Walking into the mysterious country, a trip to North Korea (4) Monuments and memorial halls for volunteers' martyrs

After arriving in North Korea, I am very much looking forward to visiting the Monument and Memorial Hall of Volunteers Martyrs to mourn the ancestors of Volunteers who left their lives in foreign countries. But I didn't expect this trip to be the most unpleasant one in our trip to North Korea and one of the most unexpected things in our trip. The Chinese people's Volunteer Army Martyrs Monument and Memorial Hall are combined into one, which is pitifully small compared with other kinds of monuments and museums in North Korea. I thought the memorial hall would be grand and rich in content. But I really didn't expect there was nothing in it, a few paintings, a message desk and a message book, which was very unpleasant.

When I came to the foot of the mountain with the monument, everyone felt heavy when I saw the monument from a distance. A solemn atmosphere surrounds everyone. Everyone who came here from China bought flowers and gave them to volunteers. Think about it: many martyrs buried here are comrades-in-arms of our fathers and our heroes! They were buried in a foreign land. For many years, compatriots and relatives of the motherland could not come here to pay homage to them. It was not until 2008 that North Korea opened its tourism to a limited extent, allowing compatriots from home to visit. It's really embarrassing!

In memory of the heroes, we are waiting to go to the memorial hall. We thought the Volunteer Memorial Hall was in a nearby building. When asked, we were told that it was right in front of you. It turns out that the small pedestal under the monument is the Volunteers Memorial Hall. Walking into the small door, the national flags of China and North Korea are opposite. Several war paintings depicting the friendship between China and North Korea are hung on the surrounding walls. On the platform in the middle of the simple memorial hall, there is a roster of martyrs with many familiar names. There is little to visit in the memorial hall except the list of martyrs. I walked down the steps of the monument in frustration and looked back at the monument to the volunteers' martyrs again, with a heavy heart.

After that, we visited the Korean War Memorial Hall, which is much larger and has several exhibition halls. Here, there is a special exhibition hall, which introduces in detail the process of Chinese people's Volunteer Army's aid to North Korea in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, which makes us feel a little more comfortable and comforted. The picture above shows the narrator and Chinese translator of the Korean War Memorial Hall.

These are all kinds of American weapons and equipment seized in the war, all in kind.

Starting from the Korean War Memorial Hall, we visited the subway in Pyongyang. Pyongyang subway was built in 1970s, and it is known as the deepest subway in the world. Go in and have a look. It really deserves its reputation. Take the escalator from the entrance and get off the platform. The depth exceeds 100 meters. The platform is high in space, arched, with Russian architectural style and a row of huge chandeliers at the top. The whole platform is spectacular.

Maybe it's because the underground is too deep, maybe it's because it's too long, and the station is filled with a cold and humid musty smell, which is also a fly in the ointment. The subway in North Korea is different from ours. Each section is a separate carriage with no connection in the middle. The platform and the train are old, and the style of the train is backward. Nevertheless, in the 1970s, North Korea had such a high-level subway, which was enough to make North Koreans proud (it is said that it was also built in cooperation with China and the Soviet Union). It is reported that the subway is the most important means of transportation for Pyongyang citizens, followed by trams, cars, bicycles and, of course, "1 1 bus". I once asked why the subway was built so deep underground, and the North Koreans explained that it was because there were two rivers in Pyongyang, but in fact, we all know the real answer, and that was the real intention to prepare for the war.

For dinner, we chose a Korean barbecue restaurant and tasted an authentic Korean barbecue. Because there is basically no animal husbandry in North Korea, it is difficult to eat beef and mutton. The barbecue here is duck, also known as North Korea's "roast duck", which tastes really good. If a friend has a chance to go to North Korea, he must try it.

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