Our favourite Russian language LiveJournal, Show & Tell Pyongyang is a student from Russia who is currently living in and attending school in Pyongyang. This week we’re treated to an inside look at a Bowling alley and billiards hall in Pyongyang that many young North Koreans visit to kick back and relax. It’s not unlike bowling alleys we might find in North America or in other westernized countries; albeit stuck in a retro 80s feel.
Google Translate does a decent job of conveying the author’s captions; the bowling alley consists of a tribute to Kim Il-Sung who visited in 1994 (the year of his death), at least a dozen lanes with score keeping monitors and computers, rows of slot machines, a few racing arcade machines from Namco and SEGA, and a second floor restaurant. The blogger also includes a short video of students bowling, to demonstrate that the alley isn’t as dimly lit as his photos might suggest:
Check out the full Google Translated post in the link below. Good stuff!
Source: Show & Tell Pyongyang
1 comment
Ray
February 16, 2011 at (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I spent an afternoon at the bowling alley. My photos are found here.
The thing I noticed about the crowd was their use of foreign currency. There was a shop on the second floor selling all kinds of consumer goods from outside the DPRK, similar to shops I saw in the USSR. The place is well worth a visit.