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koutch's Avatar Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Canaduh Posts: 1,088 Default A trip to North Korea The autor is Artemii Lebedev, one of the leading web-designers in Russia. On your arrival at the airport you need to leave your cellphone, no roaming service is avaliable but if you select an operator manually you get PRK 03 although he never saw a single person with a cell-phone. Laptops are allowed it seems that north koreans are not aware of cards that can make your laptop to work like a cellphone. The only house where a foreigner will be ever allowed on his visit. It's a model-house of a model-farmworker of a model-collective farm. There is even something that looks like a computer made of components that are not even plugged together. On your arrival you will be assigned to a guide and a driver. In the hotel you can watch BBC,NTV (russian chan),and a couple of chinese channels, so you can't really complain about freedom of speech. The food is good, and you can't complain about that either. In a park he saw elder women picking up herbs, the guide said that it was for the rabbits, although it was clear that it was the kind of herb that the "owners of the rabbits" could eat. Kiosk that sells foreign product to tourists, as in snickers chinese sprite and lays from 2001. You have to chose your product pay at a sepate booth get a checkstub and give it to the merchant to get your purchase. Kiosk for locals, most of the time they sell lemonade, forigers are given a plastic cup, locals get porcelain mugs, that are washed in a bucket of water after use. Sometimes you see people selling some kind of a vegetable, that was taken next to a fruits and veggies store, they immediatly closed the door as they saw a tourist. North Koreans are always amazed when they see a white man. They still havent figured out how to make flat glass withtout bubbles, the only exception are the windows in the hotel or large vitrines. Oil is almost inexistant, so most of the labor is manual. Water seems not to be avaliable everywhere when you leave the capital. Life in a village When building in a city they tend to block the old houses with tall bulidings , if that is not possible they put a concrete fence so you would only see the roof. As soon as you try to take a picture different from the magazine "Korea" the guide will say: "why are you taking a picture" "it's forbidden here" Koreans are not shy when it comes to basic needs, the guide forbid to take pictures of men taking a piss on the middle of the road, but there was no problem when it happened in the capital next to to a monument (look at the guy on the steps) The big monument, (they cut off the electricity at 11) The city at night is scary, there is no light on the streets and people use white lights and no curtains. during the day the elevator didn't work for 15 mins View from the monument, besides the pretty view you can also see the dead birds. Reality of the NK, a forigner will not see this generally.
koutch's Avatar Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Canaduh Posts: 1,088 Default The mausoleum You have to button up your shirt and look serious, and leave eveything except your sunglasses at the entrance, you will have to go trough an x-ray scanner (which no one tells you about), and for some reason there is a wi-fi router. The statue is white, and the light on top is blue and on the bottom is red. And its called a "visit" because the Great Leader is still "alive" Next to the statue wearing an ironic t-shirt ( Hysteria of the USSR), the guide didn't know russian well, and when was asked an unplesant question didn't know russian at all.
koutch's Avatar Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Canaduh Posts: 1,088 Default the defence About 10% of the population serves in the military, its impossible not to cross soldiers. They do everything, taking care of the cattle, picking up wood, and ride 40 persons in a truck As a form of entertainement both Koreas will take you to a visit to the border. One mystery remains, how comme under capitalism the roads are good and under communism sh*tty. The road is prepared for an invasion, the big cubes can be pushed on the road to trap the enemy tanks. Just in case they put those things up on every road in the radius of 50km from the border, they are often decorated. A NK beach, electrified barbed-wire so the NK citiziens wouln't swim away, of couse you're not allowed to take that picture. NK love to show off military trophees, like the american spy ship Pueblo. Pieces of US aicraft in a museum, that are gathered up with a lot of love. NK defends itself not only from imperialist agressors, every neiborhood is defended. Once by a coincidence, he took a picture of that buliding with AC on every window. Of couse he was told that he's not allowd to take the picture. Apperently this is not an ordinary house, maybe scientists live there. On may 1st, the tourists got to see a concert and taekwondo students so everyone would know that the new replacement is growing up.
koutch's Avatar Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Canaduh Posts: 1,088 Default The only ads in NK, an advertisment for a car (made in cooperation with the South) that you will only see in the capital, there are 3 different banners/models. A composition showing the heroism of the workers, its a rather unique piece since the military is on the 2nd plan. Banners with Kim Il Song , who calls up people for heroic acts. You can often see pictures of Kim Jon Suk (wife of Kim Il Song) Like his composition is called "Comarade Kim Jon Suk is saving Kim Il Song), but Kim Il Song is shown even more often Bronze is often used in the monument, here you can see the worker, the farmworker and the intellectual. In every place you will have a Pole with a citation of the great leader. Hello ( PREVED) NK like to customize their number ,as you can see with the 40 Every citizen has a pin of Kim Il Song, except for little children, waiters (the pin is probably hidden by work clothes), and Kim Il Song himself You cannot by this pin. That means that a food joint is near, by the way even in China they draw a fork. You can see this on the doors, the X means entrance forbidden, and the thingy taht looks like a target means enter here. In a model pioneer palace, a concert is shown, at the end a picture of Kim Jong Il is shown, the forigners are in extasy.
Whoami88 Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 214 Default Quote: Originally Posted by alphabet Wow, what an interesting place, I might have to go visit. Even then the few people that are allowed are very constricted.
koutch's Avatar Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Canaduh Posts: 1,088 Default Quote: Originally Posted by Whoami88 Very few people are ever allowed to visit. Even then the few people that are allowed are very constricted. I disagree, what i posted here are pictures of a trip made by a common man, who is also constantly breaking rules by taking pictures that he shouln't. I think the only people who can't enter in the NK are Americans.
PILMAN Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Fort Walton Beach, Florida Posts: 69 Default Good pictures, I've seen some interesting photos from North Korea but not so many ones that were not supposed to be taken.
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