DANDONG!

Including driver we somehow managed to squeeze ten people in here for a three plus hour ride.

Dandong. For weeks we have been planning to get away to this border town that links North Korea and China, but there has always been something going on. This week we decided to go for it, and with the help of Ryan (our friend and Chinese Librarian at the boys campus), lots of organizational work by Cameron, and a mass of electronic communication, a group of 9 of us were ready and waiting for a van at four o’clock on Friday. We squished in (barely) and spent the next few hours weaving our way North, avoiding toll booths when we could. It was a fairly uncomfortable trip, but not all that bad considering. The most difficult part of the journey was convincing the driver (who spoke no English) that we actually, really, had to pee. Our ploy to gift him with a coke so that his bladder would also feel the pressure was to no avail.

We checked in to our very basic hotel (and promptly changed rooms because ours had apparently had a recent flood and was still very... damp), and took off to have some delicious hotpot and enjoy some of the local beverage specialties.

hotpot!

The next day we piled nine people into two taxis (the trick is to distract the driver with broken Chinese while four people slide quickly into the back) and headed out to the Easternmost section of the Great Wall. A small section, Tiger Mountain Great Wall (Hushan Changcheng) was built during the Ming dynasty in an attempt to keep out non-Han invaders. It was our first section of the wall, and even though it is apparently less impressive than many other sites, we were pretty stoked to have our wall cherry popped.

This part of the wall sees comparatively few tourists and it was a smoking hot day. In all we couldn’t have asked for a better morning, as we wandered around, poked our heads here and there, and gazed out over the border into North Korea.

Its a great wall....

Trekking the wall with Byron.

Left a little Canucks souvenir on the wall.

My spy pic, taken through a pair of high powered binoculars. Chinese tourists interacting with North Korean guards who just happened to be accompanying farmers in the fields near the border... Honestly not sure what was going on, if these tourists were being welcomed (I was pretty sure I saw cigarettes exchange hands) or being reprimanded for being on the wrong side of the border.

Some steep sections of the wall left the legs a little sore the next day.

Cameron hanging out with an out of place terra cotta warrior.

Paul contemplating the wall.

Do not climb or cross separation obstacles such as barbed wire....

oops.

The border was less than formidable. However, once you make it across the river into North Korea, there are miles of open fields with little to know vegetation and frequent guard towers. You might get in... but then you will probably have to stay for a while... a long while. In a less then comfortable place. We don't recommend it.

In the afternoon we went for a boat ride (and crossed into North Korean waters... so technically we were in North Korea). It was pretty incredible to look from the built up city of Dandong on the Chinese side of the river, to the polar opposite just across the river. From what we have been told, this part of the border is supposed to be the show that the government has put on for outside eyes. It is supposed to show that North Korea is a functioning, prosperous place. If that is the goal....


The Dandong crew, minus Laura Lee. China on the right, DPRK on the left.



North Korean Prosperity

After our boat ride, we wandered around the town, and were gawked at, as we were probably 9 of the 50 white people in the whole city (of over 750,000). People had asked for us to take pictures with them on the wall, but we took it a step further, putting on traditional Korean costumes (neon is apparently extremely traditional) and putting ourselves on overt display for a little while. The pictures with the bride and groom of a wedding were our personal favourites.

No comment could truly encapsulate this moment.

We then walked up to the main train station, where we relaxed under the imposing edifice of a giant Mao Zedong statue. It is immense, and made us pause to think about what a tremendous impact one person, and the cult of personality that was attached to him, has had on the development of the China we see today.

A pretty good summation of the last few decades of Chinese history in one picture.

The rest of the evening was spent at a Korean BBQ and the most seizure inducing, eye destroying club we have ever seen (the dance floor moved to the beat of the music... honestly). Being white, and a rarity in those parts, we were invited on stage (lured away from leaving by the promise of free libations) where we were quizzed in Chinese by the DJ who was in his mid forties. While we tried our best at the beginning to answer him in Chinese, the most poignant answer to any of his questions was Byron’s.... “LOOOOOOOOUNGO!” After Byron had answered his questions the same way a number of times, the DJ took it up himself, and by the end of the night in between songs you would hear a long, loud, “LOOOOOOOUNGO” from the dance floor!

We finished the night eating silk worms at a street stall. Yes, insect larvae bbq’ed and spiced. Ahhhh.... China.

That is delicious bbqed pupae.

We ate them all. Mmm.