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Tuesday 2006-09-05 - P’yŏngyang, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
We meet our team
Outside the P'yŏngyang airport, our team for the trip is waiting for us: Mr. Pak, an experienced 44-year old guide (he's been doing this for 18 years, since shortly after the country opened up for tourists), Miss Un Hui ("Uni"), 22 years old and still inexperienced but friendly and open, and Mr. Hwang, a very experienced driver.
While we drive to the city, Uni tells us a little about the country: Korea has a population of 80 million in total, of which 20 live in the North. P’yŏngyang has 2.5 million inhabitants, 1.5 million of them in the suburbs. North and South Korea together are really one country, sharing one culture and one language. She gets a little flustered when interrupted with a question, but recovers fast — it’s just the nervousness of meeting a new group of people. Her English is actually very good, though not completely accentless. She tells me that in middle school students can choose between Russian and English as a foreign language. It’s obvious that she enjoys being a guide, though she’s still very much a junior and has been working for only 1.5 years.
On the way to the hotel we stop at the “Arc de Triomphe” — larger than the one in Paris — but I’m afraid I’m more interested in the people I see dancing on the other side of the street, my attention drawn by the sound of traditional instruments. I ask Uni what’s happening; they’re practicing for the Arirang games, she explains, even though it has been postponed because of the flooding. When I ask if we can go have a look, she says she’ll have to ask Mr. Pak; but we end up taking pictures and I even make a small video with my new camera.
On arrival at the Yanggakdo hotel (which I recognize from the satellite picture on Google maps) our passports are collected for registration but Mr. Pak promises we’ll have them back after two days and they’ll take good care of them.
