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Tag Archives: asia
Burmese Days
Of all the places I traveled in Southeast Asia, I liked Burma the best.
It was by far the most traditional country in the region. It was free of Thailand’s 7-11′s, paved roads and fast food. Free of Vietnam’s scams. And it lacked that uncomfortable undercurrent of violence and broken psyches that seemed to blight Cambodia.
Burmese people were quiet and kind. Old men in the highlands lamented the fact that young people had begun wearing pants in Rangoon, but I never once saw a pair of jeans, only the traditional wraparound longyi.
Posted in Asia, Travel stories
Tagged asia, burma, Myanmar, Rangoon, road wisdom, Ryan Murdock, travel stories, vagabond, Yangon
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Baybee Don’t Fence Me In!
I read an excellent book about Mongolia a couple weeks ago by Jasper Becker, called “Mongolia: Travels in the Untamed Land.” Becker was a Western journalist based in Beijing, and one of the first to cross the border from China when Mongolian communism fell apart in 1991.
The book covers many aspects of Mongolia, from obscure bits of history to the observations of other earlier travelers, but for me the greatest thing was the memories it brought back.
Posted in Asia
Tagged asia, gobi, Jasper Becker, Mongolia, road wisdom, Ryan Murdock, Travels in the Untamed Land, vagabond
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Cracking Up in the DPRK
This is the seventeenth in a multi-part blog on North Korea. You can find the others here
We said goodbye to our brave military escort at the DMZ, thankful that they’d protected us from the imminent danger of American attack.
We made one last stop on our way back to the capital, just outside Kaesong city. It was reputedly the tomb of an early Korean king and his Mongolian wife, but as with everything else in the DPRK, nothing could be taken at face value. North Korea has been known to fake archaeological findings to support whatever version of history is the current party line.
Posted in Asia, North Korea
Tagged asia, DMZ, DPRK, Kaesong, Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Il, North Korea, Pyongyang, road wisdom, Ryan Murdock, travel, travel stories, vagabond
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North Korea – The DMZ Too
This is the sixteenth in a multi-part blog on North Korea. You can find the others here
Our presence on the wrong side of the frontier caused a mild scramble among the South Korean forces.
Frantic radio messages were dispatched. Binoculars were trained on us. Reinforcements jogged over to take up positions half-concealed by the corners of buildings, where they conducted a whispered conference and pointed accusing fingers of guilt. They clearly considered us traitors to humanity.
Posted in Asia, North Korea
Tagged asia, DMZ, DPRK, Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Il, North Korea, North Korea travel, Pyongyang, road wisdom, Ryan Murdock, vagabond
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Coming Down Hard in the Demilitarized Zone
This is the fifteenth in a multi-part blog on North Korea. You can find the others here
The highlight of my time in North Korea–the moment that made all the badgering and propaganda worthwhile–was our visit to the Demilitarized Zone and the truce village of Panmunjom. This thin line bisecting two worldviews is the last Cold War frontier, and the world’s most heavily defended border.
The uneventful drive from Pyongyang featured the same broad tourist highway we’d seen on the drive north to Mt Myohyang, with the same manufactured greenery on both sides. There were more roadblocks and checkpoints as we neared the border, but this was the only indication of the massive concentration of conventional, chemical and biological weapons stockpiled in the surrounding hills.
Posted in Asia, North Korea
Tagged 38th parallel, asia, DMZ, DPRK, North Korea, North Korea travel, Panmunjom, road wisdom, Ryan Murdock, vagabond
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Propaganda Gets Me Down
This is the fourteenth in a multi-part blog on North Korea. You can find the others here
The Arch of Triumph commemorates North Korea’s liberation from the Japanese occupation at the end of World War Two. It looks an awful lot like the Arch in Paris, but of course Pyongyang’s Arch was deliberately built to be 3 meters taller…
North Korea doesn’t acknowledge the Pacific War (WWII) and the role it played in the liberation of the country, which made this a natural topic to bring up with our minders. It’s good to test the waters every now and then, to remind each other we both know where the line’s been drawn in the bullshit.
Deep Beneath the Streets of Pyongyang
This is the thirteenth in a multi-part blog on North Korea. You can find the others here
Every first world metropolis needs a subway, and the Great Leader’s urban paradise is no different. But as with everything else, the North Koreans went a little overboard. Other world cities pride themselves on having functional transportation systems. Pyongyang’s exists as yet another monument to the glorification of the Fatherland.
Each subway station in Pyongyang is slightly different, with a different décor and name derived from its revolutionary theme, which bears absolutely no relation to the station’s geographical location.
Posted in Asia, North Korea
Tagged asia, Mangyongdae Fun Fair, North Korea, North Korean amusement park, Pyongyang subway, road wisdom, Ryan Murdock, vagabond
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