June 23, 2007

Dandong (CHINA)

Seeing North Korea and Another Hike on the Great Wall

Shortly after my 4:30am wake-up call I was showered, packed, and hailing down a taxi for the long distance bus station. There was a surprisingly large crowd of people waiting alongside me, and as is always the case in China, there was a mad rush to the ticketing counters when they finally opened. My primary concern is always keeping my valuables safe in such situations because pick-pockets will inevitably single me out from any group. In fact, of the 13 other REU students on this trip, four have already had something stolen. Personally, I have been in Asia for over one year now and I have never had anything stolen. As long you maintain a modicum of awareness, I believe China is one of the world's safest countries, so it is frustrating to hear other students complain about safety.

The bus arrived in Dandong at 9:30am, and my first priority was figuring out a way back to Dalian. Unfortunately, the last bus leaves at 2:30pm, which is too early for me to catch. I resolved that I could always sleep in Dandong and catch a bus the following day, but there was still time to search out a better option.

With my logistics settled, I set off in search of the river separating China and North Korea. It took thirty minutes of searching - mostly because I enjoyed walking the busy side streets in this growing border city - but I finally found what I was looking for.

As expected, North Korea was not much to look at. It is, after all, one of the world's poorest and most impoverished nations. The waterfront, shown to the left, is devoid of any kind of activity, and even the three imposing smoke stacks were dormant. I snapped a few "been there" photos, and continued along the waterfront to the remains of a bombed-out bridge.

The bridge, which was "accidentally" targeted in an American bombing raid during the Korean War, juts out from the China shoreline before abruptly coming to an end 100 meters from the Korean shoreline. Disappointingly, this was as close as I could get (other than a boat ride along the coast).

I could make out the fisherman going about their daily task, and I even got a sense of what it must be like in North Korea - devoid of much growth or excitement. I didn't see a single car the entire time, and the only movement was that of the weary fisherman tending their nets.

Perhaps the two pictures on either side of this paragraph demonstrate the state of affairs in North Korea - on the right is the Chinese shoreline and shown to the left is the North Korean shoreline. While Dandong is known for little more than its status as a border town, the differences in development are pronounced.

So that's North Korea, or at least as much of it as I got to see. And it was still only 11am. What now, I wondered?

I began tracing a new route through the city, and stopped to chat with a few local men playing Chinese Chess (similar to Western Chess). I learned how to play while I was in Hong Kong, but I have since forgotten the characters (the wooden blocks each have a character signifying their ability, and the characters are different for the two sides). After I told them I was American we chatted about the typical subject of interest for Chinese men: basketball. Invariably, Chinese people want to know if Americans like Yao Ming. My answer is obvious: of course!

Then they asked me if I like "Boo She", and I was struggling to understand the meaning. But then it dawned on me: Boo She is the phonetic translation of "Bush." A quick look around - North Korea, bombed out bridge, Korean War, etc - and I guessed the correct way to answer that question!

After grabbing a quick lunch - where I chose squid over chicken for safety reasons - I asked around for directions to the easternmost section of the Great Wall, which is only 45 minutes north of Dandong.

Chairman Mao once said that any man who wants to be a hero must climb the Great Wall. Well, **puffing out my chest and hooking thumbs around my suspenders** this was my fourth trip to the Great Wall, and I have now visited the easternmost and westernmost ends of it. As soon as I find a trustworthy sidekick and a proper outfit my metamorphosis will be complete.

This section of the Great Wall was quite steep, but the watch towers afforded great views of both North Korea and China. I will not labor on about climbing the Great Wall, but if you are curious please read this entry, which is by far the most rewarding stretch, or see this photo gallery, which shows what a thousand-year old wall looks like.

I was stuck on the side of the road for nearly an hour while waiting for the next bus to take me back to Dandong. I ended up waving down a rickety taxi (the driver would turn off the engine when we went down hills, and then pop the clutch to re-start the engine), but the fare was just as cheap as the bus. The other good thing about the taxi was that the driver put me in touch with a guy who knew a guy who was driving to Dalian later in the evening. What a stroke of luck! I was relieved I still had all my belongings with me and didn't check into any hotels.

In the end, I rode back to Dalian with several other people and paid the same fare as I would have paid on a public bus. I arrived back in Dalian by midnight - only 30 hours after I left yesterday - and no one was any the wiser.

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