by Luke on 10 March, 2010
in Poetry
I was waiting for a meeting in the library and happened across this poem, which I couldn’t resist doing a quick translation of.
Rita
by Luis Alberto de Cuenca
Rita, what are you going to do on Sunday? Are there Sundays
where you live? Are there social engagements? Do people arrive late?
I don’t know why I overwhelm you with useless questions,
why I keep thinking you can answer me.
I know that you’d like to have a voice and words
instead of silence, and escape from the grave
to tell me things about the land of the dead.
But you can’t, Rita, and I shouldn’t dream of you
on a night in August as lively as tonight.
One must keep up appearances. After all, Sundays
are the worst days to leave the house.
by Luke on 7 March, 2010
in China
A Brief Introduction
I wrote this years ago as part of a narrative about my trip to Liaoning Province in 2007. I’ve not been able to write a satisfactory account of the middle part of the trip (and remain unsatisfied with what I wrote about its beginning), but have felt motivated to finish writing about the final leg of the journey, which took us to Dandong and China’s border with North Korea.
I mention this because some of the characters below (Know It All, Mr Binoculars, the idiot tour guide) would have been – and, perhaps, will be – described and fleshed out in this episode’s prequels. For this reason they aren’t developed below, though such development probably isn’t necessary.
Also, keep in mind that these events took place in 2007. Prices have doubtlessly risen, and Dandong has doubtlessly developed.
Enjoy.
How DPRK Gulags Became Dandong’s Saviour
Dandong (丹东) is a sleepy town that is able to draw a disproportionate number tourists because the North Korean city Sinuiju (신의주) is directly across the Yalu River. At Dandong the river is maybe 100 m wide, so from the riverwalk you can take as long a look at North Korea as you wish. Hawkers meet gawkers to rent binoculars and telescopes with which to give the North a good visual scrubbing. From the docks you can pay to go on a seven minute tour boat ride that takes you within mere yards of the North Korean shore; all the better to rubberneck at you, my dear.
North Korea from Dandong. It's just another place on a cloudy day.
Tourists and journalists find Dandong/Sinuiju appealing because the visual contrast is so striking. Dandong’s riverbank is towers and hotels and neon and KTV’s. Sinuiju’s bank is mud, dirty trees and worn buildings. I assumed the Chinese would look at the DPRK and think something like ”there, but for the grace of God…”, but none of the Chinese I asked reported thinking anything of the sort.
Sinuiju is the principal gateway for Sino-Korean trade, is home to a nasty prison camp, and is one of the North Korean regions chosen to experiment with running a market economy. The view of it from Google Maps is depressing.
The Boat to North Korea
Our boat pulls away from the dock and goes one kilometer upriver to the “Broken Bridge” (which US planes bombed during the Korean War to sever a Sino-Korean rail line) before veering to starboard to run parallel to the DPRK’s shoreline.
We’re now in North Korean waters. [click here to keep reading…]
