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shantaram
Joined: 10 Apr 2007
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 Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 6:24 pm Post subject: Trip to Kumgangsan soon! Any tips? |
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Hi,
When I finish my contract (31 Aug) I am going to Kumgangsan with a friend. We have yet to book our tickets but will go there for 2 nights/3 days. We want to go one way by boat and come back by bus. Has anyone travelled there before?
I did get some helpful advice from one of my Korean colleagues. She told me that they will make me give a wreath to Kim Il Sungs statue, and that if I say I love South Korea they will put me in jail. I guess I'll have to be careful not to do that then. |
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ajgeddes
Joined: 28 Apr 2004
Location: Yongsan
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| Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 6:46 pm Post subject: |
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| Geumgangsan is just an extension of South Korea into North Korea. Relax. It's like Disneyland where instead of Mickey Mouse characters, you have Nork Ajummas. |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:05 pm Post subject: Re: Trip to Kumgangsan soon! Any tips? |
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| shantaram wrote: |
I did get some helpful advice from one of my Korean colleagues. She told me that they will make me give a wreath to Kim Il Sungs statue, and that if I say I love South Korea they will put me in jail. I guess I'll have to be careful not to do that then. |
I doubt it for Geumgangsan.
You will see North Korean soldiers but you won't come in contact with a lot of North Korean people. You can see towns from a distance and farmers but you will be forbidden from taking pictures. If you're caught it's apparently a $100 US fine (which isn't as bad as I suspected). |
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shantaram
Joined: 10 Apr 2007
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| Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:43 pm Post subject: Re: Trip to Kumgangsan soon! Any tips? |
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| RACETRAITOR wrote: |
| shantaram wrote: |
I did get some helpful advice from one of my Korean colleagues. She told me that they will make me give a wreath to Kim Il Sungs statue, and that if I say I love South Korea they will put me in jail. I guess I'll have to be careful not to do that then. |
I doubt it for Geumgangsan.
You will see North Korean soldiers but you won't come in contact with a lot of North Korean people. You can see towns from a distance and farmers but you will be forbidden from taking pictures. If you're caught it's apparently a $100 US fine (which isn't as bad as I suspected). |
Yeah. This is the same colleague who when asked if she'd been outside Korea, replied "Yes, Jeongdongjin." I knew not to take her seriously. The thought that I would go spouting how much I love South Korea while at Kumgangsan amused me. |
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gajackson1
Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Location: Casa Chil, Sungai Besar, Sultanate of Brunei
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| Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 5:40 am Post subject: |
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C/ Reedtea just took that trip - but is in the States now, and won't be back for about 2 more weeks.
Still, she'd have a ton of advice about it - try dropping her a PM at her handle.
Regards,
G. |
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bluelake
Joined: 01 Dec 2005
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| Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 6:18 am Post subject: |
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My colleague, who went on the Geumgang trip just before the North detonated its device, had an interesting time there, with many pictures to show and stories to tell. One thing he noticed on the bus ride up was the fencing around all the villages along the way; hard to tell if it was to keep locals in or foreigners out.
Here are a couple pics at the NE border (sorry about the size--for some reason the bbcode image resizing wasn't doing what it was supposed to). You can see the road the bus takes between North and South.
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shantaram
Joined: 10 Apr 2007
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| Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 8:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Wow, thanks for the pics. gajackson, I will pm your friend. Your avatar rules. |
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