When we last left our hero, he had just returned from a harrowing journey up into the mountains, where he was confronted by strange concrete beasts and restrictive tour guides. Now, join us for part two of his exciting journey into the heart of darkness... er, North Korea.
So, upon awakening from a reasonable slumber, Matt and I decided to check out the local scene in Onjunggak. We first decided it would be rather classy of us to patronize the fancy hotel's equally-fancy ballroom. We grabbed a deck of cards and headed downstairs to enjoy the entertainment, and to play and drink gin (martinis, in the case of the drink but not the game). We particularly enjoyed the lounge band, and we went to compliment them on their show during a break. Turns out they are a band from the Philippines, and somehow landed a gig in North Korea. They told Matt and I that we look like Jack Nicholson and Chuck Norris, respectively.
After that it was off to the bar where they served a surprisingly tasty beer in cool glass pitchers. We met up with a group of other folks, mostly English, who were on our trip and we played some P & A (with the ranks cleverly renamed to "Dear Leader" and "Bear-suit Guy") before heading off to the local noraebang (karaoke room). I serenaded the British lasses with some Mr. Big and a good time was had by all.
The worthwhile pictures pick up again on the next day, when we hopped aboard buses bound for Guryoung Waterfalls. We were actually given a choice on this trip, whether to take the easier "lake" hike or the more challenging Waterfall course. I was feeling well-rested, in contrast to the previous day, so Matt and I opted for the greater challenge which we of course hoped would yield greater rewards. As you can see from the below pictures, it most certainly did.
This was some kind of house... on the river. That's about all I could tell.
Here, this one's for you, Mom. It was some weird tiger conductor statue. From here on out, for the sake of brevity, I think I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves, except when I feel they require some extra explanation.
Ah, now this is my kind of drink. I think this is some kind of Snake-Soju. It was on sale, but it was still the AM and I don't think I would ever have the courage to drink some kinda crazy homebrewed North Korean moonshine. With a snake in it.
Here's a bunch of people who were on the trip in front of the trailhead marker. This picture was taken by an actual North Korean party member (commie)! That's me in the middle, obviously, my coworker Matt on the top, second from the right, and some other guy named Matt bottom left.
Here are some Chinese characters carved into the stone face and painted red. These were all over the mountains - state-sponsored graffiti. Our tour guide explained that most of them extol the virtues of Communism and the wisdom of Great Leader (Kim Il-Sung). They were a bit surreal, but I suppose nothing more surreal than four giant presidential heads carved into a mountain.
Just to give you a little idea of what I was dealing with here.
And to prove I was there.
These were the promised waterfalls. They were very pretty, but I was in store for a better sight yet. There was an optional additional path that basically climbed straight up the side of the mountain overshadowing the waterfall. I of course couldn't resist.
The path up was treacherous and crowded. Steep stairwells and hundreds of Korean tourists (we were the only Foreigner group there at the time) made for an interesting ascent.
The view from the top was incredible. This shot doesn't quite capture the row after row of green peaks spreading out in a bowl around the cliff.
This one's better.
Looking back over towards the DMZ.After the descent (which was exhausting, due to having to shove past hundreds more hikers who were just making their ascent, I met up with Matt and Matt again and we walked all the way back down. It was now about 2 PM, so after we rode the bus back to Onjunggak we had lunch at a delicious Korean Fusion restaurant in the square's miniature shopping mall. Time was short at this point, and I had yet to go to the square's outdoor jimjilbang (spa) so I rode the short bus over there (loaded up with Korean ajima) and enjoyed a relaxing sauna/hottub/shower.
After that, it was time to hop back on the coach bus and head home. Matt and I sat in the back with our newfound friends and we drove through most of the afternoon home. Customs on the way back was fortunately uneventful (they didn't even check our cameras, which was good because I know many of my traveling companions had taken many illegal pictures) and we watched a movie or two on the ride home. All in all, it was a fantastic weekend, one of my best to date in Korea, and certainly an experience to remember.
Next up: China!
No comments:
Post a Comment