Air Koryo (JS) Y class - PEK to FNJ (Pyongyang)
Jun 16, 2005, 1:02 pm
#91
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Day 7 Mount Myohyang & Pyongyang
The day dawned grey and rainy. Thankfully this mean the much threatened mountain walk was canned in favour of a decent lie in. Excellent! A brief bout of Juche T>V before the most revolting breakfast yet. One of our number was celebrating his birthday so we had a round of happy birthday for him - and the staff had even got some flowers for him.
The mornings activity was a visit to the International Friendship exhibition. These are two huge museums dug deep into the mountainside and containing all of the gifts presented by overseas visitors to the Kim’s. This was a ‘best behaviour’ venue - lots of uniformed, sober guards with silver plated AK-47’s. We plunged into the Kim Il Sung hall, containing a whopping 250,000 gifts. The first room could best be described as the executive summary - a collection of gifts from the great and good of the world. Robert Mugabe, Yasser Arafat, Konstantin Chernenyko and Madeleine Albright. There were some pretty impressive gifts - if you are into kitsch in a big way.
Points of interest were the selection of cars presented by various General Secretaries of the CPSU and 2 railway carriages from Stalin and Mao respectively. Endless corridors lead us to long display rooms containing a lot of tat. Needless to say the selection from Western Nations was pretty spare - that from fraternal socialist allies was alive with communist memorabilia.
And then we had a bit of a shock. We were all lined up and given strict instructions. Walk into the line, form a line, bow and then leave without speaking. Another KIS statue we all thought. In fact is was a life size waxwork (presented by a Chinese delegation after his death) set in a wooded glade, the leaves of the artificial trees being stirred by an artificial breeze.
Exercising self restraint I had never previously thought possible I managed to get through that without laughing. Looking back now the whole experience is funny, but in rather bad taste. After that experience, we restored ourselves with a cup of tea looking out at the hills and admitted the Kim Il Sungia flowers set into the concrete. Very nice.
We then took on the smaller (28,000 gifts from only 164 countries) but suitably grandiose and sombre Kim Jong Il collection . Most notable were the huge numbers of the gifts from the South during the Sunshine period. One furniture manufacturer had donated 333 pieces to the Dear Leader - all in a vile repro Louis 14 style. Why 333? 3 is the Korean lucky number. It seems interesting that a superstition like that can live on a rational socialist state until you remember some of the stories about crying animals when the Great Leader died.
As ever, the reaction of the local tour parties was fascinating. Out arrival in a room instantly diverted attention from exhibit to far more exotic big nosed people in outlandish clothes. Hopefully our smiling, relaxed demeanour reassured people we were - fairly - normal. The drive back to town was unmemorable le under yet more grey skies and was followed with the most unspeakable meal yet at the Yanggakdo hotel.
Our final afternoon was filled with a visit to the Fine Art museum (dull save for me getting a huge blocking for taking photos when I wasn’t supposed to), the Handicrafts shop (equally dull though we did bag birthday boy a cake) and the Stamp shop (probably a great business opportunity in stamp collecting circles). By this point most of us were starting to look forward to heading back. The shock of difference had worn off and the sad, slightly drab, worn country around us was starting to take its toll.
That evening we headed off a celebratory dinner at the Pyongyang BBQ duck restaurant. This was the best meal on the entire trip and much more like the meals I had enjoyed in the South. The beer and shochu was flowing freely and by the point we presented the cake to birthday boy we almost took the roof off the restaurant. The drive back to the hotel was memorable - our guides entertained us with some karaoke ob board as we glided through the Pyongyang night, lights sparking from apartment block windows in the absence of any street lighting. Memorable, but deeply sad.
The night carried on for quite a while with an impromptu golf game, more drinking, more karaoke before hitting the sack at about 2am. I took 10 minutes before turning in to take one final look at the Pyongyang skyline - just a few lights glowing the darkness.
The day dawned grey and rainy. Thankfully this mean the much threatened mountain walk was canned in favour of a decent lie in. Excellent! A brief bout of Juche T>V before the most revolting breakfast yet. One of our number was celebrating his birthday so we had a round of happy birthday for him - and the staff had even got some flowers for him.
The mornings activity was a visit to the International Friendship exhibition. These are two huge museums dug deep into the mountainside and containing all of the gifts presented by overseas visitors to the Kim’s. This was a ‘best behaviour’ venue - lots of uniformed, sober guards with silver plated AK-47’s. We plunged into the Kim Il Sung hall, containing a whopping 250,000 gifts. The first room could best be described as the executive summary - a collection of gifts from the great and good of the world. Robert Mugabe, Yasser Arafat, Konstantin Chernenyko and Madeleine Albright. There were some pretty impressive gifts - if you are into kitsch in a big way.
Points of interest were the selection of cars presented by various General Secretaries of the CPSU and 2 railway carriages from Stalin and Mao respectively. Endless corridors lead us to long display rooms containing a lot of tat. Needless to say the selection from Western Nations was pretty spare - that from fraternal socialist allies was alive with communist memorabilia.
And then we had a bit of a shock. We were all lined up and given strict instructions. Walk into the line, form a line, bow and then leave without speaking. Another KIS statue we all thought. In fact is was a life size waxwork (presented by a Chinese delegation after his death) set in a wooded glade, the leaves of the artificial trees being stirred by an artificial breeze.
Exercising self restraint I had never previously thought possible I managed to get through that without laughing. Looking back now the whole experience is funny, but in rather bad taste. After that experience, we restored ourselves with a cup of tea looking out at the hills and admitted the Kim Il Sungia flowers set into the concrete. Very nice.
We then took on the smaller (28,000 gifts from only 164 countries) but suitably grandiose and sombre Kim Jong Il collection . Most notable were the huge numbers of the gifts from the South during the Sunshine period. One furniture manufacturer had donated 333 pieces to the Dear Leader - all in a vile repro Louis 14 style. Why 333? 3 is the Korean lucky number. It seems interesting that a superstition like that can live on a rational socialist state until you remember some of the stories about crying animals when the Great Leader died.
As ever, the reaction of the local tour parties was fascinating. Out arrival in a room instantly diverted attention from exhibit to far more exotic big nosed people in outlandish clothes. Hopefully our smiling, relaxed demeanour reassured people we were - fairly - normal. The drive back to town was unmemorable le under yet more grey skies and was followed with the most unspeakable meal yet at the Yanggakdo hotel.
Our final afternoon was filled with a visit to the Fine Art museum (dull save for me getting a huge blocking for taking photos when I wasn’t supposed to), the Handicrafts shop (equally dull though we did bag birthday boy a cake) and the Stamp shop (probably a great business opportunity in stamp collecting circles). By this point most of us were starting to look forward to heading back. The shock of difference had worn off and the sad, slightly drab, worn country around us was starting to take its toll.
That evening we headed off a celebratory dinner at the Pyongyang BBQ duck restaurant. This was the best meal on the entire trip and much more like the meals I had enjoyed in the South. The beer and shochu was flowing freely and by the point we presented the cake to birthday boy we almost took the roof off the restaurant. The drive back to the hotel was memorable - our guides entertained us with some karaoke ob board as we glided through the Pyongyang night, lights sparking from apartment block windows in the absence of any street lighting. Memorable, but deeply sad.
The night carried on for quite a while with an impromptu golf game, more drinking, more karaoke before hitting the sack at about 2am. I took 10 minutes before turning in to take one final look at the Pyongyang skyline - just a few lights glowing the darkness.
Jun 16, 2005, 1:58 pm
#92
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Once again, that was an outstanding trip report, Swanhunter. The most interesting I've read in ages. ^
Seems to be a perfect summary of the whole experience...
Originally Posted by Swanhunter
Memorable, but deeply sad.
Jun 16, 2005, 8:45 pm
#93
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Wow... thanks for the trip report, sound like a great experience... makes me wish they didn't hate the US so much 
Last edited by mlbcard; Jun 16, 2005 at 8:48 pm
Jun 27, 2005, 5:26 pm
#99
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Posts: 13,145
Originally Posted by Unicorn123
IDog meat is mostly consummed by older people and the eating of it is frowned upon by the typical South Korean. I must assume the same goes for the North.
Jun 29, 2005, 1:46 am
#101
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 1
Swanhunter
This is a most fasinating thread. I'm lucky to be going to NK this Oct as a part of a tour arranged by "Explore". Looks like our itinerary is identical to yours!! I'm debating taking a video camera, did you or any of your group use one in NK?
Again, thanks for your time and effort in posting such an amazing read.... ^
This is a most fasinating thread. I'm lucky to be going to NK this Oct as a part of a tour arranged by "Explore". Looks like our itinerary is identical to yours!! I'm debating taking a video camera, did you or any of your group use one in NK?
Again, thanks for your time and effort in posting such an amazing read.... ^
Jul 4, 2005, 12:23 am
#102
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The LA Times did a fascinating two-part on the living situation in North Korea, focusing on the residents of Chongjin through clandestine interviews and footage. It complements Swanhunter's thread and iterates the distressing conditions that N. Koreans face everyday--even more so, since it gets off the official tourist path.
Mandatory reading for anyone who has read this thread.
Part 1 "A Hard Scrabble Life", LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...home-headlines
Part 2 "Trading Ideals for Sustenance", LA Times,
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...home-headlines
The LA Times is notorious for requiring free registration. I'm not sure how long these links will be registration free.
Mandatory reading for anyone who has read this thread.
Part 1 "A Hard Scrabble Life", LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...home-headlines
Part 2 "Trading Ideals for Sustenance", LA Times,
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...home-headlines
The LA Times is notorious for requiring free registration. I'm not sure how long these links will be registration free.
Last edited by CApreppie; Jul 4, 2005 at 12:27 am
Jul 4, 2005, 8:44 pm
#103
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Originally Posted by CApreppie
The LA Times did a fascinating two-part on the living situation in North Korea, focusing on the residents of Chongjin through clandestine interviews and footage. It complements Swanhunter's thread and iterates the distressing conditions that N. Koreans face everyday--even more so, since it gets off the official tourist path.
Originally Posted by CApreppie
The LA Times is notorious for requiring free registration. I'm not sure how long these links will be registration free.
