Well after 4 days of updates, I'm quite
tired of writing about the DPRK. But I figured one more would be good
to summarize my thoughts on the country.
First of all, I didn't realize so many
people were as interested in North Korea as I was. To me it was a
mysterious place lost in time, and labled an axis of evil that nobody
had ever visited. In fact, for Americans it's pretty damn difficult
to visit. The NK government changes their mind on American visas on a
near whim, and according to our guides, less than 2500 Americans have
visited North Korea. Ever.
I think that's pretty messed up.
Not because it's some super hot tourist
destination. Truthfully its not. Its a shithole. At very few points
during the trip did I think "I am having lots of fun now."
More it was "Hollllly shit, I can't believe things are like
this." If you are going to have a fun time, you will not find
it. Which is why I'm in a weird position if I would recommend people
do what I do.
My gut instinct is to say no. You will
not have fun on a trip there. It will be boring. It will be one sight
after another on rails, you will not be able to interact with locals,
the food is beyond terrible, there is rarely hot water, toilet paper,
internet, and the entire gray and brown country is covered with
desperate people
In a way I want to say yes, because the
country is bizzaro world. There is nothing like it I have ever seen,
and I have never in my life been so cautious of my actions. I was
never in fear for my life or anything, but I was a bit cautious about
being deported. Not to mention given there have been so few
Americans, I felt responsible to not embarrass myself or my country.
It turns out these fears were not entirely unfounded. We heard about
another group that toasted "To Kim Il Sung" in a
restaurant. They received an official visit and warning from the
police. Apparently they do understand sarcasm, and they don't
appreciate it. But going to a place like that makes you appreciate
what you have. I don't want to get overly preachy and say things like
"freedom", because that's pretty broad and stupidly generic. But if it
allows you to not travel 10 miles each day just to get sticks to burn
so you don't freeze at night, sure whatever, yay freedom.
Speaking of sticks, I'm glad I got to
hang out with the people in my group in Beijing because we all
noticed different things that on the surface you don't pay mind, but
when you think about it are pretty interesting. The roads were full
of people carrying sticks, walking in the middle of nowhere. One of
my companions observed "You know how there are no trees
anywhere? The entire country has been picked clean looking for
something to burn. That's why they have to walk so far to find
trees."
"And another thing – with all
that countryside, do you remember seeing any animals? During the
famine, they probably ate everything they could."
I have no way to back any of that up,
but it may be true. I didn't see a single animal during my time
there. These are the types of questions if I had noticed I would ask
our guides, because they were very honest people. They never tried to
avoid questions, though perhaps out of respect we didn't ask really
controversial ones. Or at least I didn't. The thing with the guides
though, after the first day or two I realized how utterly worthless
they were for a conduit into daily life. These people were the
0.0001%. One had lived overseas in several countries, as her father
is a diplomat. They interacted with foreigners as part of their job,
and traveled to China frequently. They knew what life is like
outside. But inside, life is okay for them. They live in the capital,
they get hard currency from foreigners to buy luxury goods. And
honestly, if the tips we were suggested to give are just spending
cash for them, they are doing just fine.
So finally, so summarize NK as best I
can. I have a face on the so called "axis of evil" now. And
I see more "pity" than "faceless government of assholes". But
it's still not a nice place. The people are living in absolute
poverty minus a few elites. The elites have no motivation to change
that. The countries will never be unified. The propaganda the north
relies on to keep the populace content will shatter as soon as
outside media comes in en masse. The south will never be able to
absorb the destitute economy. But in the end, people are people. The
kids are great, as all of encounters were one of complete wonder.
They would laugh at our silly faces, dances, and none were scared of
us, though sometimes their parents quickly brought them back into
line. I guess it's a good thing to remember that we aren't born to
hate anyone, it can only be taught by stupid adults.
But I'm glad I went. There's no voice
there arguing the case for the west, so it's a pretty one sided
argument. I really hope one day they learn how to run their country
without fear. Cause ya know, the Imperials tried that with the Death
Star. Then some dirt farming kid with a talking trashcan blew it up.
And they've got a lot of dirt farmers.
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