North Korea: Day 2 (Sunday Evening)

After lunch we took some time to stroll around at a scenic spot near the statue. From here we could overlook most of the town and the homes.





On the way back to Pyongyang, most of us caught some Z's on the bus. Staying up most of the night had caught up with us. We often reminded ourselves that we were spending an outrageous sum of cash for each hour in North Korea, so we might as well make the most of it.

We took a ride down Thongil street and stopped at the Monument to the Three Charters for National Reunification, or the Reunification Archway for short. It's almost as cool as the Kearney Archway in Nebraska.




Back in Pyongyang area, we took a walk around a park in Mangyondae. Situated in the middle was the humble childhood home of Kim Il Sung. Although his ancestors are considered national heroes far back into North Korea history, apparently his family had a financial setback somewhere down the line and ended up in this little shack. According to my book Pyongyang, A Park City, "A constant stream of Koreans and foreigners visit this sacred spot where President Kim Il Sung was born as the Sun of Juche."




As the day winded down, we were taken to some shops to look around. The first seemed to be an elaborate souvenir shop. Ordinarily I think tourists would be upset to be forcibly taken to a shop, but in this case everyone was thrilled because this was the first actual shop outside of the hotel we were allowed to set foot in. I bought some Mass Games postcards. To purchase these, I first had to stand in line and pick them out. The clerk then wrote me out a receipt. I took the receipt to the front of the store and paid for my goods. She marked the receipt and I returned to the first clerk to pick up the cards. Can't this be simplified?

Next we came to a "Philatelic Service" shop. There was an enormous selection of stamps.





We then had dinner. The Taedong River beer is actually pretty good and we all merrily downed a few glasses.

After dinner, fellow tourist Austin and I had a good chat with one of the girls holding the door. She was very friendly. I asked her, "Are you married?" She didn't understand so I pointed to her finger and made the gesture of slipping a ring on and off. A ha! That did it. "Yes!" She said. They seem to marry young here. I asked how many years she'd been married. "One, two, three?" I asked. She followed with "four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.... ten!"

Hey, she's got her English numbers down at least. That's more than I can say for Korean.



As nice as the Koryo Hotel is, there was an overpowering desire in some of us to live out a twisted fantasy of bowling and gambling in North Korea. This could be done at one place. The Yanggakto Hotel. Late at night the die-hards all took a bus over. We started out at the Pyongyang casino. This was like no casino I've ever seen before.

Ran by Chinese, the first room you enter is filled with a dozen or two slot machines. What struck me the most was the overpowering silence. There was only one gambler in this casino, a Chinese man by himself at the blackjack table in the adjascent room. We decided to give him some company. Minimum bid was $5.

This table was so sloppy. I don't know if it was the dealer's first night or if it was always this way, but she seemed to be just burning cards at random. But fate was on my side. On my hand she went over 21, so I won $5 off my bet.

Next my friend Austin and I chatted up the Chinese staff at the karaoke bar. It was very helpful that he spoke some Chinese. He was really in his element here. But he was disappointed that they were lacking some of the latest Chinese Pop hits. We also ventured into the massage parlor. For 123 euro, the guest could receive "special service." "What's the special service?" we asked the clerk. "Sex," he said flatly. No beating around the bush here.

The bowling alley was very cool. Only three lanes and equipped with several pachinko machines for Japanese tourists, I suppose. I bowled a strike, which was an accomplishment because I was beginning to feel pretty tipsy.

We were even able to get the Korean bowling alley attendants to join us in a bit of fun.





After a few beers in the lounge, we capped the night with an extremely surreal drunken football match in the hotel parking lot. Austin picked up the bus's mic, switched it to reverb mode, and started in with the star spangled banner. We were still sober enough to cut that after one line though. Simon wound up and kicked the ball across the lot smacking me dead in the face. Luckily for him it was merely a wimpy inflatable ball and hardly even stung. Later at the Koryo Hotel he gave me a Cuban cigar. Nice chap.

We talked of the similarities between North Korea and Orwell's 1984. The giant pyramid shaped Ryugyong hotel on the horizon draws parallels to the Ministry of Truth. Like victory cigarettes, the local variety would lose its tobacco if tipped down. And of course the state run radios placed in every citizen's home, which can be turned down but never turned off.

Back to the Koryo Hotel for some more beers and lights out at 3AM. We'd be starting our last full day in 4 hours, at 7AM.

Next: Monday Morning