61–70 of 85 posts
I recognize a Soviet car: http://www.mapillary.com/map/im/-74CU7C3XYKmnkAtpVwiQA and http://mapillary.com/map/im/StWpR2MuX2z3Xhd1LWd9QQ , that's a 1979+ ВАЗ-2105 https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%90%D0%97-2105 It looks (and is) dated, but actually was produced until recently and a common sight in Russia. I wonder how they get there.
Wasn't the Soviet Union main trading partner of NK for quite a while?
I recognize a Soviet car: http://www.mapillary.com/map/im/-74CU7C3XYKmnkAtpVwiQA and http://mapillary.com/map/im/StWpR2MuX2z3Xhd1LWd9QQ , that's a 1979+ ВАЗ-2105 https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%90%D0%97-2105 It looks (and is) dated, but actually was produced until recently and a common sight in Russia. I wonder how they get there.
Aaaah ВАЗ aka VAZ aka Lada. What is the difference between a Lada and a golf ball? You can drive a golf ball 200 meters. How do Lada drivers recognize each other? They already met at the mechanic that morning.
What' two Ladas on top of a hill? Science-fiction.
What's three Ladas on top of a hill? A weird place to build a Lada factory.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Aaaah ВАЗ aka VAZ aka Lada. What is the difference between a Lada and a golf ball? You can drive a golf ball 200 meters. How do Lada drivers recognize each other? They already met at the mechanic that morning.
What's a Lada on top of a hill? A miracle. What' two Ladas on top of a hill? Science-fiction. What's three Ladas on top of a hill? A weird place to build a Lada factory.
[1] there's heaps of new-ish Mercedes, BMW, Audi etc (many right-hand drive) in Georgia which is confusing as it's not a wealthy country at all. I got talking to an Insurance guy who'd told me this is because Georgia is the end of the line for a chain of insurance fraud starting in the UK\Germany, where cars would be "stolen", claimed on insurance and then moved on + re-registered somehow in the next country. This process is repeated until they ended up in Georgia and were sold for a knockdown price because they'd already recouped their money many times over. Ex-USSR countries are really interesting and I'd thoroughly recommend them for a visit, just learn a couple of phrases in the local language or Russian to make things a little smoother :)
I can't help but notice great the condition of the roads are (probably due to the very few cars there). This road in particular looks well looked after. For a country that has a lot of starving citizens, it is quite surprising. Take a drive through most streets in Los Angeles and you will experience what a poorly maintained road feels like in a supposedly first-world country. Same goes for some roads in my city here…
I recognize a Soviet car: http://www.mapillary.com/map/im/-74CU7C3XYKmnkAtpVwiQA and http://mapillary.com/map/im/StWpR2MuX2z3Xhd1LWd9QQ , that's a 1979+ ВАЗ-2105 https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%90%D0%97-2105 It looks (and is) dated, but actually was produced until recently and a common sight in Russia. I wonder how they get there.
Aaaah ВАЗ aka VAZ aka Lada. What is the difference between a Lada and a golf ball? You can drive a golf ball 200 meters. How do Lada drivers recognize each other? They already met at the mechanic that morning.
a.k.a Fiat 124
BTW, Ladas were (still are) exported to the West and did reasonably well as low-cost vehicles.
On the same note, here is a surreal 22 min drive through Pyongyang. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4hLctBvojE It pairs well with a few Aphex Twin songs: Heliosphan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z4cLmbw6q0 Flim : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhHkUg-QCwk Ageispolis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOf6ICP3WAg It is surreal because it almost makes it possible to forget how may people that regime has starving, w…
What struck me was the lack of life on the streets. Anywhere else I'd expect to see street vendors, buskers, flashy billboards and storefronts, people laughing, but there's none of that. The streets seem purely functional. But they're not bleak either - the landscaping is quite nice, actually. Might just be confirmation bias on my part.
On the same note, here is a surreal 22 min drive through Pyongyang. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4hLctBvojE It pairs well with a few Aphex Twin songs: Heliosphan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z4cLmbw6q0 Flim : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhHkUg-QCwk Ageispolis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOf6ICP3WAg It is surreal because it almost makes it possible to forget how may people that regime has starving, w…
Then there's the bit at about 5:14 where two buses have just gone past a bus stop, but there's still at least a good 50 or so people just waiting there, queuing.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You dont see many cars I guese because the population is low, even on the streets there are less number of people. By the way the cleanliness and stable roads are much better than India and Vietname and even some US cities. I dont agree with your electricity outage comment since you provided no proof of that.
You're taking one tiny stretch of (empty) road as evidence of the quality of infrastructure across the entire country. India has 2.53 million kilometers of paved road. Vietnam has 148,000 km. The CIA's 2006 estimate for North Korea was 724 kilometers.
EDIT: Gotta love the fog/haze over Pyongyang on Google Maps
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Pyongyang,+Coreia+do+Norte...
On the same note, here is a surreal 22 min drive through Pyongyang. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4hLctBvojE It pairs well with a few Aphex Twin songs: Heliosphan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z4cLmbw6q0 Flim : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhHkUg-QCwk Ageispolis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOf6ICP3WAg It is surreal because it almost makes it possible to forget how may people that regime has starving, w…
What struck me was the lack of life on the streets. Anywhere else I'd expect to see street vendors, buskers, flashy billboards and storefronts, people laughing, but there's none of that. The streets seem purely functional. But they're not bleak either - the landscaping is quite nice, actually. Might just be confirmation bias on my part.
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/kxxn0by6wur...
Hope you enjoyed it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Aaaah ВАЗ aka VAZ aka Lada. What is the difference between a Lada and a golf ball? You can drive a golf ball 200 meters. How do Lada drivers recognize each other? They already met at the mechanic that morning.
> Aaaah ВАЗ aka VAZ aka Lada. a.k.a Fiat 124 BTW, Ladas were (still are) exported to the West and did reasonably well as low-cost vehicles.
