Well, let's hop on the tram and explore:
Ok. Now that we've finished our little tram ride, what were your first impressions?
For me there were a couple. To start with, check out how empty the streets are. When you compare it with the mass of people and traffic of South Korea (to the left), it's startling really. And this is downtown of the capital. Maybe the North Koreans, in a totally ass backward sort of way, have got the idea of decongestion right.
Another thing I noticed was the pure blandness of the place. Lots of bright colored clothes, and interesting street energy huh? Should we all be magically transported to Kim Il Jong's paradise, half the Drive would doubtlessly be immediately purged for attire alone. Good luck Cloudman...So long Red Square.
Then of course there are the giant housing projects - similar in many ways to the buildings of the former USSR, its allies and even Japan. Missing are the character buildings that give cities around the world particular ambiance. I wonder which buildings are the homes of the upper level bureaucrats of the glorious leader's regime.
No homeless on the street though. I guess if everyone's poor, then you don't really have an opportunity to have a homelessness crisis like in Vancouver.
It's all a bit bland though huh? What are some of your observations?
Posts
2 comments:
According to a recent CBC story, The Dear Leader has threatened to "wipe the United States off the map" if the US Navy decides to intercept a North Korean ship that is, allegedly, bound for Burma with all kinds of weapons, toxins and other nasty terror-related devices. All I'm saying is that, after viewing that video, it doesn't really look like much is going on in North Korea.
That being said, if any country is totally hiding something, it's North Korea. So, keep in mind that this subjective, experiential tour through Pyongyang is only one person's perspective.
As with Transformers, there might be more to North Korea than meets the eye. On the other hand, the USSR projected confidence, competence and, um, communism for decades. And when the nation finally "opened up" I think everyone realized just how much they were duped by the supposed "Red Menace."
Here's hoping the video is reflective of the boldfaced lie that is North Korea's destructive capability. Because if they're hiding something, well, people might want to run and hide themselves...
- JCH
I think part of the reason nothing much is going on in the downtown streets is that they're spending all their limited resources and energy on a defense budget.
Post a Comment