The Watched Road

Joanne and Gareth Morgan from New Zealand actually rode motorcycles through North Korea. Not wanted to, actually did it. Somehow they arranged a tour, brought friends, and made it happen. There’s a VICE documentary from the trip—twenty minutes of footage showing exactly what you’d expect. Roads and buildings and people performing their assigned roles very convincingly.

The whole thing is thoroughly engineered. Every street is approved, every view is curated. Everything is designed to be seamless and controlled and completely devoid of surprise. Motorcycles don’t change that. You’re just moving through a landscape that was built for foreign tourists specifically in mind.

I don’t know what the logic is for going somewhere like that. To say you did it? To see something forbidden? But the forbidden doesn’t exist once you’re on the tour. They’ve already decided what you’re allowed to see, and that’s your entire North Korea. The real version is completely invisible.

Most tourist destinations fake being open while quietly controlling you anyway. North Korea just skips the pretense. This is what they show. This is what you get. Ride your bike, don’t wander, keep moving. You’re not discovering anything.

I’m curious what Joanne and Gareth were actually thinking the whole time. The documentary shows what they were shown, not what they felt. Did they feel like tourists or like performers in someone else’s film? Probably both.