I joined a tour group and visited North Korea for 4 days at the end of April. As a Chinese citizen, it's very easy and cheap to visit NK. The first and last days were mostly spent on the train going between the Chinese border and Pyongyang.
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| Pyongyang train station |
We stayed all 3 nights in NK at a hotel in Pyongyang. To minimize our contact with the general population, the hotel is located on a small island in Datong River, it's very isolated from the rest of Pyongyang, and we were not supposed to leave the hotel at night.
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| 羊角岛Hotel |
During the day, we were driven around in a big bus with 2 guides/minders and 1 video-grapher. It's only OK to take photos when the guides tell you when and where to take photos. However, nearly all of us managed to snap many "forbidden photos" and successfully get them out of NK. When you leave the country, a NK soldier will take away all the cameras and inspect the photos, any photo deemed "inappropriate" will be deleted".
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| view of Pyongyang from my hotel room |
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| Pyongyang |
My favorite part of the trip is to the DMZ. Soldiers from North and South Korea are just meters away, so intense! 1 people, 2 countries, 2 ideologies are separated by the world's most heavily guarded border, very surreal.
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| NK soldier explains the DMZ to us, the only soldier in NK we were allowed to take photo of and with |
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| in case of a ground invasion, the little rock pinned under this giant block can be removed to allow it to fall on to the road and create a blockade, there are dozens of these lining the road in DMZ |
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| the place where cease-fire was signed between the UN and NK |
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| the Joint Security Area, the blue houses are administrated by the South, white ones by the North, the concrete line running through the middle of the houses split the two Koreas |
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| opposing forces face to face |
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| that little concrete line makes the two countries worlds apart, freedom stops right there |
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| Australian PM Julia Gillard visited the DMZ from the South on the same day we were there |
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| S Korean soldiers at DMZ |
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| NK soldiers, they all look very short and skinny |
It is widely known that food in NK is in short supply. Almost all of our meals consisted of steamed rice and little dishes of pickled vegetables and a little bit of pork. No beef is on the menu as all the cows (and there aren't so many of them) are used to do farm work, even if a cow gets too old, you must have a special permit before you can butcher it.
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| NK produces lots of copper, these dishes and utensils are all copper, as well as all the pipes in our hotel. |
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| while waiting for the train to Pyongyang, we had our first meal in NK. Everything was cold. |
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| the famous Pyongyang cold noodle. Our guide told us they make better one in China b/c they have better ingredients in China |
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| our last dinner in NK was hotpot, each person only got this little plate of vegetables and a couple pieces of pork, even no rice, it was pathetic, also a reminder of how serious the food shortage is |
Pyongyang Metro is as magnificent as a subway system can be. It is more than 100m underground and stations are decorated with beautiful art (though to serve as propaganda tools) and multiple chandeliers.
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| Pyongyang Metro |
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| a long way down |
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| Pyongyang |
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| soldiers pay respect to Kim Il Sung's statue in Pyongyang |
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| it is only allowed to take a photo of the statue with 100% of the statue in the frame |
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| Pyongyang |
Mt. Myohyang is one of the most famous mountains on the Korean peninsula, its all year round mild temperature, beautiful landscape and diverse flora make it a must go place for tourists. It is also here two palaces were built to house the gifts from all over the world given to Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, of course, most gifts are from China.
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| the palace that houses Kim Il Sung's gifts |
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| the palace that houses Kim Jong Il's gifts |
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| Victory Gate in Pyongyang |
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| good looking and nicely dressed female traffic police officers are a highlight in Pyongyang |
The original bridge linking China and NK was destroyed during the Korean War, now a new one called China-Korea Friendship Bridge sits side by side to the destroyed bridge.
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| China is on the right side of the river |
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| the bridge that got destroyed by the US bombing during the Korean War |
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| at night there's not a single light on the NK side (left side of the river), whereas on the Chinese side lights are beaming all over the place, lighting up the dark sky and people are enjoying themselves. What a stark contrast! |
