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I am NOT a journalist
I'm just some kid with a consumer camera who was lucky enough to gain access into the most isolated
And controlled country in the world. This video series is a product of that
Good morning, guys, what you are seeing is the view from my hotel room here in Pyongyang
You can see the leaders there Kim il-sung and Kim jong-il today. We are going on a road trip to the coast
I think we're going to check out maybe a temple and then a factory probably gonna take about seven hours drive
So a lot of driving ahead of us. So, without any further ado, let's head down and head to the coast
This statue here is called the Arch of Reunification
and it's to symbolize one day
hopefully the whole of the Korean Peninsula being reunited as one country
but we will stop here in another video in the series and check it out in more detail because as you can see
It's absolutely epic and huge (30 meters high or 98 feet)
So as soon as we left the city we were struck with just how much farmland is in Korea
Basically every square inch of the country that I saw that wasn't Mountains was covered with farmland mainly rice fields
We saw thousands of workers on the side of the road pretty much constantly between each
destination that we traveled to in Korea. It was rice transplanting season when we were in North Korea
so that's the busiest time for farming in the whole year so maybe that explains why there's so many people working
I was not expecting to see that much farmland. After a several hour drive,
we arrived at a Buddhist temple, a pretty beautiful temple
If you're wondering about religion in North Korea, religion is
highly monitored and only a select few are allowed to practice any kind of religion. If you're caught as a foreigner trying to spread
Religion in North Korea, you will get in deep trouble which has happened to foreigners in the past
They check your bags at the airport to see if you're carrying any Bibles or any religious scriptures or anything like that
But some select few are allowed to practice religion in North Korea. After a tour of the temple
We listen to a meditation chants from a monk, which is always nice to hear
*Medidation Chant*
After the temple we jump back in the bus and continued driving. If you're wondering why some of the shots are extremely shaky
it's because the roads in North Korea are some of the worst roads that I've traveled on, holes all throughout the roads
I did see many workers on the roads trying to repair them
But the current state is that they are pretty bad to be honest with you
So, please take my excuse for some of the shots being shaky because of the roads being so bad
We went through some Big Mountain tunnels - pretty beautiful landscape in North Korea in general
So just been driving through the countryside as you saw there for a while
Now we've just arrived at a waterfall. That should be nice to see some North Korean nature
You can see pretty beautiful. I was not expecting that
If you saw that in a photo you wouldn't think North Korea
Incredible
Like the nature on the drive here was quite surprising
These big mountain passes, huge tunnels and things. I couldn't get much footage of it though because the roads are just so bumpy
Now we're gonna go and have a picnic soon and then we're gonna drive on to the beach and stay in a hotel on the beach
Super-surprising
So in 2001 Kim jong-il
actually visited this waterfall and it's kind of what made it famous and more of a tourist site
But apparently this building here was built for him
One of the guides told us because there was no shade for him when he came
So, just in case he ever came back, they built this building here for him, just to keep him out of the Sun
After the waterfall,
we had a little packed lunch with some veg sushi and some potato tempura and some tofu and some spinach
They're absolutely delicious. Then we hit the road again
I'll play some just raw clips for you guys
so you can get a feeling what it's like just driving along the road in North Korea
Alright guys, so we've been on the bus for another three hours or so and just arrived in this little village over here.
They've got a picture of a laptop and surveillance system
Pretty interesting - it's super relaxing out here. It's nothing like Pyongyang much more raw and yeah, really peaceful (from what we've seen)
You can see here some pictures of the leaders visiting the farms.
Then we went into this little kind of shop/ market area thing. I'm not quite sure what this was about again
Just everything perfectly stocked up and lots of like plastic goods, plates beer, oil,
different kinds of dry goods, toys - everything basically, but still, these places kind of were really quite bizarre
I mean, we were allowed to buy things here if we wanted to but I don't think anyone in the group bought anything here
So this is basically a little farming city kind of thing 4000 residents
That shop we just went into is where some of the things they make here are sold (although obviously all that packaged stuff comes from other places)
Over here are apparently the farmers houses the apartments, have a look...
Some kids playing over here
Apparently Kim jong-il came here and helped set up the place
Kim Il-Sung and military leader Kim Jong-il and the woman there is the mother Kim Young-sook. She's the wife of president Kim Il-sung.
So we've just arrived at the biggest fertilizer factory in the whole of the DPRK (North Korea,) - I'll explain more about it in the voice-over
So this fertilizer factory was one of the highlights of the whole trip in North Korea
It was literally like going back in time. Just the people working here looked like something straight out of a 1940s film
There's literally nothing to tell them apart from them being in the 21st century
So fascinating I absolutely loved it. They make fertilizer for farms
so things like nitrogen and hydrogen mixed together for the rice fields, I believe and
Inside the factory. It smells really strong
I'm not 100% sure what the health and safety was like there.
Even spending, you know, 5 or 10 minutes in there was enough to make you feel a bit dizzy
I'll show you a few clips with the workers in a second, but they were just going about their day normally
You can see all these old gauges and everything here
We had one of the employees of the factory show us around. I think he might have been one of the managers
I'm not 100% sure, but he was just so proud of this factory
He had a big smile from ear to ear and he just loved explaining all the parts of his factory
It was it was really humbling. He seemed like a really nice guy. You can see the workers here.
Sorry - it was quite dark in there so some of the footage is a bit grainy
But it gives you a good idea of their clothing and you can see they're using this old old phone here
I think they were talking to the people on the level below just to make sure everything was going right
I'm just speculating right now, but you know, they were talking on the phone running back and forward
you know, giving orders and it was just like getting in a time machine, going back to the early 20th century
You know, I'm really struggling to convey my words right now, but it was something truly unique and kind of a once-in-a-lifetime experience
Okay guys, we have come back from the factory and we have arrived in the accommodation for tonight
I'll show it to you in just a second, but we're just by the beach here
I've got a room to myself tonight because four people from the group went home last night because they're only here for a couple days.
So I'll show you the bathroom situation - that's pretty interesting. Then I think we'll head down to the beach as we still have some sunlight hours before dinner
Yeah guys like there's so much happening in these days. It's hard for me to keep track of what's really going on
So if I didn't have the camera recording and things I'd be forgetting so much.
We're just cramming so much in but gonna make the most of the days we have here. So let's check out this room ...
Over here have a window that looks out to the sea
And then a nice bed and I've got a balcony out here
That's out to the beach - we'll go down to the beach in just a second but check out this bathroom
so what we have is
Got a bucket of water
And that's hot water (warm water)
and then we've got a bathtub
full of water
That's cold water.
That's hot water
cold water
Not sure what to do with that
Anyway guys, let's head down to the beach...
Okay guys, made it down to the beach and just bought my self a Russian beer
Having a bit of space is good because
you know, it's not like crazy strict, but it's, you know, you're pretty much watched the whole time so
Nice little private beach here. I'll show you some shots of this beach
And here's our dinner guys
I'll play a raw clip of one of the girls
pouring the beer for us because you can just notice how quiet it is and you can hear the background music
so it gives a good feeling for everything. It was an absolutely delicious dinner as per usual in Korea
We've had nothing but the best food
Alright guys just had dinner, another huge spread of Korean food again as per usual. Delicious.
Absolutely exhausted great day again action-packed everyday
Like I said, I'm not gonna go on too much in the video here and I'll see you tomorrow for whatever happens tomorrow
I'm not quite sure what's happening. We're gonna do some cool stuff
Anyway highlight of today the factory and the waterfall definitely the factory was incredible
It was like going back in time. It was Wow. Anyway, guys, I will see you in the next video, I guess
Good afternoon, good evening,and good night from North Korea. Thanks for watching