May 2009 Archives
"Kim Jong-il has been unanimously re-elected as North Korea's supreme leader as
the international diplomatic deadlock continues over how to punish Pyongyang
for last weekend's missile test."
Last weekend I flew up to Northern China, and went back in time in a variety of ways. On a small scale, I went back in time a few months. Traveling directly North exactly 10 degrees latitude felt like a bit of a vortex. It was deja vu over and over as I was seeing all the flowers, leaves, birds and foods of spring pop us just as I had seen only two months prior in Wuhan. On a larger scale, I stepped back in time a hundred years; into an undeveloped, ancient area of China. And what's more - the part that borders an even more underdeveloped area of the world - North Korea.
Thank you Communism!
Last Thursday afternoon I flew into Shenyang, the main centre of Liaoning Province. Shenyang was a Mongol trading centre from the 11th to 16th century; the capital of the Manchu Empire in the 17th century; and more recently it has changed hands of the Japanese (1930); Russians (1945); Kuomintang (1946), and currently rests in the power of the Communist Party (since 1948). Not surprisingly, Shenyang has many historical buildings and sites; however, due to an illness I had been bedridden with all week, I didn't see many of them. I really just wanted to sleep! Luckily, I stayed with a couch surfer in her MANSION and was treated to some very interesting Northern Chinese foods (muscles in sauerkraut soup) and a tour of the Korean districts of the city. I think I had the best sleep of my life that night! Although I still look pasty and swollen from the thousands of IV's of saline solution in all these pics. All that matters is I am feeling better now.
The following day I met up with another Couch Surfer (Dima, in the pic above) who is here from Belarus working for BMW. Him, his co-worker from Germany (Bruno) and I took a new A6 off the assembly line, and proceeded to drive it through it's first 700km of life. I'll just say I am not one for new fancy cars, (in particular when you are in one in an area where the purchase price could instead be used to feed every hungry child within 100km for a year) BUT, those of you who know about the driving and drivers in China will understand when I say, I was thankful more than once for the horsepower and handling of a Beamer
I was the tour guide, translator, and history buff and entertainer on this trip. However I was not aware this was expected of me until I met with these two fresh-off-the-boat-from-Germany expats. They hadn't even eaten street food yet! Needless to say, I coaxed them into more than one potentially life threatening and certainly enjoyable experiences. One night, I ordered a bowl of silk worms and told Dima they were a traditional Northern Chinese staple. Ha ha! And he liked them!
After trying to get out of Shenyang for an hour or so (Chinese maps and street signs up there make about as much sense as communism) we made it to the destination of the day. As a border city, Dandong's mix of Korean and Chinese culture was apparent upon arrival. Dandong survives on the tourism industry (mainly Chinese mainlanders) for sneaking a peak at North Korea across Yalu River. My favorite part was the old bridge; which is only half a bridge, as it was bombed in the war by Americans.
They've built a new one (behind the lighted one in the pic below) in order to transport goods to and from China.
On route, we stumbled upon a gorgeous Tibetan Buddhism monastery.
It seemed so strange to me that it was there in all it's glory and so close to Beijing. I find that freedom and zest for life increases exponentially as one's distance from Beijing also increases. But here it was, unscathed. Real monks and worshipers and everything.
We also came across some really cool water falls, which still had ice under them! Brrrrrr
Although it took us a while, we finally found the Eastern most stretch of the Great Wall -Tiger Mountain - On Saturday. Here we got our first views of North Korea. We were all so confused though. Right there on the border, there was no policing; no security; no worries. DO the Chinese not want to go into Korea or is It the North Koreans who have no desire to enter China? Have they both been brainwashed?
Yeah, there is about a 20 foot drop to my left (hence Dima kinda holding me so I don't fall back), but any desperate person could survive that jump. Dima and I are saluting Communism here, only 10 meters across a river from North Korea. Would it be strange to smile happily in a picture beside North Korea? I felt strange smiling there.
Furthermore, this hike along the wall that separates China from North Korea had us asking some other questions.
What do Chinese people think of North Korea? What do North Koreans think?
Firstly, since this might be most of your first time seeing pictures of North Korea, I'll put 4 in a row here that took from the top of the wall- the first is of the river that borders China (to the right) and North Korea (left) and then I tried to take a panorama shot spanning about 100 degrees all south of where I was standing - all of North Korea in it's glory.
Note: no roads, power lines, cars, etc!
Secondly, in order to help answer my previously mentioned musings, I asked some of my Chinese friends upon returning to Wuhan what they were taught in school about North Korea, and also what they thought most Chinese people think of North Korea. What were you taught?
My Chinese friends told me they were taught that North Korea is also a great country because it is communist. They currently think of North Korea as the little brother of China. Although I text messaged a friend from the border and he wrote back "be careful of the nukes!" which makes me think Chinese people are also aware of North Korea's threats as well. Furthermore, I did a quick online search regarding the realtionship between China and North Korea, and came up with a few really interesting sites if you are curious.
http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2009-03/2009-03-19voa13.cfm?CFID=194184398CFTOKEN=73493567&jsessionid=6630ba3306af6bb136ce4f6a3b4478462c43
http://www.cfr.org/publication/11097/chinanorth_korea_relationship.html
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/KC24Ad01.html
http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/2/5/4/2/8/p254282_index.html
Here I am, pondering, since behind me across the river is North Korea - what do people ponder there?
On my last day up North, I slept at another Couch Surfer's home - Lotus - a girl originally from Wuhan who lived in Montreal for 5 years! She had a half-Canadian 5 year old son who was such a treasure and fun on the beaches; although the plethora of wedding photos was enough entertainment for me.
Dalian is said to be the Hong Kong of the North and is one of China's most prosperous and modern cities.
In some sick twist of fate, this city is mere kilometers form the spot where I took those pictures of North Korea.
Oh well, what can you do....
Peace!
By Peter Foster in Beijing - Last Updated: 6:11PM BST 09 Apr 2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/5128904/North-Korea-Kim-Jong-il-celebrates-re-election-as-diplomatic-deadlock-drags.html
Oh, Communism...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/5128904/North-Korea-Kim-Jong-il-celebrates-re-election-as-diplomatic-deadlock-drags.html
Oh, Communism...
Last weekend I flew up to Northern China, and went back in time in a variety of ways. On a small scale, I went back in time a few months. Traveling directly North exactly 10 degrees latitude felt like a bit of a vortex. It was deja vu over and over as I was seeing all the flowers, leaves, birds and foods of spring pop us just as I had seen only two months prior in Wuhan. On a larger scale, I stepped back in time a hundred years; into an undeveloped, ancient area of China. And what's more - the part that borders an even more underdeveloped area of the world - North Korea.
Thank you Communism!
Last Thursday afternoon I flew into Shenyang, the main centre of Liaoning Province. Shenyang was a Mongol trading centre from the 11th to 16th century; the capital of the Manchu Empire in the 17th century; and more recently it has changed hands of the Japanese (1930); Russians (1945); Kuomintang (1946), and currently rests in the power of the Communist Party (since 1948). Not surprisingly, Shenyang has many historical buildings and sites; however, due to an illness I had been bedridden with all week, I didn't see many of them. I really just wanted to sleep! Luckily, I stayed with a couch surfer in her MANSION and was treated to some very interesting Northern Chinese foods (muscles in sauerkraut soup) and a tour of the Korean districts of the city. I think I had the best sleep of my life that night! Although I still look pasty and swollen from the thousands of IV's of saline solution in all these pics. All that matters is I am feeling better now.
The following day I met up with another Couch Surfer (Dima, in the pic above) who is here from Belarus working for BMW. Him, his co-worker from Germany (Bruno) and I took a new A6 off the assembly line, and proceeded to drive it through it's first 700km of life. I'll just say I am not one for new fancy cars, (in particular when you are in one in an area where the purchase price could instead be used to feed every hungry child within 100km for a year) BUT, those of you who know about the driving and drivers in China will understand when I say, I was thankful more than once for the horsepower and handling of a Beamer
I was the tour guide, translator, and history buff and entertainer on this trip. However I was not aware this was expected of me until I met with these two fresh-off-the-boat-from-Germany expats. They hadn't even eaten street food yet! Needless to say, I coaxed them into more than one potentially life threatening and certainly enjoyable experiences. One night, I ordered a bowl of silk worms and told Dima they were a traditional Northern Chinese staple. Ha ha! And he liked them!
After trying to get out of Shenyang for an hour or so (Chinese maps and street signs up there make about as much sense as communism) we made it to the destination of the day. As a border city, Dandong's mix of Korean and Chinese culture was apparent upon arrival. Dandong survives on the tourism industry (mainly Chinese mainlanders) for sneaking a peak at North Korea across Yalu River. My favorite part was the old bridge; which is only half a bridge, as it was bombed in the war by Americans.
They've built a new one (behind the lighted one in the pic below) in order to transport goods to and from China.
On route, we stumbled upon a gorgeous Tibetan Buddhism monastery.
It seemed so strange to me that it was there in all it's glory and so close to Beijing. I find that freedom and zest for life increases exponentially as one's distance from Beijing also increases. But here it was, unscathed. Real monks and worshipers and everything. We also came across some really cool water falls, which still had ice under them! Brrrrrr
Although it took us a while, we finally found the Eastern most stretch of the Great Wall -Tiger Mountain - On Saturday. Here we got our first views of North Korea. We were all so confused though. Right there on the border, there was no policing; no security; no worries. DO the Chinese not want to go into Korea or is It the North Koreans who have no desire to enter China? Have they both been brainwashed?
Yeah, there is about a 20 foot drop to my left (hence Dima kinda holding me so I don't fall back), but any desperate person could survive that jump. Dima and I are saluting Communism here, only 10 meters across a river from North Korea. Would it be strange to smile happily in a picture beside North Korea? I felt strange smiling there.
Furthermore, this hike along the wall that separates China from North Korea had us asking some other questions.What do Chinese people think of North Korea? What do North Koreans think?
Firstly, since this might be most of your first time seeing pictures of North Korea, I'll put 4 in a row here that took from the top of the wall- the first is of the river that borders China (to the right) and North Korea (left) and then I tried to take a panorama shot spanning about 100 degrees all south of where I was standing - all of North Korea in it's glory.
Note: no roads, power lines, cars, etc!Secondly, in order to help answer my previously mentioned musings, I asked some of my Chinese friends upon returning to Wuhan what they were taught in school about North Korea, and also what they thought most Chinese people think of North Korea. What were you taught?
My Chinese friends told me they were taught that North Korea is also a great country because it is communist. They currently think of North Korea as the little brother of China. Although I text messaged a friend from the border and he wrote back "be careful of the nukes!" which makes me think Chinese people are also aware of North Korea's threats as well. Furthermore, I did a quick online search regarding the realtionship between China and North Korea, and came up with a few really interesting sites if you are curious.
http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2009-03/2009-03-19voa13.cfm?CFID=194184398CFTOKEN=73493567&jsessionid=6630ba3306af6bb136ce4f6a3b4478462c43
http://www.cfr.org/publication/11097/chinanorth_korea_relationship.html
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/KC24Ad01.html
http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/2/5/4/2/8/p254282_index.html
Here I am, pondering, since behind me across the river is North Korea - what do people ponder there? On my last day up North, I slept at another Couch Surfer's home - Lotus - a girl originally from Wuhan who lived in Montreal for 5 years! She had a half-Canadian 5 year old son who was such a treasure and fun on the beaches; although the plethora of wedding photos was enough entertainment for me.
Dalian is said to be the Hong Kong of the North and is one of China's most prosperous and modern cities.
In some sick twist of fate, this city is mere kilometers form the spot where I took those pictures of North Korea.Oh well, what can you do....
Peace!
