诗和远方，东北寻梦 In Pursuit of Poetry and Dreams in the Faraway Northeast - 摩托车论坛

出行的目的和方法林林总总，我偏爱根据自己的体力和财力，合理安排作息时间和游玩地点，细细口味原汁原味的风土人情。一般的跟团游看似价格实惠，省心省事，但游玩却成了完成任务，不仅乐趣大减，而且免不了强迫购物。这次的东北之行，精彩纷呈，使人流连忘返。

Of all the varied purposes and ways oftravel, I opt for a sensible touring timetable based on my physical strengthand finances, savoring the original regional customs and scenery without any hurrying.Despite the seemingly reasonable prices and conveniences, packages tours in myeyes are generally too tightly scheduled and boring because it’s not uncommonfor tourists to be forced to make undesirable purchases and go sightseeing forthe sake of it. My travel to the northeast in China this time is so compellingthat it goes far beyond my expectations.

一进入青岛崂山道缘居旅馆，就感觉回到了自己的姥姥家。旅馆房间宽敞、整洁，客厅墙上的山水画，桌上的花草，既有情趣，又显高雅。女主人热情憨厚，充分施展了平时的做菜手艺，让我品尝了地道的山东家常菜。一边吃饭，一边和主人家聊天，这才是我心中理想的游玩方式。

Upon entering a farmer’s inn near the Laoshan Scenic Spot, Ifelt like I was back at my late grandma’s home--spacious and tidy with all the landscapeink paintings on the walls, potted plants on the table--all of which is bothtasteful and elegant. Chatting with the hosts while relishing the typicalShandong dishes made by the exceptionally hospitable hostess with her fantasticcooking skills, I fully indulged in my most ideal way of travel.

浪漫轮渡

从烟台出发至大连的轮渡，用时6个多小时，温馨而浪漫。渡轮穿行在一望无际的大海上，时间仿佛放慢了脚步，人们或悠闲地看书、聊天，喝茶，尽情享受难得的闲暇，或登上甲板，停靠着船栏，吹吹凉爽的海风，眺望远方，观赏船边的浪花和船后舞女裙带般漂动的尾迹。日落时分，一大群海鸥不期而至，盘旋在甲板上空。人们纷纷掏出食物，掰成小块，竞相抛向空中，海鸥们则拿出各自的绝活，为游客们表演空中啄食芭蕾。甲板上的欢声笑语，海鸥的咿呀声，就是一首人与自然合奏的交响曲；夕阳的余辉衬托下，人们和空中的海鸥变成了变幻莫测的剪影……，一切的一切，都让人陶醉。

Romantic Ferrying

It takes over 6 romantic hours to be ferried from Yantan toDalian. With the ferry sailing on the vast sea, time seemed to slow down itspace deliberately to allow people to either indulge in their rare leisuredreading, chatting, tea-sipping in the cabin or lean against the rails, gettingbathed in gentle breezes on deck, overlooking into the distance and staring at the ferry-side waves andthe wake floating like dancing girls’ skirt tails. No sooner had theholidaymakers caught sight of an unexpected big flock of seagulls hovering overthe deck than they threw themselves into feeding the gulls with breadcrumbs,who got rewarded with the gulls' balletic pecking stunts in the air. How intoxicated the holidaymakers were in the melodious natural symphony of cheerful laughters and chirps! What an amazing picture it is with the kaleidoscopic silhouettes of people and gulls in the twilight in it!

一江之隔，二个世界

中朝边境的丹东是我东北之行的第三站，也是本次东北之行的一大亮点。丹东靠近大海，所以这里的海鲜便宜又新鲜。丹东就建在鸭绿江畔，从入住的宾馆步行到断桥景区只要10多分钟。一看到断桥，人似乎闻到了抗美援朝的硝烟，马上变得心潮澎湃起来。强敌当前，理应奋起抗击。抗美援朝，打出了军威，打出了国威，天安门城楼上的宣言：中国人民从此站起来了，掷地有声。

One River Apart, Two ContrastingWorlds

My third stop is Dandong, a Sino-Korean border City on YaluRiver , which is also one of the highlights of my travel to the northeast. Theseafood in Dandong is both fresh and inexpensive due to its proximity to thesea. It’s an over ten minutes’ walk from my hotel to the Broken-bridge scenicspot, at sight of which my blood was stirred up as if I had smelled of smoke ofthe Korean War. It’s righteous for our countrymen to stand up to a formidableenemy and the hard-won triumph of the Korean War earned China its military andnational prestige. The declaration by Chairman Mao on Tianmen Gate Tower--TheChinese people have stood up ever since!—is still resounding now.

一江之隔，两个世界，一侧是繁华的都市，另一则则是贫穷的乡村。当今的朝鲜国，比中国落后近50年，相当于中国上世纪的六、七十年代。老百姓穷得掉渣，个个饿得又黑又瘦。男人的地位比女人高，一个男人相当于5个女人，干重活、累活的都是女人，男人则在旁盘腿聊天。牛羊是生产队中宝贝，一头牛相当10个男人，50个女人，一头羊则相当于5个男人，25个女人。要是丢了牛羊，活要找回，死要见尸。一切实行集体主义，一切生产资料都归生产队。对面的几只小船，是朝鲜国生产队派过来做生意的，兜售些朝鲜国特产：烟酒、人参之类，换取他们所需的人民币。小船靠近时，游客们尽管购物和观望，但不许拍照，朝鲜人在小船里放置了一些石块，随时会扔向偷偷拍照的游客。做生意的朝鲜女公社队员比较胖，在朝鲜人中很少见，她做生意时一言不发，忙着一手收钱，一手交货。中国人似乎个个是大款，花钱如流水。人民币很值钱，1元相当于朝鲜币500元，我给了她二元硬币，她马上把钱放入裤袋，脸上堆出笑容，和我握手，千恩万谢。我们的游船不大，但和朝鲜的边防艇一比，则立马高大上了。我们这边是硬质的江堤，对岸则是松软的泥堤，一发大水，我们这边毫发无损，对岸则成了汪洋大海。一到夜晚，对比更加明显，一侧是灯火辉煌的不夜城，另一侧是漆黑一片，偶尔闪烁的灯光，像是坟场中摇曳的鬼火。

Today’s North Korea is the equivalent of China in 1960s or 1970s,approximately 50 years lagging behind. The commoners are so impoverished that every soul looks darkand skinny. Men are much more valued than the women’s. One man is worth 5 womenwho are heavy laborers while men buried themselves in leisured chatting withlegs crossed nearby.

The boats across the river were dispatched by the NorthKorean production teams to trade Korean specialties—cigarettes, ginseng alcohol—fortheir much needed RMB. Chinese tourists were free to do shopping and viewingbut photographing was strictly prohibited when the Korean boats approached assome rocks on-board would be readily hurled towards any candid photographers. TheNorth Korean commune woman was rarely stout among Koreans. She was tightlippedtaking money and delivering goods in the whole process.

Our yacht instantly became a luxurious cruiser compared withthe North Korean border patrol boats. The embankment here is hard-paved whilethe other is a soft muddy one. In times of flooding, our side stays intactwhile the other side becomes sea of flooding. When night falls, a sharpercontrast emerges—it’s a brightly-lit sprawling city this side and pitch-dark onthe other with ghostly lights flicking out of a graveyard.

对岸是朝鲜的新义洲特别行政区，相当于我国的深圳特区。新义洲市是朝鲜国的第二大城市，地位仅将于平壤。即便有几幢高楼，也是中国无偿援建的，在周围矮房的衬托下显得很突兀，整片建筑一团漆黑，只有房顶的按照灯警惕地照射天空，防患敌人的空袭。

博物馆共设有7个展厅，展览照片800余幅；实物300余件；文献、档案资料近100件；大小型场景19组；雕塑4尊；油画、国画等20余幅，电脑触摸屏14台、大屏幕电视录像机2台。并采用了现代科学技术，配备有分区广播、中央空调、影视报告厅、电子阅览室、多媒体电脑系统及国际互联网等设施，是世界上全面反映“九·一八”事变历史的博物馆。

白河镇享有“白桦故乡”、“美人松故乡”之美誉，镇旁有一个静静的小湖，名叫“野鸭湖”。小湖碧波荡漾，水面上漂着一群野鸭和几只“白毛浮绿水，红掌拨青波”的天鹅，他们和小镇上的居民相处得极其和谐，一点也不怕靠近的人们，尽情享用人们给予的食物。漫步在湖旁的栈道上，仿佛徜徉在人间仙境。吹着清凉的山风，听着潺潺的水流声，情不自禁地哼唱起“莫斯科郊外的晚上”……。

Town of Erdao Baihe

The Town of Erdao Baihe, a little known yetamazing place, is located at the foot of Changbai Mountain in Antu County, Korean Autonomous Prefecture of Yanbian, Jilin Province where we were enchantedwith unexpected views of a lake and woods.

Some exceptionally fresh air came upon uswhen we got off the coach and we’re told that the air unusually abounds withnegative oxygen ions. We found ourselves in a forest hut on the top floor of afarmer's inn, smelling of wooden fragrance.

The Town of Erdao Baihe is renowned as home to birch and Beautypine trees. Nearby lies the tranquil Wild Duck Lake. Floating on the ripplingand sparking lake was a flock of wild ducks and white swans who lived in greatharmony with the residents, enjoying carefreely whatever food was given to themwithout any fear of people approaching them. Walking on the wooden path alongthe babbling lake and enjoying the cool breeze, I felt like I was in a fairylandand couldn't help humming The Evening in the Outskirts of Moscow.

圈河口岸现为中朝国际客货公路运输口岸，在那里偶遇了几位穿着制胜，胸前别着领袖像章的朝鲜司机，他们又黑又瘦，面无表情地蹲在车队中等候过关。我试着用刚学会的朝鲜话“东木”（同志，朋友）来和他们打招呼，想不到他们立即说“朋友”。我问他们装运的是什么货，他们回答说建筑材料。后来我和几位中国司机聊起和朝鲜贸易情况，他们说，朝鲜人穷得掉渣，往朝鲜拉的都是垃圾物，他们啥都要。最近联合国对朝鲜的贸易制裁，从正常贸易并没有影响，该交易的，照常交易。

An Encounter with North Korean Dongmu at Quanhe Port

Quanhe Port deals with Sino-Korean international passenger and freight transportation, where I encounteredseveral uniformed Korean truck drivers who were waiting expressionlessly in the truck line for customs clearance. They were squatting, looking dark and skinny,wearing badges of their leader on the chest. I greeted them with Dongmu, a newly-leant Korean greeting meaning comrades or friends, and unexpectedly got their reply in Chinese—Hello, my friend. I asked them what their trucks were loaded with andthe answer was construction materials. Later on, I chatted with some Chinese truck drivers about the Sino-Korean trade, who told me that the North Koreanswere so impoverished that they were in desperate need of almost everything from China, even those considered trash in China. However, normal border trade hadn’t been disrupted at all by the recent UN trade sanctions against North Korea.

中央大街始建于1898年，初称“中国大街”，1925年改称为沿袭至今的“中央大街”。中央大街汇聚了在西方建筑史上历经数百年形成的各类建筑风格，也是当年远东地区最为著名的街道。古典主义、浪漫主义、文艺复兴式、巴洛克、拜占庭、新文艺运动派和俄罗斯式的典型建筑随处可见，老哈尔滨的独特建筑文化及哈尔滨人的欧式生活，都在这里明显地体现。

村中草地森林相连，五彩缤纷的野花遍地开放。不远处有个木桩，上写“我找到北了!”，让人拍案叫绝：直到现在，我才终于找到了北，也才这是中国最北的地方了。

I've Found the Northernmost and Oriented Myself

I've been long yearning to visit the ArcticVillage, in Mohe County, which deserves much savoring. An authentically-decoratedfarmer's inn is my favorite and the one we stayed in is named The Third at the Entrance to the Village.

The host couple are hospitable and simple locals. It's lunchtime after all was settled and my stomach began to make noises. No sooner had I placed my order of a local fish and a vegetable than the hostessbegan cooking. The sizzling sound in the pot and tantalizing smell from the kitchen made my mouth water before I could even have a bite.

Mohe is a village and town combined which is sprawling well beyond my expectations. The village is surrounded byHeilongjiang River on three sides, across which is Russia. Quite a few mud bungalows specific to the region around Mohe have still been well preserved. The quaint furnishings and layout inside the cooperative shop reminded me of scenies of department stores in my childhood.

Wading playfully in the crystalline riverand looking across at Russia, I seemed to vaguely hear some Russian girls humming despite the pity that I caught sight of none of them.

The village is dotted with woods adjacentto meadows with widespread wild flowers in full bloom. Not far away stood apost reading strikingly : “ I've found the northernmost and oriented myself!” whichresonated with me perfectly—I can't find a more northern place in China!

Manchuria in My Eyes

My main purposes to visit Manchuria are to see the Sino-Russian state gates and meet some Russian girls. Unfortunately, foreigners aren't allowed to visit the State Gatescenic spot.

There's a sharp contrast between the Chinese gate and the Russian one—The Chinese gate is imposingly magnificent towering the humble and low Russian one, embodying the huge differences between the economies of the two countries.

When darkness fell, Manchuria became a brilliantly-lit city with all the bustle and hustle oftraffic and crowds in the streets, contrasting strikingly with the picture inRussia. When the booming picture hit me in the eye, a national pride surged through me.