Holy crap, I can't believe I'm doing this! I'm flying to Beijing on my way North Korea to play the first Extreme Frisbee Tournament in DPRK history. I just got back from a wonderful and relaxing vacation in Turks and Caicos, narrowly escaping the wrath of Hurricane Irene. I didn't even get to go home and now after a few hours of sleep and I'm back on another plane, this time headed for Beijing where I'll travel to the most reclusive backwards country in the world, with a bunch of people I don't really know.
Ok, wait, let me back up a little further....
A few months back I got an invite from Neil Strauss, amazing all around guy, and best selling author who just happens to have written some of my favorite books (The Dirt
,The Game
, Emergency
, Everyone Loves You When You're Dead
) A friend of his had been organizing the trip for quite some time and they were opening up for a few others to join. I'm not going to pretend Neil and I are bff's. I mainly emailed with his assistant and furiously googled to find out if this trip was actually LEGAL.... POSSIBLE.... SANE.. (Answers: Yes, Yes, and Probably Not.) Then I read all the North Korean tour posts on tripadvisor.com, but with skepticism. I was convinced some, or even most of the posts were intended to be ironic, or were just blatant lies. Wait a minute, the hotel has a rotating restaurant? And A bowling alley? And 2 Karaoke bars? And micro-brew? And a golf course? This can't possibly be true, these reviewers are messing with my head. (It turns out, it was all true, and the hotel was even stranger than reported.)
Ok, anyway, so far this trip is do-able. Hmm. I looked to my schedule for an excuse to decline... no luck, it actually fit, just barely, between two other trips I had.
I guess I'm going to North Korea!
1 comment:
I just remembered part of my flight to Beijing that was worth retelling:
The 20-something Chinese student next to me on the flight was hard to get talking at first, but once he got talking, he couldn't seem to stop (unless distracted by my iPad or a morsel of food, but more on that later). He explained he was in DC visiting his brother, who works and lives at the embassy. He spoke very favorably about the Chinese government. And why wouldn't he? His family was clearly among of the elite crowd.
His favorite topic was the decline of the United States. At first I really enjoyed hearing from a viewpoint that was so different from the viewpoints I was familiar to hearing, but after a while his pleasure in the topic bordered on insulting. Whatever, I mostly humored him, agreeing on some points, and taking exception on others, and I pretended to sleep at other points (that tactic didn't work very well).
But here's my favorite part:
As an American, I apparently didn't eat correctly either.
When our in-flight meal arrived, and I took out my fork so I could pick at the grey mound that was, apparently in some way, "chicken". He pointed and smiled gleefully. "You eat with FORK, it's like ANIMALLLLL!"
Huh?
I started to inquire, but before I could speak, he hinged his entire bottom lip to the edge of his soup bowl and furiously shoved noodles into his face.
Umm...
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