Bakyeon Waterfall and were heading towards lunch. We went back to Kaesong, and stopped at a place where I can only assume was the only restaurant in town designated for use by foreigners. We drove into a small, enclosed area, and as soon as everyone was in, they closed this giant fucking gate on us. It makes sense, I guess, considering how right outside was a busy street with tons of people, as well as a giant mural to the Korean workers party (which alas, no one was able to get a picture of.) So off we went to have a traditional North Korean meal.


Area where we had lunch.


Shot near the entrance.


Another picture.

(Before you start saying, "You know, that one meal you ate means that 50 North Koreans went hungry." Just so you know, all the food for the tours is provided by the South and prepared for the North. So there.)

We were led into a small dining room with the other guests. Since we were literally the last ones seated, all of us got seperated, so I didn't get to eat with my group. Instead, I ate with a random Canadian girl (which was disappointing, because I was planning to have a bottle of North Korean beer with my friends, which is heads and shoulders better than South Korean beer Read about it here and be sure to follow the links for more info.) The food was good, but I'm not really that good at describing it. The rice had peas in it, but the peas were very dry. The lental soup was excellent. Dylan also extremely liked these cookies that we had for a dessert, and took a bunch home with him.

After lunch we had a chance to do some shopping. There, we found a variety of things, such as a bookstore (with books in Korean, English and Japanese), a traditional crafts store, and even a place to buy liquor (I bought two bottles of NK beer and a giant NK map of the Korean peninsula. I thought about buying some NK books, but you can only support the North. Plus, I didn't take a bag on the bus, and I was getting a lot of stuff. (I almost bought a book titled, "Japenese atrocities during World War II," but decided against it."


Books at the bookstore.

Before we departed, we met some other Americans who were in the city for two weeks doing humanitarian service. They were entering the restaurant area at the same time as we were leaving. They were doctors from a Christain organization whose name I don't remember, but they were there installing a water pump at the Kaesong hospital, which had been built around 1900 by missionaries. Having seen a documentary ( parts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7) about the hospitals in the North, I could imagine the conditions that the hospital was in. But still, I felt that their effort was kind of wasted here, because compared to the northeast part of the country, Kaesong really was very well off. I wanted to ask them more about their reasons for being here, and what their experience was like, but we where just about to leave, and we were quickly herded back into the buses.

Next, we headed to a shrine/lecture hall of a Confucian scholar, Jeong Mong-ju. At this point, we were starting to get tired, and the placewasn't really that interesting. But while taking pictures, Jill and Dylan got in trouble for taking pictures of the city, something that's a big no-no from the staff. Luckily, it was just a warning, but to be safe, they deleted all the offending pictures instead of trying to sneak them out.


Seungyang lecture hall.


Entrance gate.

In memory of?


Marker in hanja describing the place and the famous man from there.

The most interesting thing about this stop was that as we got out, we were right next to a busy street. We weren't hidden away like some embarrassment, we were in plain sight for everyone to see. However, the North Koreans weren't allowed to walk on the same side of the street as us. But man, did they stare. And man, did we stare back, and wave. And man, did our minders quickly usher us away from there. That was really cool. (Though I think I did see a Chinese tour group that was walking around rather than getting bused around, which would have be uber-awesome.)

Next, we went to a Seonjuk bridge, known for being the place where Jeong Mong-ju, the same man whose lecture hall we just left and an opponent to the formation of the Joseon dynasty, was murdered by five men, as ordered by Lee Bang-won, who would later become the third king of Joseon. According to wikipedia, "This bridge, now in North Korea, has become a national monument of that country. A brown spot on one of the stones is said to be Jeong's bloodstain, and to become red when it rains." Now, if South Korea knew how to sex up their history like this, there wouldn't be as many problems with tourism.


Bridge Marker


The Bridge.


Could it be... blood?


Or maybe here?

Across the street there was... something. I'm not really sure what it was. It might have been Pyochungbi, a monument erected to commemorate Jeong’s loyalty to Koryo. Anyway, here are some pics:





Our last stop was the Koryo Museum. According to this article from the Chosen ilbo, "The Koryo Museum [is] housed in the Songgyungwan, the central institute of education in the Koryo Dynasty. The building was destroyed during Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea in the 1590s and restored in the early 17th century. It now displays some 1,000 artifacts and is famous for two 500-year-old gingko trees and a 450-year-old zelkova tree."


Map of the place.

Tomb of some sort - the artwork may be authentic, I'm not sure. The area was pitch black, and they had a giant metal door that they closed over it.

The museum wasn't that impressive, since everything was in Korean. They did claim to have a copy of the Jikji on display (which has become the symbol of Cheongju, despite the fact that no one in Korea, let alone the world, cares that the Jijki is the oldest book printed using metal type. It still isn't as important as the Gutenburg Bible.) There was an awesome picture of Kim Il-sung visiting the place, which in hindsight I should have taken a picture of (despite the sign saying not to take pictures of it.)

By this time, I could barely stay awake. I did manage to buy a book of North Korean stamps and some posters to give to some people. But otherwise, that was basically the trip. We headed back to the buses, out of the city and out through the Kaesong industrial complex yet again. We got back through the checkpoints, through the DMZ, and were safely back in the South. I was worried that the stamps would be seized because they would be considered North Korean propaganda, or that they wouldn't let me take my two bottles of beer back (the customs sheet said we could only bring back one,) but in the end, there was no customs check. Our passports were stamped, and we were on our way back to Seoul.



In summation, this trip was awesome. I had a great time, learned things, got a glimpse into North Korea, and got some awesome souvenirs. In hindsight, there are a lot of things I should have taken pictures of, including many illegal things. Also, I should have brought a notebook to better describe what I was seeing. It just means that I have to go back sometime.

I will end this post with two facts. One, approximately $100 dollars of the cost of each trip goes to North Korea (according to the Chosun ilbo) and two, in North Korea, a toilet, normally called 화장실 (hwajangsil) is called a 위생시 (uisaengsil.) Weird, isn't it?





* See the complete photo albums from the trip here, here, here and here. If you are interested in going yourself, I recommend going through Adventure Korea (site only works in Internet Explorer.) For another take on the trip from a Korean, check out the April 21st entry from Seoul Seacher. If there's anything you want to know about the trip, feel free to leave a comment.