I have long maintained that one of the things that travel teaches us is that people the world over have more in common than you might expect if you only read about other countries or watch TV news and documentaries. Everyone wants to feel safe, to be in good health, to have the basic necessities of life. North Koreans too are not so very different from us in those respects.
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Have you ever thought what fun it would be to be able to fly! Not boxed up in an aeroplane, but free, like a bird? Many would opt for that as their ‘super power’ if given the choice, I reckon. But maybe we all have wings, of a sort?
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A new sight has recently appeared in the hills above Pokhara. A huge statue of Lord Shiva, the second largest in Nepal, sits serenely looking out over the foothills. And at his back are the mighty Himalayas.
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Like many such states, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea does public art on a big scale. The many statues of the Dear Leaders are well known, but perhaps a little less so is this rather astounding example, the Monument to the Three Charters for National Reunification.
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When we realised that our route back into Seattle at the end of our Washington State road trip would take us through Renton, just to the north of the city, there was one detour we just had to make.
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What better position for a monument to one of the country’s greatest seamen than this, high above the mouth of the Tyne with a view out to sea? Yet in many ways Collingwood is something of a forgotten hero, barely known outside his native North East.
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When I told people that we were going to North Korea, or the DPRK as they prefer us to call it, I got one of three reactions. From our traveller friends, ‘wow, that will be interesting’. From others, either ‘why on earth would anyone want to go there?’ or ‘gosh, you’re brave – hope you come home again!’
