Northern lights...

I've always had an interest in North Korea because its amazing how such an isolated, non-globalized nation can exist.

Here are few things I'd like to share about this messed up country.

Look at the picture below. Its a night-shot of North Korea, South Korea, Japan, and a small part of China. Look how dark it is in the North. This shows how little electricity this country actually has.

The one place that is lit up is the capital city of Pyongyang. This is where the "Great Leader" Kim Jung-il probably lives and most of the light is probably from his house because I bet its pretty awesome. Supposedly he has a gigantic collections of Hollywood films and that one speck of light is probably his projection TV.

Next is North Korea's secret hotel. Its actually called the Ryugyong Hotel and its in the capital city. Its a massive, 105 story building and it dominates the city's skyline. Its referred to as the secret hotel because they don't like to acknowledge it because they weren't able to finish it.

They began building it in the late 80's as a response to some giant building a South Korean company built in Singapore.

Gotta love the Cold War.

In '92, they gave up because the country just didn't have the resources (electricity, materials, etc.) to finish it.

Gotta say the overhead view does look kinda cool.

It would be the tallest hotel in the world and the seventh highest building if they could just manage to finish the darn thing. If you got some money kicking around and you believe that high risk investments are the way to make big bucks, here's the opportunity of a lifetime.

Just look at how it mocks the city of Pyongyang and serves as a great symbol to everything that is wrong with this troubled country. From a distance all looks well, and apparently they even light it up at night, but in reality "The basic structure is complete, but no windows, fixtures, or fittings have been installed, presumably due to the high cost. According t0 Emporis, the concrete used in building the Ryugyong Hotel is of unsuitable quality and therefore unsafe; the building will never open as presently constructed. (Wikipedia)"

If you are lucky enough to vacation in North Korea (it can be done, seriously) your tour guide, who never leaves your side, will probably tell you they don't know where the hotel is located. I can see how it could be quite hard to find.

Here's a link to a page built page a guy who actually went to North Korea for a vacation. It's a great read. Go to the bottom of the page and start at the beginning because I can't link to the first page.

And if you wanna take a vacation there yourself, here's the site to check out.

I wanna go there someday if it doesn't end up gettin' blown to smithereens.

Come to think of it, I hope I don't get blown to smithereens either.