Mt. Myohyang and the International Friendship Exhibition |
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Known as the 'mountain of mysterious fragrance', Mt. Myohyang ('Myohyangsan' in Korean) is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen on the Korean peninsula. Thanks to the International Friendship Exhibition, it is also one of the weirdest. Though the name sounds nice enough, an exhibition of friendship, it's really best described as the mecca of Kim-clan worship. We arrived at the mountain after a three-hour bus ride that took us north up the center of the country, about halfway to the border with China. Another day on the bus talking to the guides, which by this time was beginning to get on everyone's nerves, did at least offer some interesting moments. For one thing it allowed us to get to know them a little better, at least the part of themselves they allowed us to know. Mr. Baek, for example, proved to be a huge music fan. He happily whiled away a good part of the trip listening to one of our MP3 players. A device which confused him at first, "how do you put the music in it . . . " but soon had him stretched out in the back of the bus with headphones and a relaxed smile. After exhausting our music collection we next got to talking about money. Not salaries, but actual bills and coins and how they looked. As foreigners in North Korea we were forced to use a separate currency reserved only for tourists and visitors (a policy that's reportedly since been changed). For young Mr. Huk some of the bills and their pictures we had were new, and he seemed to enjoy the chance to look them over. We also showed him some of the Chinese money we had from our time in Beijing. In return they gave us a chance to check out some of their "real" North Korean currency. It was then that I remembered I had some South Korean change sitting in my bag. I dug up a 50 won coin and showed it to Mr. Baek, who was sitting in front of me. He curiously looked it over for a bit and then handed it back. Just then Mr. Huk, who'd been talking to someone else, happened to turn and see the coin. Thinking it was from China he held out his hand to take a look, while simultaneously asking where it was from. When I reached over I saw Mr. Baek's eyes go wide in anticipation. As I went to drop the coin into Mr. Huk's hand I said it was from the South. He jerked his hand back like I was pouring acid. His whole body literally recoiled at the presence of the coin. "No thank you, I do not want to see it." With that he turned away, visibly shaken at my affront to his sensibilities. Mr. Baek gave me a grin and told me I'd better put the money back in my bag. Certainly quite different than the reaction one received when handing over dollars . . . |
As we neared Myohyangsan the trip began to get much more scenic. Instead of hills we started to see mountains, while farmland denuded of nearly all trees and brush gradually gave way to forest. For a while we drove through some of the very lush mountain scenery you see below, until finally pulling into the parking lot of the International Friendship Exhibition, first picture below. |