Quote:
Originally Posted by bax
Did anything shock you? Or did your research pretty much prepare you for everything? Is this a trip that you would recommend to others?
|
I was pretty shocked by the pretty much complete lack of paved roads outside of the cities and the DMZ highway. We stayed a night in Sinuiju. The Hotel was about an hour drive out of town on a gravel road.
The next morning when we were headed back into town, the government had mobilized people that I would estimate numbered in the thousands to fill potholes in the road with shovels. Pretty surreal to see.
I was surprised at how many "regular" North Koreans have been outside the country. I would have guessed roughly zero outside the ruling family and friends before my trip. However there were a lot of North Koreas on the train headed to and from China for business. We met some hanging in the hotels that had been to China as well. One of our guides had been to Singapore for 6 days for training. Still a very small number compared to the greater population, and they would be "elites" I suppose, but they would be what I would consider middle class people in Canada. Definitely not the ruling class.
There are small free market shops and stores. Very limited. Restricted to clothing and food items and such. Apparently the government tried to crack down on them which led to civil disobedience with citizens burning currency in the streets. They have allowed this limited free market as a result.
One of our guides was kind of a rebel. He was encouraging one of the guest to take pictures of military checkpoints. He answered questions more honestly than the guide that did most of the talking. It was kind of shocking to see a North Korean in a pretty high position in society that really didn't care about toeing the party line.
We visited a kindergarten to watch some 5-6 year olds perform. They were amazing! Before the show we got to drop in on a lesson. It was like a Sunday school setting except the topic of learning was about the leaders. It was pretty shocking to see the brainwashing in action on children that young.
I didn't research enough before I went, and North Korea is the type of place that leaves you with more questions then answers. If I had a do over, I would have done a lot more research so I could have asked some better questions that didn't occur to me until after I had left.
I would definitely recommend this trip to others. Probably 3-4 days to a week is enough though. The constant bombardment of propaganda about the leaders begins to wear on you in rather short order. Independent tour is the way to go by far! So much better and more freedom to explore the things you want to experience than being part of a tour.