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This is leg 2 of my Axis of Evil Ski Tour, the first was Dizin, Iran.
DPRK Day 1
DPRK Photos, video playlist, photospheres
Like China it's bitingly cold in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The people, however, are warm. They are not rigid when talking with us, I even received a couple of smiles from immigration officials and a sense via this that they were keen to make me feel welcome. This upset the stereoptype I had of a country of menacing, militant types keen to attack us.
This one week tour will take us around possibly the most fearsome of the axis of evil countries at the moment, whilst also forcing us to quit the internet cold turkey. €400 3G sim cards are available but for obvious reasons we gave them a miss. Quite different from the 3GB sim I got for 5 Omani Rials last week!
Whilst the guides, Puk and Chon, did say to present flowers at the monument marking their victory over the Japanese and American invading forces, and then to bow with hats off, this was requested in a non-forceful manner. It was gently suggested to us as a way to show respect. The result was we were only too happy to follow along, but we were also propelled by a desire to show our sensitivity and contribute to a building of trust.
Contrary to what we see on TV, whilst the guides made displays of nationalism, such as taking us to monuments and making passing references to military events, the manner of doing this was subtle. No long speeches were given or debates entered into about how we should feel guilty for what our countries had done in the past or now through sanctions.
The biggest thing today was seeing two massive bronzes of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. It was the first site we visited in the DPRK, on the way to the hotel from the airport. That this was the first site was to be expected according to the TV cliches about this country, but as I mentioned this was done in the mode of simply visiting a tourist attraction rather than being an attempt to convert us or something.
Il Sung defeated the Japanese colonists in 1945, a 20 year struggle starting 1925 after the Japs had been here since the turn of the 20th century. He died 1994, although the monument was built 1972 (not including Jong Il's statue which was added when he died later). The latter continued his father's effort to rebuild after the Korean War, dying in 2011 and being replaced by the latest leader, the young 25 year old Kim Jong Un.
These two statues stood in front and at the height of the large parliament building, about the size of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Beside them were two rows of smaller bronzes. These were about 100 in number, showing double life size people in a typical military style montage bearing WW2 type arms and often in a charging pose. There were a few women depicted (although possibly more in military get up) and one or two children toward the back. It was a more tasteful display than the stacks of enemy warplane fragments on display in Hanoi after their victory against the Americans, and less aggressive for this dignity. Perhaps they have piles of foes' broken hardware elsewhere.
I was amazed at the sheer scale and skill evident in these bronzes. I'm not an expert but it was really nice to see something so well executed in a place I've grown up believing is a den of communist poverty, leading to associated expectations of low culture. Admittedly, though, these artefacts of high culture were glorifying past God like leaders.
After seeing the monument, including a mythical horse statue nearby which could travel 40km a step at a gallop, on to our island hotel. It is called Yangakdo (Foghorn) Island, the hotel Foghorn Hotel, after the boats plying the Taodong River in which it sits. It is massive at 40+ storeys and the only hotel for tourists in the city. It's nice to know that we can make some sort of claim about being here before it became well known, safe etc. Completing the picture of special treatment for foreigners is that leaving the island unaccompanied by our guides is forbidden.
We were also the only ones eating dinner in the particular restaurant we went to at the hotel, although there are 4 others so guests may have been elsewhere instead. It was a bit eery, however, having only our table set when we walked in. Eating a delicious multicourse meal without any background sound, save for Korean dubbed footage of the recently finished Sochi Olympics, as though the event were still happening, added extra strangeness. Thoughts passed through my mind of how visitors during the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia must have been treated similarly. I wondered why, if things were so fine in this place, we should have to be accompanied everywhere by 2 guides and free interaction with locals in their daily lives was forbidden. This issue was actually addressed in the day's final event, visiting a microbrewery attached to a large empty restaurant. It was dead for a Saturday night, surprising given Sunday is their only day off. There were what appeared to be 2 locals, middle aged men, already sitting in the bar. Other than that it was just my friend and I, the guides and the driver. My friend had a great chat with them about their lives and found many similarities such as an interest in soccer, tae kwan do, girls, mobile phones and the like. The two other patrons were eating a fish by hand, it seemed to be dried. They left before we did. When we got out all the cars had left the car park, but I remembered some of them as being luxury such as Merc. So from this I can say we were exposed to the public, kind of.
In our brief drive back to the hotel we saw many people walking, but very few cars despite all the nice wide streets. In any other city centre the place would be a traffic jam this time of night. There were many trolley buses, just like Beijing. Some white and red trams were also about - traveling along the sides rather than the centre of the street such as in Melbourne. Probably because the streets were so wide. Also a couple of metro stops were pointed out to us, and there are 2 metro lines. The place is doing much better than Kuwait then for public transport.
Overall it was a non threatening first day, full of good enough seeming people just like I've found happens in any new country I visit, including my experience on the first leg of the Axis of Evil Ski Tour, Iran. In terms of nationalism I've seen just as strong displays in Kuwait, China and Vietnam. So, as my friend pointed out, in and of itself this place would, so far, seem benign. We'll see what the rest of the trip shows about the validity of the stereotypes with which we are overwhelmingly well equipped.
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