North Korea | Jason Around the World

VI. Evening in Pyongyang, and Pyongyang to DC

Airports, Attractions, Business Class, China, Flights, North Korea, North Korea 2005 4 Responses »

Jul 122015

As I mentioned in the last post, after a long day of touring around Pyongyang we were taken to the Number 1 Duck Restaurant, which was promised to be a big treat. Contemplating dinner…and North Korean beer:

Final evening chat with the variety of interesting characters on the trip:

After dinner, it was back to the glamourous Koryo Hotel to crash. It was honestly reasonably comfortable, completely clean, even though the mattresses seriously felt like they were filled with straw:

The uninspired hallways…if you would knock on the walls there were clearly lots of hollow spots in them…we decided there must be secret compartments and one-way mirrors…

Final breakfast at the Koryo Hotel. What the food made up for in quality and quantity, they certainly tried their hardest with presentation…and bowtied waiters:

Koryo Hotel lobby…note all the marble. Like old Soviet hotels, it was everywhere. I can’t remember if the pink flowers are Kimilsungia or Kimjongilia:

Goodbye Koryo Hotel…waiting for the bus to the airport:

Busy city streets of downtown Pyongyang at 7am:

One last shot of the two towers of the Koryo Hotel:

Shot with our “tour guide” by the bus before heading to the airport:

Unauthorized secret photography on the way to the airport. Lots more people “risking” pictures at this point because, hey, what would they do, deport us?

Goodbye from the Eternal Leader:

Very busy day at Pyongyang International, with four flights arriving, including the two charters to take the visiting South Koreans home;

Waiting area, including a V.I.P. Lounge…unfortunately, they don’t accept Priority Pass…yes I asked…

Waiting hall…all flights wait in the same room:

Inspirational reading on the walls while you wait for your flight. I wonder if Kim Il Sung would approve of the Kindle:

Sympathy might not be the word they wanted:

Our plane being prepared on the tarmac:

Walking down the stairs to the bus to take us to our plane:

So long Pyongyang!

Boarding…was fun to get a different plane than the first flight!

Air Koryo flight 221
Pyongyang, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (FNJ) to Beijing, China (PEK)
Depart 9:30, Arrive 10:00, Flight Time: 90 minutes
Tupolev TU-154B, Registration P-561, Manufactured 1983, Seat 26D

The Air Koryo crew continued to photobomb my pics!

No doors on the overhead bins this time, just put your bags up and pray!

On the takeoff roll. You can see all the bags in the overhead, and the flight attendant standing in the aisle and bracing herself by holding onto two seats!

The Air Koryo burger, and some kind of juice I think. The burger was actually surprisingly edible, but I have absolutely no idea what it contained!

Final shot of our plane from the gate in Beijing:

We had a few hours to wait for our connecting flight to Newark, and got some Starbucks in the airport and then just hung out in the lounge. Back then you needed a visa to even transit China, so might as well leave the sterile area of the airport and get some Starbucks while waiting!

Continental Airlines flight 88
Beijing, China (PEK) to Newark, New Jersey (EWR)
Depart 15:45, Arrive 17:25 Flight Time: 13:45
Boeing 777-200, Registration: ???, Manufactured ????, Seat 9A

Was absolutely and completely exhausted by this flight, and ended up sleeping a lot of it. So tired I didn’t even think to take any pics of the meal or anything unfortunately.

Continental Airlines flight 1153
Newark, New Jersey (EWR) to Washington, DC, National (DCA)
Depart 19:00, Arrive 20:15 Flight Time: 1:15
Boeing 737-500, Registration: ???, Manufactured ????, Seat 5E

Speaking of exhaustion, this is when it hit. Flew economy on the domestic segments because buying first on those would have been hundreds extra, and it wasn’t worth it for such short flights when you could get the bulkhead. Remember the days when Continental flew 737s 10 times a day from DC to Newark?

All in all, it was an amazing trip, and a fantastic opportunity to be part of the first group of Americans to be allowed into North Korea. We got to see a slightly less-polished propaganda machine that wasn’t quite certain what to do with us. I look forward to going back for a much longer trip so I am not so severely jetlagged for most of it, and we can see more sights. Especially would love to take the aviation tour!

V. War Museum, Movie Studio, Pyongyang Metro, USS Pueblo, Childrens’ Palace

Attractions, North Korea, North Korea 2005, Restaurants No Responses »

Jul 112015

Heading back to Pyongyang from Kaesong and the DMZ, we stopped at the Arch of Reunification for photos. It was built in 2001, and has two women (one representing North Korea, one South Korea) unifying in the middle of the aptly named Reunification Highway:

Our next stop was the Juche Tower. Juche is the name given to the ideology promoted by Kim Il-Sung of self-reliance. It’s considered by many North Koreans to be Kim Il-Sung’s great contribution to international philosophy…so of course it needs its own tower to commemorate it! It contains 25,550 blocks, one for each day of Kim Il-Sung’s life. Did I mention yet that the North Koreans kind of hit you over the head with symbolism? Standing 560 feet tall, the Juche Tower is also (coincidentally? NOT!) just a couple of feet taller than the Washington Monument, which it was supposedly modeled on. You can also see the Workers’ Party Monument near the base:

We were allowed to go up the tower to the observation deck, just below the flame. Hazy view of Pyongyang:

Juche Tower and the Workers’ Party Monument:

The Juche Tower and Workers Party Monument – three figures, one with a hammer (representing a worker), one with a writing brush (representing the working class intellectual), and one with a sickle (representing the peasant/farmer):

The next morning began to the Monument to Party founding. Again, the hammer, sickle, and writing brush:

Nearby propaganda to the Great Leader:

Next up was Mansudae, featuring a 20 meter high statue of Kim Il Sung. Notice the flowers at the base. You are not required, but it is expected, that you buy flowers from a nearby vendor and place them at the base and bow deeply in respect. Also worth nothing, all photos of the statue must contain the entire statue. No cutting off the head or body…and yes, your guides will check. Guess they haven’t heard about photoshop later on! It’s important to note that after Kim Jong-Il died in 2011, a statue of him was placed next to his father, but back when I visited in 2005 only Kim Il-Sung was hanging out:

Nearby is the Socialist Revolution Monument. It’s over 60 feet high, and the figures are nearly 15 feet each:

Next stop was the Korean War Museum. Our guides actually seemed a bit nervous about this, because it was the first time they would be taking Americans through the museum. They quickly warmed up, however, and took great delight in telling us all the ways they had defeated America. The museum’s tour guide pointing something out to us:

Describing all the great victories of North Korea:

Yak-18 aircraft from the war, with a new and improved museum-worthy paintjob:

Painting of the great General Kim Il Sung directing the war:

Outside the window of the museum was able to get this shot of the Ryugyong Hotel. We were strictly told no pictures were allowed of it, probably because it was started and never completed…supposedly because they found major architectural mistakes that made it unsafe to inhabit. Rumour is it could collapse at any time…other rumours say they just ran out of money. In 2008 construction actually started up again, and in 2011 they finally finished the exterior, but it still isn’t open. In 2012 the international Kempinski chain announced the hotel would finally open, but it never did…

At the entrance to the North Korean Film Studios…notice the movie camera next to the Great Leader:

Supposedly it was a great honour that I got to pose with this famous actor making a film about China:

Next up was a ride on the Pyongyang Metro. Surprisingly, we weren’t too restricted with photos, but we were only allowed to ride from one station to the next station a stop away. A map of the system:

Entering the station and headed down the escalator:

Entering the platform area, where the train was conveniently waiting for us, but no passengers really were, except for a few which had been creatively staged:

Mural in the station:

Station attendant, to escort us onto our train:

Our group (the only people in the station) standing around taking photos, while our train conveniently waited for us:

Inside the train car, with the Dear Leader and Great Leader watching over us:

Our exit station, one stop away, which actually had many more North Koreans in it…guess they hadn’t had time to completely stage this one or something:

Exit from the metro station:

Next stop was the USS Pueblo, a US Navy ship captured by North Korea in 1968, which they now proudly show off to tourists. A member of the North Korean navy was our guide:

Entering the ship:

Communications room:

Bullet hole in the ship:

On the way to the birthplace of Kim Il Sung we stopped, and I made a point to be inspired by local propaganda:

Next up was the birthplace of Kim Il Sung, significantly upgraded and now a museum. There were actually many “real” North Koreans visiting, as well as school groups. None dared get anywhere near us, however:

Final stop of the afternoon was the Pyongyang Childrens’ Palace. Every city more or less has a childrens’ palace, but the one in Pyongyang is the showcase for the nation:

Children in a dance class, watched over by their leaders:

Surprisingly impressive aquatic centre:

Accordion class?

Drawing/painting class:

Embroidery class:

Traditional Korean instruments. Based on the uniforms, this was clearly a performance for the tourists:

Lastly, we were taken to a karate class:

Unfortunately, this was all the pics I got because the rest were lost on the deleted memory card. We were taken to a childrens’ orchestra performance that seemed to go on forever, and finally to a last night celebration dinner at a duck restaurant. I remember our guides being super excited about this, because it was known to be one of the best restaurants in North Korea. Unfortunately, I found it barely edible because the duck was almost all skin and fat, and almost no meat. I can understand this being a big deal in a society where meat of any sort was rare, but by this point in the trip we were largely living on beer and bread. It raised the question of if this was the “best” North Korea had to offer to the first American tourists, you had to wonder just how hard the average citizen had it.

After dinner, we were taken to the Yanggakdo Hotel, which is bigger than our hotel and sits on an island in the middle of a river…so they can put the drawbridge up at night and strand you on the island. Quite surprising this wasn’t chosen for the Americans. It had a casino, nail salon, and supposedly bowling alley, but we weren’t allowed to use any of them. Instead, we were allowed to sit in the cafe in the lobby and drink imported Heinekens. Hah!

Eventually off to bed, just in time to fly out the next morning. It had been a whirlwind trip, but still amazed how much we were allowed to see!

IV. Trip to DMZ and Kaesong, return to Pyongyang

Attractions, North Korea, North Korea 2005 1 Response »

Jul 062015

Up waaaaaay to early for the long ride down to the DMZ. The Koryo hotel treated us to white toast with what passed for some scary local butter, and some pre-packaged cold cuts which were equally suspicious looking. There was also coffee, but it looked pretty much like a few instant coffee grounds in water, so wasn’t much help. There was a small store in the hotel selling western goods, and it was actually possible to get Coke and Diet Coke for a reasonable price…but there was no telling what currency you might get change in. We were told to bring Euros, but they were also more than happy to accept US notes, Japanese, or Chinese currency.

After that, we loaded into the bus for the long ride down to the DMZ. Tried my best to stay awake for most of it, but the jetlag was seriously hurting today. Not to worry, however, because if I did manage to fall asleep for a bit I’d be woken up by the minder shouting at someone from the back of the bus to put their camera away. There wasn’t too much to see, or surprising, but it was a huge highway down to the border, and you hardly ever saw a single car along it.

View from the bus:

Rural life:

Standing in the middle of the “highway” at a rest stop:

Busy superhighway:

North Korean agriculture from the bus:

We stopped short of the DMZ area, and waited for our guides to sort some things out. There was as small presentation of pictures and articles, including the Dear Leader inspecting the museum and giving his famous “on the spot advice:”

Sign near the entrance, again using the theme of lost relatives soon to be reunited:

Posing, and waiting, outside the museum:

Getting a short lesson on a map about the great North Korean victories in the war:

The Eternal and Dear Leaders were everywhere, looking youthful as ever:

Entrance to the museum on the North Korean side of the DMZ:

Posing with the North Korean military guy who was our guide:

I believe this was commemorating the opening of the museum:

Looking at the huts along the armistice line, including the two blue UN huts. You can see the South Korean museum in the background, and solders standing between the huts marking the border:

Look carefully at the mid-point of the huts, and the border line marked clearly on the ground:

Always expected in order to “do” every country I’d be taking this pic on the other side, saying “look, North Korea in the distance!” Instead it was “look, South Korea in the distance!” The funny part about this was at this point, I hadn’t even been to South Korea yet!

Better view of the border line crossing through the huts from the balcony of the museum:

We were eventually allowed into the huts, but due to “recent sensitivities” were not allowed to cross to the other side of the hut “technically” into South Korea, or even take any pics while in the hut. Bummer. So I couldn’t count South Korea, even technically, yet!

After the tour we piled back into the bus for the short drive out of the DMZ into Kaesong. The DMZ is fascinating because since there have been no people really living there for decades, wildlife has really flourished…except of course the occasional animals that get blown up by the still plentiful landmines!

Traditional lunch in Kaesong:

Rather empty street in Kaesong:

We toured a couple of local folk museums, but unfortunately my pictures were deleted. While trying to sort them on my camera, I ended up losing dozens of pictures from the trip, including many from the Childrens Palace. Extremely unfortunate luck. The drive back to Pyongyang was long, and I think I ended up sleeping for a good majority of it. Still another full evening to come in Pyongyang, and one more full day of touring the city!

III. Arirang Mass Games

North Korea, North Korea 2005 1 Response »

Jul 052015

When our bus pulled up to the Rungrado May Day Stadium, we could see thousands of North Koreans milling around outside, but when we got out of the bus they all looked away, and were clearly uncomfortable seeing us there. We were escorted in by our guides, and seated together in one big block. No telling what might have actually happened had some of us chosen the upgraded seating, but that’s how it was.

We were maybe 15-20 rows off the infield of the stadium, which was absolutely massive. The stadium is said to seat up to 150,000 people, and it looked like absolutely every seat was packed this evening. The Arirang Mass Games aka the Arirang Festival began in 2002 and has its roots in an old Korean folk story about lovers who were torn apart. A little bit of Romeo and Juliet, complete with the tragedy, but a LOT of analogy about the two Koreans being torn apart. A big theme of the performance was to build up to the eventual and inevitable reunification of lost lovers.

The guide said they announced that there was a group of Americans visiting, but based on the complete lack of reaction from the crowd I doubt it was really announced. Based on propaganda that is spewed by the government, I’m not sure that would have been a safe thing to do anyways. However, there was a group of around 100 South Koreans sitting behind us, all in identical grey jumpsuits, there to be reunited with family as a gesture of friendship between the warring countries. Our guide claimed the jumpsuits were because they did not want to flaunt their western lifestyles in front of their relatives, but another guy staying in our hotel who’d been living in the country for a few years later told us it was so they would be easier to tell apart from North Koreans should they escape and roam the city. Americans blending in? Not so much…but it would be possible for a South Korean possibly.

The event lasted several hours, and was an amazing spectacle of choreography that would seem impossible in the west. Unfortunately we were totally jetlegged and probably didn’t fully appreciate it, but several pictures from the event with a little commentary.

The picture in the background is 30,000+ schoolchildren who would frequently “snap” posterboards to change the background picture. This is on top of the thousands of performers.

Identically-dressed South Koreans entering the stadium and taking their seats behind us:

Thousands and thousands of performers dressed in red, to signify the working classes of the world:

Remember the “picture” in the background is 30,000 people holding up coloured posterboards. North Korea views its independence as 1945, the independence from Japan, not the time since the Korean War, thus this was in their eyes the 60th anniversary of the nation as well:

Another scene:

Another scene representing the isolation and separation of the two countries…

Thousands of performers with mock rifles in mock military uniforms, representing mother Korea defending her children:

Military might:

Military martial arts display:

North Korea, land of science and technology. After all, as Kim Jong Un recently said, they’ve cured HIV/AIDS, Ebola, and a multitude of other horrible diseases!

In celebration of North Korea’s peaceful rocket and military program…again, remember these are thousands of individual posterboards:

Don’t remember this one, but think it had something to do with the national agricultural bounty:

The bizarre rabbit and chicken act….

Complete with dancing chickens and eggs…it was like something out of a bad acid trip…

…and here come the bunnies to join the parade!

…and a mass dance number to close out the show, celebrating the eventual reunification. As I mentioned, I’m sure there was tons of symbolism that was lost on us, because if you looked back at the South Koreans behind us there wasn’t a dry eye in the place. It was actually super moving to see, and really gave us a real human insight into the country on our first day there.

So was North Korea a paradise that’s just misunderstood? Well, the choreography was super impressed, but there’s also been plenty of rumours of performers being executed for screwing up during performances over the years. Yes, the precision was out of this world and unlike anything I’ve ever seen, but such things are much easier to achieve in a totalitarian state where the state controls propaganda and the average citizen has some level of fear.

To this day, it was definitely most unique performance I’ve ever seen anywhere in the world, and I can’t imagine anything else remotely like it. Imagine training 50,000 or more performers to do a show, night after night, running for weeks on end, every year. Many people perform in the show for years and years, and although the event hasn’t been held the last three years, there’s no telling if it will ever come back.

We were hurried into the bus, and drove back to our hotel through the pitch black night where I promptly passed out the minute my head hit the pillow.

II. Beijing to Pyongyang on Air Koryo, arrival in Pyongyang

Airports, Attractions, China, Flights, hotels, North Korea, North Korea 2005, Restaurants No Responses »

Jul 052015

After walking around the city for a bit, caught an early morning cab to Beijing airport, where the monitors advertised it was true. Our 11:30 flight really existed, and it seemed we were really going to North Korea!

Found our group from Koryo Tours clustered around the Air Koryo check-in area, and did quick introductions all around. There were about 25-30 of us, all Americans, since this was a first-time 72 hour tour just for Americans. Check it was reasonably quick, boarding passes in hand, and we set off to explore duty free. But first, we stopped at left luggage to drop off a backpack containing our laptops and cell phones. We were told these wouldn’t be allowed in North Korea, and that we would have to check them at the Pyongyang Airport upon arrival. Rather than subject them to inevitable scrutiny during our visit by North Korean security services, we decided to just check the at Beijing Airport for a few days.

We’d been told it was customary to buy gifts for our tour guides to stay on their good side, and we were told the best gifts to buy were cigarettes, ladies moisturizer, and hand cream. Picked up one of each, included the first and only time I’ve ever bought a carton of cigarettes, and duty free gave us one of those “you may be a winner” scratch off tickets…and figures just when I don’t need to win anything I do…a Ferrari suitcase, lol.

Cheap plastic, probably worth five dollars, but there was absolutely no way they were going to let me leave without taking it. So, instead, I decided to just haul it with, filled with my duty free stash. A few days later, it would be abandoned in the Pyongyang hotel room.

Got to the gate, where for some reason it had the wrong time for the flight. Note the 07:50 departure time, but the clock reading 11:28. It wasn’t delayed, it was just…a time warp…like everything in North Korea would soon be:

After a short bus ride, there she was, the aircraft that would take us to North Korea. I was a little shy about taking pictures, but there was no need. Nobody seemed to care:

Boarded through stairs, and the adventure was set to begin!

Air Koryo flight 222
Beijing, China (PEK) to Pyongyang, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (FNJ)
Depart 11:30, Arrive 14:00, Flight Time: 90 minutes
Ilyushin IL-62M, Registration P-881, Manufactured 1986, Seat 19B

One of the many flight attendants, checking boarding passes and directing people to their seats. One strange part was the 4-5 bulkheads in the plane, dividing it into many identical mini-cabins:

Waiting to find my seat with fellow American tourists…and photobombed by a very stunned looking flight attendant. Yes, I had 19B. Until this year was probably the last time I’d sat in a middle seat for nearly 10 years:

Not sure what’s in all those containers, but a rather huge galley area. Clearly reducing weight was no priority when building this plane:

You sit here:

Getting suspicious looks for taking so many pics during boarding:

In-flight, a pic of the main cabin from the washrooms in the back:

Here comes lunch! Despite being only about 75 minutes in the air, a full lunch was served:

Quite huge and impressive portions of foodstuffs of dubious origins. The pain was a sweet and sour chicken with pineapple in it, which was pretty good. I don’t remember if the drink was white wine or sparkling wine, but either way quite impressive how much they served. I didn’t want to risk serious intestinal distress in North Korea, so just nibbled at the cake and wine:

All in all the flight was pretty uneventful, and the Ilyushin-62M was a fascinating experience. Pretty sure I’d been on one previously with Aeroflot in the late 1980s, but don’t have any records from that trip to prove it. The service by Air Koryo was polite and efficient, and considering they were dealing with Americans for probably the first time ever they were all still quite refined and not at all nervous looking.

Immigration was a pretty quick affair, and no passport stamps were offered. Our visa was several sheets of paper with everyones’ pictures and passport details on them, and it was pretty much one large group visa. Several people tried to get passport stamps, but there was no way to do it.

After arrival, milling around outside the airport waiting for our bus…and I still have the Ferrari bag:

Poster outside the airport advertising the Arirang Mass Games, the event we had all been invited to witness:

On the way to the hotel in our tour bus, we met our guides Mr Lee and Miss Yang. There was another “guide” who constantly sat in the back of the bus and never spoke to us, and we were told he didn’t speak English. He was, however, quite fond of getting upset and yelling at us frantically in Korean whenever he caught people taking pictures of things we weren’t permitted to photograph. Lee seemed to be quite a nice guy, and was fond of cracking really poor jokes, often related to building nuclear bombs and “America going to go BOOM hah hah” whenever anyone asked him a vaguely military-related question.

First stop on the way to the hotel was the Arch of Triumph, built to honour the Korean resistance to Japanese occupation from 1925-1945. One thing that was hammered into us over and over is no matter how much the North Koreans distrust America (and are going to invade and conquer it) they distrust and dislike Japan a hundred times more. The Arch looks suspiciously like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and is much larger…supposedly the biggest arch in the world:

Finally, we headed to our hotel, the Koryo Hotel. We had been told to expect the Yanggakdo Hotel, because it’s located on an island and at night they can close the bridge off to prevent you from getting off the island. However, we ended up at the Koryo Hotel instead. Rumour was because the rooms were better…connected…and was better able to monitor suspicious foreign guests. From the outside, it was a rather impressive structure:

We were given a bit of time to freshen up, before being taken out to dinner. It was described as hotpot, and we were given a plate of raw meet, noodles, and vegetables to cook in the hotpot. This came with several large bottles of North Korea beer, which was actually mildly decent. Never once did I get anything resembling food poisoning on this trip, so the hygiene standards must have been reasonably good:

After dinner, we were herded back into the bus, jetlagged all to hell since we’d just flown into Beijing the night before, and hurried off to the Arirang Mass Games. We were explained that for tourists there were three types of seats. Standard seats, which if I remember right were like 70 or 80 Euro, better seats right next to the field which were like 250 Euro, and VIP seats which were like 500. Since our guide couldn’t explain what make the VIP seats better, we all went with standard seats. If 500 would have gotten me a photo-op with Kim Jong Il I would have paid it in a heartbeat, but alas. Then, it was time for the main event!

North Korea – 2005

North Korea, North Korea 2005 No Responses »

Jun 252015

A reader posted out that I’d never posted this, and realized this trip happened way before I had a blog. I was sitting at home one night back in 2005, after I’d already decided I wanted to visit every country, and had decided that North Korea was going to be by far the most difficult because they simply didn’t allow American Tourists. Period.

I was reading CNN online that evening, and there was an interview with a British guy in Beijing who said he’d received permission to do the first ever tour of Americans to Pyongyang. Thinking it was a joke, I emailed him. Yes, it was for real, and they were leaving from Beijing. This didn’t seem real. At this point, I didn’t see any other way I’d ever get to North Korea, because for all we knew they’d shut the door again after this one trip.

That hasn’t really happened, however, but it still makes a great story to be part of the first group to go there in decades. I understand a scattered individual here and there had been allowed in prior, but never a group. North Korea would be my 34th country visited (seems so long ago) and it’s funny that even way back then I was worried about how I’d check off the “difficult countries.”

Tickets purchased, and literally 48 hours later we were off to North Korea. I’ll do my best to clear the cobwebs off my dusty memory, and tell as much of the story as I remember 10 years later. I have tons of pictures, however, and about 130 of them are worth posting I think. For that reason, I’ll split this into six parts:

I. Washington DC to Beijing on Continental Airlines, 1 night in Beijing
II. Beijing to Pyongyang on Air Koryo, arrival in Pyongyang
III. Arirang Mass Games
IV. Trip to DMZ and Kaesong, return to Pyongyang
V. War Museum, Movie Studio, Pyongyang Metro, USS Pueblo, Childrens’ Palace
VI. Evening in Pyongyang, and Pyongyang to DC

Even though a trip to North Korea isn’t quite so unusual anymore, I hope you’ll enjoy!