Weird things in North Korea...

This is my third and probably last blog entry about North Korea for now. It still feels like a dream having been there, and dragging up memories and watching pictures is draining emotionally.

Not everything in North Korea was rosy and beautiful, and a lot of things were.... well, weird... though that word can not quite cover what I felt at times. Here are some quotes and experiences to try to explain some of the weirdness I felt during my trip there.

• One of the men in our group put it best. He said: "I feel like I´m in a movie.... and that I´m one of the actors." That put it right. I felt like that many times. 
• Other quotes from the group were: "It´s easier to get run over on the sidewalk here than in the middle of the street."
• A feeling we that came around all the time: "I walk around here feeling normal, just looking around. Then suddenly something happens that shakes me and makes me understand that this is not a normal place..."
• At certain tourist places we were required to stand and walk in four rows, and start walking with the left foot and then the right. We weren´t allowed to put our hands anywhere (which was a HUGE problem for me, because I´m so fidgety) and not talk (another hard one). I am not quite sure, but I think last time this happened to me was when the fire alarm rang in Middle school and we had to go out and stand in rows. Odd!
• Every morning we were awaken to nationalistic music booming out of loudspeakers placed all over the city. We later found out that this happens several times a day: 5 in the morning, 9 in the morning, 5 in the afternoon, 9 at night and 12 at night.
• You are never alone. (Which to me is definitely weird!)
• Taking the elevator in our hotel was an adventure and we made a lot of jokes about it. It usually took us about 20 minutes to get down, because the six elevators in the 47 story building lived their own lives!
• The guides told us that all the people in North Korea wants unification with the South. Maybe not so weird, but still very amazing for me to hear!
• We were eating a meal in a nice restaurant and suddenly the lights went out and it got pitch dark. Candle lights were lit until suddenly - the light went on again. And then out. Then on. One day we stopped to have a break and were told that we could not get coffee (I only had instant coffee while being in NK) because they did not have hot water.
• At a restaurant I asked for a coke, and when I didn´t get one, I asked for it again. Both times they told me they would come with it, and it was not until afterwards, realizing that it would never come, I understood that they did not have coke...
• On one of the sunny days we saw an ice cream machine in the middle of the sidewalk, and people crowded around to cool down with one. Ludmilla (one of the women in the group) bought one, and I asked for one also. The next thing that happened was that the lady by the ice cream machine disappeared into a side door, were gone for a while and then came out from the house with two ice creams in cones! Putting it in my mouth, I realized this was not ice cream at all... more like frozen whipped cream!
• Most of the restroom visits were done with no toilet paper and no lock on the door...
• It was the weirdest feeling to be a tour group of 19, with 19 different looks, 19 different heights, 19 different shapes and 19 different ways of being; walking around, talking loudly and laughing... And at the same time being around groups of people that in my opinion looked almost exactly the same: The same hair cuts, the same clothes, the same style, walking almost "in a line".
• Men (and women) have the most amazing balance. They can sit in the same squat position (sitte på huk) for hours and hours, for instance talking to each other. 

So many weird and interesting and peculiar things in five days, more than I have experienced on any trip. As I am digesting all this, I am wondering when I will see this weird and beautiful country again...

Our group of 19 really great and fun and interesting people!

Photo credit: Valentin Janiaut

Photo credit: Valentin Janiaut

I don´t know what they call her or what she really does, but she´s everywhere in the middle of traffic in Pyongyang.

Ludmilla and I after the Laibach concert. Valentin in the background.

Morten Traavik and Sun (in grey) and their "girls" on the banquet in the Diplomates hall after a great concert.

A group of workers sightseeing in North Korea

Cute AND weird at the same time?! Singers at one of the concerts we attended.

A normal sight in Pyongyang, a group of school children walking, and volunteer workers picking weed and making sure the city is spotlessly clean.