Last bit of North Korea

This is the last I'll say about North Korea, I promise! Mostly just a few last pictures and things that I wanted to show.

First of all, here are some postcards I bought. (Some of you might recognize them if I sent you one!) They did have 'normal' postcards of the famous sights and monuments, but those were pretty boring, not great quality, and I took a lot of the same pictures myself. THESE, on the other hand, are definitely one-of-a-kind!

I asked my coteachers for help translating them, and they found it pretty difficult. There is a difference between the North and South Korean dialects, and the slogans can use some Chinese characters or vocabulary that South Koreans might not be familiar with. They're all related to propaganda - these are images that North Koreans see every day, so it's about patriotism, preserving a Socialist lifestyle, working hard, independent reunification of the Koreas, etc.









Everybody I mailed a postcard to said that they received it, but I can only imagine what some of the USPS staff were thinking as they processed these!

Here is a great video that a member of our tour group put together. Adam did a really nice job, and there beautiful shots of things like Mt. Paekdu and the Mass Games! I love this video. If I were a computer whiz I could probably figure out how to embed it right here, but I'm not so here is the link for you to copy and paste: http://vimeo.com/28455309

I make a brief appearance, staggering up Mt. Paekdu and getting sunburned. The song is "Truck" by Octopus Project, a band from Adam's hometown of Austin, TX.

And last but not least: here is proof that the DPRK can do some things right. Pyongyang is home to an amazing subway system. It's the deepest metro system in the world, and doubles as a nuclear bunker in the event of an imperialist attack. It took forever to get to the stations - riding in an ancient escalator over 350 feet below ground! We were able to ride the subway two or three stops, getting off and on to take pictures of the different stations. The metro stations are gorgeous, in a very 1970's way - chandeliers, murals (of course), statues of Kim Il Sung (of course) and lots of marble.

Have you ever ridden an escalator where you couldn't see the bottom or the top?! Creepy!


A map of the Pyongyang Metro System's two lines.

You can read the daily paper while you wait!






You can also see a bit of the metro system in Adam's video. All in all, I'd say the cleanliness and decor puts most Western and South Korean metro or bus terminals to shame.