PLEASE don't go to North Korea on vacation, please. (jealous, present, sister)
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Well I am due to take a trip next year with friends to Italy and I am re considering this trip as well . When you go to foreign country you never know if you are coming home anymore ...it is very sad .
I've always wanted to go to Russia. My Daughter had a very good chance to go to Iran and she was going until she listen to my begging her not to. I do have family in China I would like to visit but probably never will.
brushrunner
I wouldn't go to China if you paid me. Although I do know Americans who have taught English there, one cannot convince me that it is safe for Americans to travel to. That and I don't like Chinese food.
Darwin was right!
A Korean war veteran and he had to go to North Korea! You read about tourist with real or imaginary ties to Korea running into problems in North Korea.
Well I am due to take a trip next year with friends to Italy and I am re considering this trip as well . When you go to foreign country you never know if you are coming home anymore ...it is very sad .
... Italy? Really?
You do realize that we are allies with them, and they are a first world, fully-industrialized nation that's a member of the EU, right?
I wouldn't go to China if you paid me. Although I do know Americans who have taught English there, one cannot convince me that it is safe for Americans to travel to. That and I don't like Chinese food.
I'm moving there in mid January to teach English.
I'm actually pretty excited about it But, I'm also an extremely adventurous fellow who's been referred to as "brave" more than once; the unknown and unfamiliar excites me.
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I wouldn't mind seeing North Korea. Would like to go back to China. Cuba is where I'd like to see again. Did Cambodia, and Vietnam and Laos are high on the list. Burma is #2 after Cuba for want to see places.
I'm surprised that so many people can't see why he'd want to go back. It's pretty obvious to me...
Wars are generally one of if not the most pivotal and life-changing experiences for people that go through them. Especially for a young soldier whose first steps outside their parents' home is a battlefield in a foreign land: straight from mom and dad and your friends and people you recognize and Susie and home-cooked dinner and movies to your Lieutenant and your Sargeant and your squadmates and fearful locals and prostitutes who don't speak a lick of English and C/K rations and the ever-present detonations of bombs and artillery. Especially in a world before the internet, where many Americans had never seen an Asian person let alone been in a country full of them, think of how jarring it would be.
It was most likely the most glorious and frightening part of the man's life all at the same time. He fought a war in a distant land in his prime, and no doubt for every day since, he's carried with him memories of card games in candlelight with buddies who he saw disintegrated by explosions the next morning... the faces of civilians fleeing to the South, unsure whether they were thankful or fearful or spiteful... the beautiful way that the mist hovered over the mountains and the terror of not knowing whether there was a howitzer up on that mountain, pointed right at you, at that very moment.
At least, that's how it was to my grandfather, who fought in the Pacific in WW2 and then again in Korea. He went back to Okinawa and Honshu, as well as South Korea after the war - he would tell us horrifying tales of friends dropping dead right next to him and seeing civilians running for cover being vaporized, or of coming across a mother carrying a dead child down the side of the road, sobbing; he'd also tell tales of the amazing spicy food he ate over there, the admirable pride and tenacity of his adversaries, the beautiful women who would smile at him admiringly, the genuine kindness he saw from person to person, every day, in spite of the horrible circumstances they lived in, and of the warm and understanding welcome he received when he returned decades later.
I'm sure that this gentleman also thought of all these things, every day, and that Korea was never far from his mind - his epic adventure, his heroic folly... what do the battlefields look like now? Do the children run around playing, instead of being fearful? Do people laugh instead of weep?
Basically, in a nutshell, the North Koreans allowed an archeaological expedition to return to look for the remains of a downed American flier - and they invited his wingman along for the expedition. Not news to most people, but I'm sure that it was news to Mr. Newman - a sign of reconciliation with the past, perhaps? Maybe it was a signal to him, that it was time to go back to one of the most pivotal places in his life, that one last time.
All this said, it doesn't surprise me at all; shameful, on North Korea's part, but not without precedent. The former Airman was invited by the NK government as part of what was basically a PR event; this man sought the trip and went there of his own accord, and indeed it's been nearly a month since he was detained and we're only hearing about it now. I hope that NK does the just thing for a change and sends him back home.
I wouldn't mind seeing North Korea. Would like to go back to China. Cuba is where I'd like to see again. Did Cambodia, and Vietnam and Laos are high on the list. Burma is #2 after Cuba for want to see places.
All places on my bucket list
I think it'd be fascinating to visit NK - not because I think they're awesome, but because it's so completely and totally different from anything I've ever experienced. I also have an inexplicable draw towards the things that I'm taught to stay away from... I did meet a German guy who went there for work, and he said that it was a very bizarre experience, being minded 24/7 and knowing that many of the things you were allowed to see were totally scripted for you. He said that I should visit if I get the chance - and then backtracked from the statement... NK and Germany have no historic beef, so he was at low risk of being detained as a spy.
Vietnam is the first place I want to go to after I'm over there and have a three-day weekend.
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But, I'm also an extremely adventurous fellow who's been referred to as "brave" more than once; the unknown and unfamiliar excites me.
