Buffet type breakfast as usual, I'm just gonna skip writing about it unless something interesting happens. Today, the itinerary called for Mt. Myohyang and the visit to the International friendship exhibition, the place where gifts for leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il are housed. Was very interesting. On the way there, our guide Ms. K told us a few things about education and marriage here in the North. Education here consisted of 11 levels and began with pre-school, by the time children reached the age of 9 they are offered the chance to start learning Russian or English. Our guide also said joining the military was not compulsory but voluntarily. Youth could join and do volunteer for 3 years before moving onto university. I'm doubting the non-compulsory part but I can see why everyone joins the military and usually stay, since North Korea has a military first policy. To get anywhere in life here, you'd have to join the military. And as for marriage, single women aren't allowed to have their own place. They continue to live with parents until they are married. The average age of marriage for women here is 25-28 and 28-30 for men.
Driving through the countryside, I can say it looked like it was early 1970s-1980s rural South Korea. But the houses weren't shacks or anything though, they were actual concrete buildings. If they're heated is another question. Before I began the trip, I had expected to be taken back in time 40 years, yet I only feel it's only 25 years at most. North Korea doesn't look as backwards on many places as it appears to be.
Both the Kims' exhibition halls of gifts were very interesting. In Kim Il Sung's, there were gifts from 180 countries and 225000 articles of items. Kim Jong Il's had about 60000 articles from over 100 countries as well. The most interesting gift I saw was a car given to Kim Il Sung from Stalin. Bullet proof and weighed 6 tons, I won't forget the view at the top of his hall either, the view of the forest was spectacular. I was also surprised to see some gifts from Canada too, albeit only 10 items and shared the case with the US and some other country that I forgot. Another surprise was seeing many gifts from Japan, despite hostile relations. But most of it came from citizens and organizations, not officials from the government. It's really too bad we couldn't take any photos inside and also not having enough time. I would've loved to see more, but it would take at least another day or two to see everything in just Kim Il Sung's one alone.
Lunch was ok again, gonna skip writing about it along with dinner unless it's interesting/noteworthy. This lunch was in an unheated hotel, a far cry from our lunch yesterday which was back at our hotel in the revolving restaurant at the top.
Next up, was the Buddhist temple, the largest in North Korea, and then a small hike around Mt. Myohyang. The temple was good, there were some structures that were originals and this is the place that houses the collection of 80000 buddhist books. The wood blocks that were used to write these books is housed in the Tripitaka Koreana in South Korea. And since we were in wilderness, we took a small hike, and I use that word loosely...it was more of a climb...Thank god I didn't go any further with the rest of the people. And a note on the ride to and from Mt. Myohyang, which I can only describe in 3 words: amusement park ride. There were so many dips and bumps in the road at times I felt like I was gonna fly out of my seat. Oh and the highway was devoid of cars, but not people, many of whom were walking along or just riding bikes. Other than that, I could count how many vehicles I saw that day in total: 70...
Wide, empty, bumpy, sometimes curvy, most of the times straight roads. Perfect for an STI :)
The only thing worth mentioning about dinner was the small bibimbap served. Twice as small as the ones served in the South.
Ending day 4 with this: Mid-trip fatigue has set in. Maybe because from the lack of interesting sites and the fact there's only 3 days left.
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