down to the bus and saw it was full so we were just going to wait for the next one, but the people watching us seemed anxious to get us out of there for some reason and pulled two korean guys off the bus just to get us on the bus. A little strange. Oh, speaking of strange back at the hotel we noticed our rooms were bugged, Jeremy found a bug behind his bathroom mirror and we found one underneath one of the beds. Hmmmm......
On the way home we were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for 10 hours. Pretty crazy, but luckily I was part of the VIP party club in the back of the bus and we had a blast for the first 5 hours. haha. Needless to say I turned 23 on that bus, but hey you never know whats gonna happen in Korea....thats all for now.
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Dan
non-member comment
Cool
That sounds like the craziest birthday in the world. Nice pictures though. Everytime I think of Kim II I think of Team America. I wonder if he really really talks like that...