The forbidden railway: Vienna - Pyongyang (2008)
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The forbidden railway: Vienna - Pyongyang (2008)
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Re: The forbidden railway: Vienna - Pyongyang (2008)
#2I went London-Shanghai (and ultimately Osaka) last year; one of the most affecting parts of that journey was going through the deserts of Kazakhstan and north-west China (e.g. https://www.cliché.net/photos/2012-04-02%20Trip/SDC16011.JPG and https://www.cliché.net/photos/2012-04-02%20Trip/SDC16084.JPG - hosted on my home connection so will be slow), which you miss by staying on the trans-siberian line. It's also a chance to see a really different side of China (as a European it's easy to imagine China will all be the same, being a single country, but of course it's as big and varied as, well, Europe) - and the route I took goes right past Baikonur, so there's always the chance of a rocket launch.
It's no good for going to North Korea (you finish in China, and as noted the line Beijing-Pyongyang is closed to tourists), but if you were just thinking of a big rail trip like the trans-siberian, have a look at the route via Kazakhstan too.
Re: The forbidden railway: Vienna - Pyongyang (2008)
#3That was great. I fricking love trains.
Re: The forbidden railway: Vienna - Pyongyang (2008)
#4Awesome travel diary. I took Trans-Mongolian from Moscow to Beijing with my friends in 2002 and it was quite a trip. I can just imagine how did the OP feel when they crossed North Korean border. Based on the photos he took, country-side dwellings in North Korea are of better quality than my impression was.
Re: The forbidden railway: Vienna - Pyongyang (2008)
#5I saw this posted in the comments on another thread and spent hours reading the whole thing -- epic journey, and I absolutely adored the photographs of North Korea.
It looks surprisingly beautiful, in its own way.
Re: The forbidden railway: Vienna - Pyongyang (2008)
#6such an amazing story
Re: The forbidden railway: Vienna - Pyongyang (2008)
#7It's great as long as you know you are not getting a full picture. You see what they want you to see, if you think any different you are delusional. If you approach anyone on the street, you will most likely get them in trouble and it's very unlikely for them to tell the truth (even "the veggies are kinda brownish" is subversion and by now they have seen what happens to their "subversive" neighbors and maybe family members).
Not to mention that almost all of them have been born and raised in that system, they know no better and are fed daily propaganda to make them believe that the outside world is much worst. I'd bet that most North Koreans would pass a lie detectors test with flying colors when saying that they love their current system.
Re: The forbidden railway: Vienna - Pyongyang (2008)
#8It's great as long as you know you are not getting a full picture. You see what they want you to see, if you think any different you are delusional. If you approach anyone on the street, you will most likely get them in trouble and it's very unlikely for them to tell the truth (even "the veggies are kinda brownish" is subversion and by now they have seen what happens to their "subversive" neighbors and maybe family m…
History will judge us very harshly for what we have all allowed to happen in north korea. Everyone should see Adrian Hong's speech: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/clip/4170683
He's co-founded a NGO that helps escapees from dprk.
One challenge I always have when I speak about North Korea is I run out of adjectives for how bad things are. And many of you that follow policy or human rights situations oftentimes get jaded with numbers,”
“It’s very easy for us to write off bad things because we just assume these are bad things that happen ‘over there,’ and many times they don’t necessarily affect us. And the challenge with North Korea in particular is that things are so bad on such a scale and scope that it sounds fake. It sounds unfathomable, it’s impossible to really comprehend.”
Re: The forbidden railway: Vienna - Pyongyang (2008)
#9Wow that was really cool. It's too bad the pictures started breaking when he was documenting his time in North Korea, all of those would be really interesting to see.
Odd how easy it was for them to get in. Flash a couple passports, visas, and fake like you like the great leader and you're in.
He commented that the route he took is no longer an option for tourists - not that it really was in the beginning, but the travel agency where he bought his tickets was informed that that one was no longer available. He said that when asked who recommended the tickets and where he found them, he responded with "we found them and bought them". I wonder how the travel agency got involved. (After reading more - he contacted the travel agency late enough for them not to alter the travel plans, but soon enough to talk to the Koreans to set up a guide).
I never knew how isolated South Korea was because of North Korea (no road/rail transport to the rest of the world).
That was pretty cool, and ridiculously in depth.
Re: The forbidden railway: Vienna - Pyongyang (2008)
#10Wow that was really cool. It's too bad the pictures started breaking when he was documenting his time in North Korea, all of those would be really interesting to see. Odd how easy it was for them to get in. Flash a couple passports, visas, and fake like you like the great leader and you're in. He commented that the route he took is no longer an option for tourists - not that it really was in the beginning, but the tr…
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