My grandfather was a volunteer in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. When he was still alive, my grandfather often talked to us about his efforts to kill the enemy on the battlefield. Whenever he talked about winning the battle, he was very excited, but when it came to his best comrades who died in order to save him. When he died, he burst into tears. My grandfather’s biggest wish during his lifetime was to go to North Korea to pay homage to his old comrades. However, the family conditions were not good at the time, and my grandfather was old, so my grandfather’s wish was not realized. When I left, I repeatedly told him: "We must go to North Korea to pay homage to his old comrade. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have the happy life we ??have today"!

We had no choice but to agree, and we were always thinking about going to North Korea. Until 2019, more than a dozen of our family members went to North Korea as a group. There are two main purposes for traveling to North Korea. One is to visit North Korea. In order to fulfill my grandpa’s wish, I wanted to pay homage to our family’s great benefactor; secondly, my friends who came back from traveling in North Korea said that North Korea is like China in the 1980s, and traveling to North Korea is like traveling back in time, so we have a very strong feeling great interest.

There are two main routes for traveling to North Korea: one is to fly directly from Shanghai Pudong Airport to Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea;

The other is to take the green train from Dandong through Sinuiju and then to Pyongyang.

Due to the higher cost of flying and the inability to better understand North Korea, the family unanimously chose to travel by green train.

Our group arrived in Dandong City, Liaoning Province one day in advance. Looking at North Korea across the Yalu River, we felt that it was both mysterious and familiar. After all, North Korea is also a socialist country like China.

The next morning, we successfully boarded the green leather train that looked very old-fashioned. There was no air conditioning on the train, but there was an electric fan. The furnishings on the train were quite neat and clean. The flight attendant was The biggest highlight on the train is that many of the flight attendants are sweet-looking young girls, and most of them can speak some Chinese.

When the train slowly entered North Korea, the originally full mobile phone signal gradually disappeared, and the mobile phone could only be used as a camera at this time.

After the train passed through Sinuiju, we were greeted by pastoral scenery. We saw a group of people lined up side by side planting rice, while on the other side was an old man raking the fields. North Korea is currently What is still practiced is a collectivist economy. The food grown by farmers is owned by the collective, so all farm work is done together.

I heard from the tour guide that the food they grow is a pure green product. They do not apply fertilizers or spray pesticides. They only produce four to five hundred kilograms per acre. They do not rely on science and technology for cultivation. No wonder North Korea has always needed aid for its food.

There are small villages located on the edge of the fields. The houses are one to two-story tile-roofed houses. The slogans from textbooks are painted on the walls. Although I can’t understand the words, the images are obviously encouraging. The goal of every Korean people.

The telephone poles between villages are still made of wood, and some are already tilted. This safety issue is really worrying.

The scene in front of me seems to have returned to China in the 1980s. It feels both familiar and nostalgic!

The green train drove very slowly, but it did not affect our mood at all. We didn’t know how long we drove, and suddenly we came to a modern city. Most of the buildings here were decorated in blue and white. , at this time the tour guide told us that we had arrived in Pyongyang. We thought that the houses in North Korea were not very high, but we did not expect that there are many high-rise buildings in North Korea. The tallest building in North Korea, the Ryugyong Hotel, actually has 105 floors.

After getting off the train, I found that the locals were very conservatively dressed. Most of the men had shaved heads and the women had pigtails. Most of them traveled by bicycle, and of course they also waited for the bus. Yes, those who drive cars are people who have made great contributions to the country.

We stayed at the Yanggakdo International Hotel. It was already evening when we arrived in Pyongyang. The locals entertained us with what they considered the most precious ingredients. The top ten delicacies in North Korea are: 1. Cold noodles, 2. , potato cake, 3. kimchi, 4. hot rice soup, 5. barbecue, 6. fried cake, 7. pollack, 8. mung bean pancake, 9. rice sausage, 10. ginseng chicken soup. If you are traveling to North Korea, don’t miss it.