We finally arrived at the bus stop where the trip began, with just enough time to purchase a couple of LARGE beers for the all night trip to North Korea.
The company that took us was Adventure Korea. Aly knew a few other people on the buses from previous trips, so eventually I got to talk to them as well. Everyone seemed pretty friendly and excited to be there. I thrive on this type of atmosphere.
Aly had taken the advice of a couple of her friends and taken three travel sickness pills, purely to help her to fall asleep. Unfortunately, she fell straight into a really really deep sleep. Funnily, we had stopped at a road house during the night and Aly met another person from Kansas. Aly, in her sleepy haze did not have the energy or brain functionality to hold a conversation and drifted off. I'd love to hear what the other Kansas girl thought of this.
We arrived at South Korea customs around 6AM, after absolutely no sleep. We then mounted some UN buses, proceeded through the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and reached North Korean customs. It was here that we were warned not to take any photos and generally be aware of our behaviour. Once through customs, we were greeted by some very happy smiling faces and a North Korean Bear, which was also friendly enough to wave to us. Oh what a happy place North Korea is!
After the over abundance of friendliness, we went for a hike in the North Korean forest. I have to admit, my initial impression is that North Korea got a pretty good deal when the countries were split - there is some very beautiful scenery here. It reminded me of Soraskan National Park, except that there is no snow this time. We were given two options for the hike, an easy option to a waterfall, or a hard option which supposedly could be done within two hour return. I reached the waterfall which was clouded in and couldn't help myself. I was drawn in by the challenge of proving to myself that I could beat the two hour estimate.
I have to admit, the hike was not easy by any standards. It mainly consisted of steps, followed by steep parts with steps, followed by steep ladders and a few more steps. After exactly half an hour I reached the top, a little more sweaty than when I had started. However, the view was completely worth it. I was greeted by spectular scenes of fog, cloud and mist.
The beautiful misty view...
After lunch we visited a nearby lake. It was not the most beautiful lake in the world but nevertheless it was quite pretty.
Happy North Korean Bears fishing in the lake
The lake trip was followed by an acrobatic show. Unfortunately, I fell asleep during the rope climbing/dangling off part but the rest was fun. There were a couple of crazy guys throwing things at each other, people climbing each other, people throw things whilst climbing each other and a breath defying trapeze act.
After eating a dinner of fried chicken????? (yes, that's very North Korean!) we retired in our hotel for the night's festivities. I have to say, our hotel was very five star and most impressive.
Our first task was to get a photo with President Kim. A few people started taking photos of the photo of Kim in front of the hotel - to the horror of the North Korean guards and the Concierge. Within seconds the sound of whistles and utter chaos filled the air and lightening filled the skies. Armageddon was upon us! Heaven forbid people had taken photos of President Kim without the approval of the guards. Luckily, the Concierge volunteered to approve our photos as long as he took them.
I have to admit, the Concierge was actually a pretty cool guy and we felt a little sorry for him. We had introduced him to Hacky Sack which he joined in on, he had taken photos of the group with Kim and we had shared a few jokes. I think he deserved a much better life elsewhere.
The majority of the night was spent in the bar areas of the hotel. It was here that everybody got to know each other a little better and experience the opportunity to have a couple of beers in North Korea. We found out the next day that the tour group dried the hotel of all beer and most probably made a few members of the hotel staff a little jealous at how much fun non-communists could have. Fancy that considering that "everyone is so happy in North Korea".
The night finished around 3AM after rescuing Aly and returning her to her room whilst sleep walking down the corridoors of the hotel.
The next day started with a bang. My room mate had decided to go to bed early and get up early. As a result, I woke up to a happy, jolly roomie. I made my way to breakfast which was a rather large buffet containing a mixture of Western and Korean foods.
Sunday provided the bonus of another hiking trip. Once again there was the option of an easy or a hard course and once again I couldn't resist the challenge of the hard one. We set at a relaxing pace with people tiring relatively quickly. However, soon enough I was in the "Crazy Hiking Koreans" pack and ascending at a breathless rate of knotts. I made it to the top with about five other people and as usual, they opened beer and Soju to celebrate - just the thing you need after sweating for the past 2 hours!
The afternoon finished with a trip to the local bay. Whilst there we could hear propaganda being blasted into the ears of the workers. From what I could gather, the man started by telling the workers what a nice day it was to be outside working in the fields, even though it is Sunday. This eventually built up to a crescendo of incesent yelling and screaming. My only guess is that the man was watching a replay of the Socceroos as they were kicked out of the Soccer World Cup by the over-acting of an Italian player. This was soon followed by some North Korean Top 40. I think somebody needed to tell the man that the stylus needs to be replaced and they they possibly should go down the road and renew their record collection.
Overall the North Korea trip was a great experience. There are not many people in the world that can say that they have been there in the past 50 years, especially 5 days after they had tested their nuclear missiles.
It was obvious to us that the areas that we toured were designed as a propaganda stunt to show the Western World just how happy the people were and how willing they were to present their country to us. I think in reality, from the brief glimpse that we caught of the workers and the soldiers that there is a lot the North Korea is hiding from the outside world and that there is still gross repression for the average person.
Nevertheless, the trip was awesome, I got to meet many new and fun people and I had a great time.
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