Hey everyone, this is our mailing list for the month of September. Not a whole lot going on with us here at Travelers Digest this month so we’ll just move right along. Below we have our ‘destination of the month’ & also a travel editorial about a recent journey into North Korea.
Destination of the month: Seoul. Now is the best time to visit Seoul, the hot summer months have passed & the cold winter months are yet to arrive. Seoul is a beautiful city located along the banks of the Han River. Technically the largest city in the world, it’s truly a vibrant metropolis composed of various districts each one unique. I was recently in Seoul & I had an excellent time.
Please click on the following link for more information about Seoul: http://www.travelersdigest.com/seoul.htm
Trip to North Korea: I recently took the time to travel to North Korea while I was in Seoul. The trip was truly once in a lifetime stuff. It’s going to be hard for me to explain just exactly what North Korea is all about, but I’ll try.
My trip started early at four-thirty in the morning in central Seoul. There I boarded the bus for my pre-arranged guided tour to the North Korean city of Kaesong. The bus ride from Seoul to the DMZ took about an hour. Once at the DMZ we had to register with Hyundai, the main overseer of all trips from the ROK to the DPRK. There we were given ID cards which were to be around our necks at all times & serve as our visas to North Korea.
We were told that we couldn’t take cell phones, books, or even our iPods into the North. Also we were not allowed to take pictures of the city, the streets, or any person. And that all of our pictures would be reviewed before leaving the North.
From there we boarded another bus this time to cross the actual DMZ & go to Kaesong. Just to inform you, the DMZ is the line of demarcation between South Korea & North Korea. It’s also the most heavily militarized border in the world, as the two sides are still officially in a state of war with one another. There wasn’t much to see from the bus though, & we had been told not take pictures. On the horizon however there was a huge flagpole with a South Korean flag, & just across from it a huge flag pole with a North Korean flag. A measuring contest of sorts.
After a few minutes in the DMZ we crossed into North Korea. There were some border formalities, not a big deal. I did get a stamp in my passport but I had requested it, as per usual they only stamp your visa card.
We were entering the ’special economic zone’ of Kaesong. The region had received a lot of investment from South Korean multinationals in the past, but in recent months all of the enthusiasm for bilateral cooperation between the two states has dissipated with the election of Lee Myung-bak in South Korea, & the shooting death of a South Korean tourist near Mt Kumgang.
It was on the North Korean side where we picked up our military escort. Several SUV’s filled with North Korean soldiers who would guide our bus through the streets & to the designated tourist sights. It’s hard to describe the scene that was outside of my window. The city was a virtual ghost town, there were large roads but no cars. People walking were spread out in great distance from one another & appeared as virtual refugees. Soldiers were everywhere, on every street, standing at attention. They could even be seen in some very unusual places, I saw one soldier in the distance standing at attention in the middle of some railroad tracks. And another just standing in an empty field, & one more standing under a tree next to a cow. Very strange. Another thing that was very apparent about the city, was that it was truly a Communist nation. I’ve been to so many in the past that are just Communist in name but where capitalist markets still thrive. However North Korea was different…
There were no shops, no stores, no products for people to purchase. Everything was rationed out, it remains the only country I’ve ever been to out of more than eighty that didn’t have soft drinks. Propaganda posters were also abundant, our tour guide took the liberty of translating a few, one of which said ‘Don’t buy American products’.
Our first stop on our tour was the Barkyeon Waterfall. As soon as we pulled into the sight’s parking lot, the soldiers & tour operators fanned out as to form a human perimeter so we couldn’t ‘escape’ into the countryside. The waterfall was however amazing, & the surrounding scenery was also beautiful.
We spent about two hours at the waterfall before we took the bus back into the city for lunch. On the way there we crossed over the country’s main highway connecting the city to the capital Pyongyang, again it was empty as far as the eye could see. The restaurant we were to have lunch in was part of a tourist complex & was completely surrounded by walls. In fact after our bus pulled in they shut the gate behind us. Lunch was good though, & it was set up traditionally for the area.
After lunch we went around to a few more cultural sights, nothing too special. It was a shame we weren’t allowed to transverse the city streets as they looked terribly more interesting than the places we were going. A few times throughout the day there were checks on our cameras as the tour operator had received ‘reports’ from the two North Korean observers on our bus that there had been illegal photos taken. Some of my photos didn’t make it through.
Our last stop in the North was a museum & souvenir shop. I didn’t even go into the museum as I was dying for some souvenirs. I bought a few things, mostly propaganda about re-unification, & the soldier being the pillar of society. I also bought a Kim Jong-Il stamp. Unfortunately I was unable to buy a Kim Il-sung pin which I had seen almost every North Korean wearing on their chest. Apparently it’s taboo for foreigners to even talk about that.
Only after the purchase of the souvenirs was I informed that taking the items (Communist propaganda) into South Korea was illegal & they would seize them at the border. Thankfully a fellow tourist on the bus had a backpack & offered to smuggle people’s souvenirs into South Korea.
A short while later we were back on the bus headed towards Seoul. All in all it was a once in a lifetime experience that was more than worth the two hundred US Dollars I paid to the tour company. I’m not sure the tour is for everyone, but if you’re adventurous & like going to places that few have seen, this is your trip.
- Dakota Smith
And as always if you’re looking for deals on hotels across the globe check out TDLodging.com
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