See The Soldier With His Gun

I guess this would be a good time to tell the story of how I was recently captured by the Chinese military along the North Korean border.

It all started when a tour bus broke down along the Tumen River. We had just left the observation tower, where one can see North Korea, Russia, and the East Sea from a vantage point in China. The sun was setting over the North Korean hills and it would be a few hours before our replacement bus would arrive. Once we figured there was time to kill the group I was with started walking towards a UN statue up the road. After a little bit of walking, it was decided to return to the bus, as it would be too dark for a photo. Being the ever explorer, I asked if it would be fine if I walked a little further up the road. I was given the go ahead, and easily convinced two of my fellow travelers to join me.

As we walked along we talked about how cool it was we were in an area where three major communist countries converged. We wondered why there wasn't more security in the area. We walked along taking photos of sunsets, cows, and a staged photo of "our escape into China", with North Korea in the background. Oh, we even shot a short video of our escape. And then we kept on walking.

A few minutes later the dogs started barking. Then two guys came out of a building. We continued to walk, although a little slower, until they waved at us. The from behind us a military vehicle approached. It passed us before coming to a halt. One of the soldiers opened up a window and said, "Go back!" One of us asked, "To the bus?" The reply was, "Go back."

So being intelligent people that we are, we turned and started to walk back the two or three miles to where the bus still sat. As the soldiers drove away, I turned to one of the guys and asked him if he would let me beat him up a little, so when we got back we could tell a story about how he mouthed off to the soldiers. He did not like that idea. We continued walking for a few minutes, when one of the guys noticed the vehicle was returning. Out loud I uttered, "I hope they pick us up." I am not too sure the other guys were sharing this same idea.

The vehicle stopped in front of us again, and the back door flew open. One of the soldiers motioned for us to enter. I quickly jumped in, followed by the other two guys. The last one was given a little shove as he entered the vehicle. The two of them sat on a bench with two soldiers on one side of the vehicle. I sat on the wheel well next to a soldier on the other side. All three of them had machine guns. We did not.

They drove us back to our bus, and dropped us off. As we exited the vehicle many of those we were with were laughing at us. I quickly said it wasn't a laughing matter. But couldn't help but laugh as well, because I had been freakin' detained by the Chinese military. At this point, one of the two soldiers in the front of the vehicle stepped out and began yelling at our bus driver and guides. I guess he was making it clear that this is a highly sensitive area, a dangerous area, and stupid people should not be walking around under the cover of darkness in this area. After a little bit of muscle flexing, he got back in the vehicle and they drove away. We had two more hours to hang out and tell our story to others until that replacement bus arrived.

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