Edited by Rocky Grove, Saturday, 5 Oct 2013, 12:08
Saturday
China is certainly a land of contrasts, in many ways it is very westernised yet I could not access my OU Google accounts, Picasa web nor Facebook, I can only assume because they were blocked. One could be down, but not all three!
More on China later but we were off on a journey to the hermit state! Our guide collected us from the hotel and we had an easy journey out to the modern Beijing airport. It was surprisingly quiet, only a handful of flights departing from International Terminal 2. Our plane to Pyongyang was an ancient Russian Illuysin 92. It seemed to be in good condition but the decor and seats were from the sixties. The staff was smiling and welcoming but when we started to taxi a stewardess came and sat next to me and started to try to indoctrinate! She asked me what I knew about Korea. I was evasive and said I had come to learn, she then mentioned that they had just marked the birthday of the Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il and I put my foot in it by saying something like I hoped she had enjoyed the events. She then reminded me that he had died in December and so it had been a very sad time. She then went on to tell me about all the wonderful things he had done and went and got me a colour magazine, showing me specifically a page devoted to the "Gifts full of Respect" given to him - over 14000 during his life, from people like Putin, Castro, Ahmadinejad of Iran, Chavez of Venezuela, the deputy prime minister of Japan and, strangely, Billy Graham.
After a long wait on the tarmac we eventually took off, to my relief and - poor under heated meal apart, had an uneventful flight to Pyongyang. The airport reminded me of the old Elmdon Airport in the sixties, however immigration was efficient and welcoming. The only problem was customs when they decided they wouldn't let me bring my camera in because it has a GPS facility (which I've never used!!). It appears things like this are quite common events; they always take mobile phones but I was unaware of GPS camera. I was given a receipt and, hopefully, will get it back on my departure, sharing with Steve in the meantime. What did surprise me, however, was our lead guide (we have two) wasn't happy that this had happened and went off, eventually unsuccessfully, to try and retrieve it. I was very impressed that she even tried.
On the way into the city we passed several army squads marching, many people walking, some cycling, a fair number of cars and many buses - most of which looking as if they had just been retrieved from the scrapyard!
We made one stop, by the Arch of Victory, built to celebrate the liberation of Korea from the Japanese after World War Two - it was is 4 metres higher than the Arc de Triumphe!
We have two guides and a driver for the whole trip. The experienced guide, a married lady, probably late twenties Yu Jin Ok, is generally very open and surprisingly knowledgeable on world affairs - for example she brought up and intelligently discussed Scottish devolution, a subject many non-Brits would have no idea about. She gave us a few rules:
We must not photo soldiers (except in the DMZ)
We must respect the person & pictures of the Great Leader, the Dear Leader and the Supreme Leader
We must not go by ourselves off the island on which the hotel is situated unless we are with our guides.
That apart we had some interesting, generally open and free ranging discussion about world affairs and the Korean peninsula. She talked about how pleased they had been when the South Korean president had visited Pyongyang twice in the noughties but how sad it was that the current leaders were so anti. There was a news item on TV with an announcer seemingly yelling at the audience and she said it was about the aggressive military tests the South Koreans were carrying out currently.
I asked if, on the way to the DMZ, we could visit some ancient Koryo ruins - partly to add interest, and partly to see her reaction, and she was very pleased we wanted to learn about her country's history and was happy to agree.
Our other two companions are Kim Sun Chol, I would say a slightly older man but a trainee guide who had been working for only 6 months and our driver Kim Myong Il - most Koreans, North and South have the name Kim!
The hotel was really strange, part luxurious, part just weird. The basement contained a swimming pool, casino, shops, bowling alley, billiard hall and other connected by stark corridors and some doors that reminded me of castle dungeons, I had to lower my head to get through one! There were few directions signs but people were very helpful. One of the shops was a bookshop which, although closed, seemed to mainly contain the thoughts and writing of the three leaders!
Two other surprising facts were that we met several South Korean visitors and we could watch BBC World in our room.
We ended the day with a really nice, four course Korean meal (all meals are included) - what surprised me was that we had been having long chats with our guide and seemed not to end at a specific time, yet when we entered the restaurant, our starter was on the table awaiting our arrival.
We have a wonderful view of the city out of our 40th floor window, what is noteworthy is the relative lack of lights in the showpiece capital, one can only wonder what the remoter towns are like. By eleven thirty virtually the only visible lights in the city appeared to be fairly sparse street lights - no houses seemed to be showing any lights. Steve queried whether we should be economising - our hotel must seem like a beacon of light!
Sunday
A fascinating day with melancholy tinges. We drove down the motorway (built by the army in 1995) to the DMZ - the demilitarised zone between the north and south. The drive itself was eerie. A "normal" two lane motorway but the surface was pretty rough. Although light, there was plenty of traffic in Pyongyang but on the 100 mile drive down the motorway we saw a total of 4 lorries, 5 cars and 2 motor bikes! Conversely, on and nearby we saw thousands of people walking, some with incredibly heavy loads strapped to their backs, 100s of cycles, and many bullock carts. Additionally we frequently passed people working in the fields, only with hand tools - we saw little livestock. A few cows, about 5 small flocks of sheep - no more than 10 in a flock, three or four flocks of geese and one of hens.
Half way down we stopped at a motorway cafe - no fuel pumps. The toilets were modern but the sinks were frozen. The cafe was on a bridge, like Leicester Forest East, but we were the only customers. A lady bustled up with a thermos of hot water and made us a coffee for one Euro each. The cafe seemed Cluedo themed, because in addition to the Dining Room which I have rudely called a cafe, there was a potentially functioning Billiards and Drawing Room.
When we reached the DMZ we were allocated to a lieutenant and another soldier, so now we had four guides! He was pleasant but very into indoctrination, he spouted in Korean and our guide translated. A taste of his type of rhetoric is summed up by a plaque at the entrance to the Armistice Talks Hall which reads in Korean (translation from Lonely Planet):
It was here on July 27, 1953 that the American imperialists got down on their knees before the heroic Chosun people to sign the ceasefire for the war they had provoked June 25th 1950.
To get to the hall we were driven down a long concrete corridor with huge slabs of concrete each side, ready to block any land invasion in minutes!
We were then driven to the actual demarcation line, which we were informed was the most dangerous place of earth. What was strange was that during our whole visit we never caught sight of any South Korean or US soldier. I know they have visits here (I hope to try one out next year), so they must have negotiated exclusive times.
The sights consists of two large headquarters, staring at each other across the line with 5 Nissan type huts actually built across the line to allow for meetings. The border itself was marked by a 10 inch high concrete wall between each hut, two NK soldiers guarding each gap. We went in one hut and the lieutenant spoke to us from in South Korea J we were free to wonder in also, but the exit out was closed and guarded by two NK soldiers. Ironically every building we had stopped in all morning was completely unheated except this one where heated poured out from a heater on, you've guessed it, the South Korean side!
Propaganda aside, it was sad to see the way the two Koreas are divided, we were told there are some 10 million split families.
After the DMZ we returned to Kaesung for lunch at the main hotel, we were taken through a vast, empty dining room to some small rooms with low Japanese style tables at which we were supposed to sit cross legged, Steve managed, I knelt. We were served a nice meal with 11 small bowls all containing different dishes plus a bowl of soup, kept hot on a charcoal burner. We only had metal chop sticks and the soup spoon. We eat by ourselves always as the guides say they are not allowed to join us. A lady in traditional costume kept on sliding the door open to check everything was OK.
After a post lunch visit to the statue of the Great Leader, Kim Il-sung, we went to look down on the traditional tile-roofed houses of the older section of Kaesong. We then negotiated hundreds of bicycles, passed a market just selling firewood and by several men carrying the equivalent of about three bales of hay attached to a wooden frame on their back. Our destination was the Songgyungwan Neo-Confusian College. It was originally built in 992, destroyed by the 1592 Japanese invasion and rebuilt shortly thereafter. It now contains the Koryo Museum showing pottery and other Buddhist relics. It is a beautiful setting with the buildings surrounding a wide courtyard with ancient trees.
Our final visit of the day was to my request from yesterday, the Tomb of King Kongmin (the 31at Goryeo king who reigned between 1352 and 1374) and his queen. It consists of two mounds and is decorated with granite facing and statues of statesmen. It's a lovely spot about 14 km out of the city mostly on dirt roads set amongst tree covered hills.
On our return to the hotel we ate in the Korean restaurant, along with two other guests! There are about six restaurants in total. Another lovely meal, this time sitting on chairs I'm pleased to say J. We had about six courses, the next one being brought the moment one had finished. The food is very similar to Chinese which I have always loved.
We finished the day with a swim, sauna and scrub in a luxurious centre in the hotel basement which was actually quite busy.
Monday
Our day started with a stroll through the streets of Pyongyang to an international language bookshop which had translations of most of the writings of the "Great Leader". We then re-boarded the minibus and our poor mini bus driver had a severe ticking off from a traffic policeman for not having his papers, we were left to walk around a square while he went back to get them J.
We visited the National Library which is reputed to contain some 3 million books, they have an interesting electronic/mechanical system whereby you can order any book and very quickly it appears at the desk in a box on a mini train. We were shown the "wide range of facilities and lectures available". On the one hand it was impressive to see how well the system was being used, it was one of the few well used places we saw, on the other, the quality was low. For example we went in to the "music lecturer hall" and were played "Michelle" by the Beatles J. It was played on an ancient CD player on which the tracks kept on skipping, every desk had their own machine! We also saw a technology lecturer in which the students were being taught computer programming. There were three students to a computer, the program was in English but the lecturer speaking in Korean, was at the front using a PA and demo screen. He seemed to be saying do this, press this, go here and the students were just copying. Interestingly all the software was from the American imperialist Microsoft! I would question the relative wisdom of expending vast sums on constructing vast memorials and statues instead of providing up-to-date technologically to teach the workers of the future.
We finished the library trip with a visit to the roof from where we had a wonderful view of Kim Il-sung Square, they say, the largest in the world, where all the notorious parades are held. It was interesting to find that they had a massive digital screen on the building side which was used to coordinate the moves when people in the square were doing mass dances.
We made two more "revolutionary" visits before lunch - the Tower of the Juche Idea honouring Kim Il-sung's philosophy and the party foundation monument.
We had an interesting "hot pot" lunch. We were brought a hot pot, half full of a thin broth with our choice of uncooked meat or fish. The broth was placed over a burner and when it was boiling you added and cooked your own ingredients, finally adding and egg and eating a self cooked meal - novel and enjoyable.
Following lunch we visited the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum, as with the DMZ, we had an army guide but she was much more open, just presenting the facts - and therefore, far more effective. She referred to either the enemy or the Americans never the American aggressors or similar. After a propaganda film she showed us round lots of relicts and dioramas. There was a fascinating range of military hardware including wrecked tanks and planes from both sides. They had been located in the basement before the building was erected over them. The climax is a 360 degree diorama of one battle which consists of a 120 metre painting merged into recreated landscape complete with real trucks etc. In the vast museum, we were the only visitors and rooms and halls were especially opened for us, additionally the power kept on going and we could only see some of the displays by taking a flash photo and seeing what was illuminated!
After a brief visit to the international visitors shop we boarded the metro. Very interesting. In the streets people ignored us or smiled but the atmosphere in the metro was different. Virtually no one spoke to each other and some people actually appeared slightly hostile, two six year olds seemed scared and wouldn't get in our carriage. Our guide said it was probably because they have been taught how terrible Americans were and didn't know we were any different!
That said, the metro was amazing, it doubles up as a nuclear bunker and is 120 metres deep with blast doors and lengthy corridors leading from the end of the escalators. It is decorated with marble columns, gaudy chandeliers and impressive murals detailing heroic activities of the people, and of course the Great Leader.
We then went for a very pleasant walk through the park on Moran Hill before finally visiting the USS Pueblo, a US spy ship captured in 1968. We had a guided tour by a retired captain of the marines who had been one of the boarding party. It seems pretty certain that that this was indeed US aggressive here.
Our final visit of the day was to the supposed childhood home of the Great Leader. It is a collection of traditional huts, a typical Korean peasant house with thatched roofs, living block on one side and barn on the other. It doesn't, however look over 100 years old as advertised!
Another nice, traditional Korean meal ended our final day we fly back to Beijing in the morning.
Tuesday
No problems getting out, although the guide did check Steve's camera and was surprised how few photos he had taken. "Where are the ones from the metro" she asked, Steve replied that he had wanted to be sure he hadn't taken anything inappropriate. In fact every photo was hidden on my laptop with just a token few left on the cameraJ. I had no problem reclaiming my camera and we were back in Beijing by 10am. Although the visit had been extremely interesting, I felt a real sense of relief from oppression as I stepped off the plane. On the journey back to airport we both talked almost none stop, telling the Chinese guide about our trip, it was such a relief to be able to talk freely. At one point she commented that her country had been a bit like that thirty years ago, in fact I don't think even then, China was quite so restrictive. I went behind the iron curtain several times, getting in was difficult and movement was restricted to the city you were in but I have never, not been allowed out on my own.
After briefly checking our emails we headed off to explore Beijing, wondering through the hutangs, old areas, and into Tiananmen Square, which is certainly much larger than Kim Il-sung Square and would have been even bigger before they erected Mao's Mausoleum! We arrived at the Forbidden City at 3.30 but were too late to get in. We were able to get a really good view of its immense size from a nearby hilltop. Unfortunately my photos aren't too clear because of the pollution haze.
We had our evening meal at a "cook your own" restaurant. You choose your meal but the meat arrives raw. A gentleman then placed some red hot coals in a container set into the middle of the table, the waitress then covered it with a griddle and you barbequed the meat to your taste. Every 5 minutes or so the waitress came and swopped over the griddle so that there was now accumulation of fat. It was delicious and most unusual.
Wednesday
I fancied a lie in, but Steve is used to waking at six, so we arranged to meet at Beijing North Railway station just before 11am, keeping in touch by text. We successfully met up and caught the fast train 75 km north to the Great Wall at Badeling. The journey was fast, just over an hour at speeds of up to 140kph, and incredibly cheap - £1.20. It was also one of the most comfortable trains I have been on. The wall is truly amazing, I have read about it but not really appreciated what it was actually like. It follows the mountain tops so at places it runs in a sort of U shape around a ridge with the two arms of the U almost touching. I knew it had been restored but assumed that was just small sections, however it was intact for as far as the eye could see, as well as in several other places we passed on the train. At places it is incredibly steep, there was one place where it sloped vertically upwards at what must have been more than 45 degrees, it was quite nervy just to climb it. Badeling, being the closest part of the wall to Beijing, is a very popular place for visitors and it was quite crowded - even on a winter's mid week day, I hate to think what it would be like on a summer weekend. What was interesting was that the vast majority of the visitors were Chinese. I enjoyed some brief moments of notoriety because several teenage Chinese girls kept coming up to me and asking to be photographed with me - Steve reckoned it was because of my white hair which is quite unusual in China!
When we returned to Beijing we spent some time looking round a shopping mall and then had our last Chinese meal, similar to the Mongolian wok, where you choose the ingredients, they are weighed before you pay and then they are cooked for you. Some entertainment was had for all because the serving lady had no English and wasn't too quick on the uptake. She couldn't understand that Steve and I wanted separate orders. We spent a hilarious time involving several customers who could speak English until all was finally resolved.
We finished by making our own way back to the hotel arriving within five minutes of each other. I felt completely safe walking along the shopping streets and through the hutangs in the dark but I'm not sure if I'd wish to return to Beijing, it is just too crowded and large.
Overall an extremely enjoyable trip with no low points. The high point would have to be North Korea, not because it was enjoyable but because it was fascinating to get a small glimpse into the Hermit State. It may have been noticed that the day after our visit the DPRK and USA have announced that, following agreement on nuclear reduction, more food aid will be made available. I like to think that this rapprochement was, in part, due to our visit J.
For anyone who is interested my photos can be viewed at:
Into the Hermit State
Saturday
China is certainly a land of contrasts, in many ways it is very westernised yet I could not access my OU Google accounts, Picasa web nor Facebook, I can only assume because they were blocked. One could be down, but not all three!
More on China later but we were off on a journey to the hermit state! Our guide collected us from the hotel and we had an easy journey out to the modern Beijing airport. It was surprisingly quiet, only a handful of flights departing from International Terminal 2. Our plane to Pyongyang was an ancient Russian Illuysin 92. It seemed to be in good condition but the decor and seats were from the sixties. The staff was smiling and welcoming but when we started to taxi a stewardess came and sat next to me and started to try to indoctrinate! She asked me what I knew about Korea. I was evasive and said I had come to learn, she then mentioned that they had just marked the birthday of the Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il and I put my foot in it by saying something like I hoped she had enjoyed the events. She then reminded me that he had died in December and so it had been a very sad time. She then went on to tell me about all the wonderful things he had done and went and got me a colour magazine, showing me specifically a page devoted to the "Gifts full of Respect" given to him - over 14000 during his life, from people like Putin, Castro, Ahmadinejad of Iran, Chavez of Venezuela, the deputy prime minister of Japan and, strangely, Billy Graham.
After a long wait on the tarmac we eventually took off, to my relief and - poor under heated meal apart, had an uneventful flight to Pyongyang. The airport reminded me of the old Elmdon Airport in the sixties, however immigration was efficient and welcoming. The only problem was customs when they decided they wouldn't let me bring my camera in because it has a GPS facility (which I've never used!!). It appears things like this are quite common events; they always take mobile phones but I was unaware of GPS camera. I was given a receipt and, hopefully, will get it back on my departure, sharing with Steve in the meantime. What did surprise me, however, was our lead guide (we have two) wasn't happy that this had happened and went off, eventually unsuccessfully, to try and retrieve it. I was very impressed that she even tried.
On the way into the city we passed several army squads marching, many people walking, some cycling, a fair number of cars and many buses - most of which looking as if they had just been retrieved from the scrapyard!
We made one stop, by the Arch of Victory, built to celebrate the liberation of Korea from the Japanese after World War Two - it was is 4 metres higher than the Arc de Triumphe!
We have two guides and a driver for the whole trip. The experienced guide, a married lady, probably late twenties Yu Jin Ok, is generally very open and surprisingly knowledgeable on world affairs - for example she brought up and intelligently discussed Scottish devolution, a subject many non-Brits would have no idea about. She gave us a few rules:
That apart we had some interesting, generally open and free ranging discussion about world affairs and the Korean peninsula. She talked about how pleased they had been when the South Korean president had visited Pyongyang twice in the noughties but how sad it was that the current leaders were so anti. There was a news item on TV with an announcer seemingly yelling at the audience and she said it was about the aggressive military tests the South Koreans were carrying out currently.
I asked if, on the way to the DMZ, we could visit some ancient Koryo ruins - partly to add interest, and partly to see her reaction, and she was very pleased we wanted to learn about her country's history and was happy to agree.
Our other two companions are Kim Sun Chol, I would say a slightly older man but a trainee guide who had been working for only 6 months and our driver Kim Myong Il - most Koreans, North and South have the name Kim!
The hotel was really strange, part luxurious, part just weird. The basement contained a swimming pool, casino, shops, bowling alley, billiard hall and other connected by stark corridors and some doors that reminded me of castle dungeons, I had to lower my head to get through one! There were few directions signs but people were very helpful. One of the shops was a bookshop which, although closed, seemed to mainly contain the thoughts and writing of the three leaders!
Two other surprising facts were that we met several South Korean visitors and we could watch BBC World in our room.
We ended the day with a really nice, four course Korean meal (all meals are included) - what surprised me was that we had been having long chats with our guide and seemed not to end at a specific time, yet when we entered the restaurant, our starter was on the table awaiting our arrival.
We have a wonderful view of the city out of our 40th floor window, what is noteworthy is the relative lack of lights in the showpiece capital, one can only wonder what the remoter towns are like. By eleven thirty virtually the only visible lights in the city appeared to be fairly sparse street lights - no houses seemed to be showing any lights. Steve queried whether we should be economising - our hotel must seem like a beacon of light!
Sunday
A fascinating day with melancholy tinges. We drove down the motorway (built by the army in 1995) to the DMZ - the demilitarised zone between the north and south. The drive itself was eerie. A "normal" two lane motorway but the surface was pretty rough. Although light, there was plenty of traffic in Pyongyang but on the 100 mile drive down the motorway we saw a total of 4 lorries, 5 cars and 2 motor bikes! Conversely, on and nearby we saw thousands of people walking, some with incredibly heavy loads strapped to their backs, 100s of cycles, and many bullock carts. Additionally we frequently passed people working in the fields, only with hand tools - we saw little livestock. A few cows, about 5 small flocks of sheep - no more than 10 in a flock, three or four flocks of geese and one of hens.
Half way down we stopped at a motorway cafe - no fuel pumps. The toilets were modern but the sinks were frozen. The cafe was on a bridge, like Leicester Forest East, but we were the only customers. A lady bustled up with a thermos of hot water and made us a coffee for one Euro each. The cafe seemed Cluedo themed, because in addition to the Dining Room which I have rudely called a cafe, there was a potentially functioning Billiards and Drawing Room.
When we reached the DMZ we were allocated to a lieutenant and another soldier, so now we had four guides! He was pleasant but very into indoctrination, he spouted in Korean and our guide translated. A taste of his type of rhetoric is summed up by a plaque at the entrance to the Armistice Talks Hall which reads in Korean (translation from Lonely Planet):
It was here on July 27, 1953 that the American imperialists got down on their knees before the heroic Chosun people to sign the ceasefire for the war they had provoked June 25th 1950.
To get to the hall we were driven down a long concrete corridor with huge slabs of concrete each side, ready to block any land invasion in minutes!
We were then driven to the actual demarcation line, which we were informed was the most dangerous place of earth. What was strange was that during our whole visit we never caught sight of any South Korean or US soldier. I know they have visits here (I hope to try one out next year), so they must have negotiated exclusive times.
The sights consists of two large headquarters, staring at each other across the line with 5 Nissan type huts actually built across the line to allow for meetings. The border itself was marked by a 10 inch high concrete wall between each hut, two NK soldiers guarding each gap. We went in one hut and the lieutenant spoke to us from in South Korea J we were free to wonder in also, but the exit out was closed and guarded by two NK soldiers. Ironically every building we had stopped in all morning was completely unheated except this one where heated poured out from a heater on, you've guessed it, the South Korean side!
Propaganda aside, it was sad to see the way the two Koreas are divided, we were told there are some 10 million split families.
After the DMZ we returned to Kaesung for lunch at the main hotel, we were taken through a vast, empty dining room to some small rooms with low Japanese style tables at which we were supposed to sit cross legged, Steve managed, I knelt. We were served a nice meal with 11 small bowls all containing different dishes plus a bowl of soup, kept hot on a charcoal burner. We only had metal chop sticks and the soup spoon. We eat by ourselves always as the guides say they are not allowed to join us. A lady in traditional costume kept on sliding the door open to check everything was OK.
After a post lunch visit to the statue of the Great Leader, Kim Il-sung, we went to look down on the traditional tile-roofed houses of the older section of Kaesong. We then negotiated hundreds of bicycles, passed a market just selling firewood and by several men carrying the equivalent of about three bales of hay attached to a wooden frame on their back. Our destination was the Songgyungwan Neo-Confusian College. It was originally built in 992, destroyed by the 1592 Japanese invasion and rebuilt shortly thereafter. It now contains the Koryo Museum showing pottery and other Buddhist relics. It is a beautiful setting with the buildings surrounding a wide courtyard with ancient trees.
Our final visit of the day was to my request from yesterday, the Tomb of King Kongmin (the 31at Goryeo king who reigned between 1352 and 1374) and his queen. It consists of two mounds and is decorated with granite facing and statues of statesmen. It's a lovely spot about 14 km out of the city mostly on dirt roads set amongst tree covered hills.
On our return to the hotel we ate in the Korean restaurant, along with two other guests! There are about six restaurants in total. Another lovely meal, this time sitting on chairs I'm pleased to say J. We had about six courses, the next one being brought the moment one had finished. The food is very similar to Chinese which I have always loved.
We finished the day with a swim, sauna and scrub in a luxurious centre in the hotel basement which was actually quite busy.
Monday
Our day started with a stroll through the streets of Pyongyang to an international language bookshop which had translations of most of the writings of the "Great Leader". We then re-boarded the minibus and our poor mini bus driver had a severe ticking off from a traffic policeman for not having his papers, we were left to walk around a square while he went back to get them J.
We visited the National Library which is reputed to contain some 3 million books, they have an interesting electronic/mechanical system whereby you can order any book and very quickly it appears at the desk in a box on a mini train. We were shown the "wide range of facilities and lectures available". On the one hand it was impressive to see how well the system was being used, it was one of the few well used places we saw, on the other, the quality was low. For example we went in to the "music lecturer hall" and were played "Michelle" by the Beatles J. It was played on an ancient CD player on which the tracks kept on skipping, every desk had their own machine! We also saw a technology lecturer in which the students were being taught computer programming. There were three students to a computer, the program was in English but the lecturer speaking in Korean, was at the front using a PA and demo screen. He seemed to be saying do this, press this, go here and the students were just copying. Interestingly all the software was from the American imperialist Microsoft! I would question the relative wisdom of expending vast sums on constructing vast memorials and statues instead of providing up-to-date technologically to teach the workers of the future.
We finished the library trip with a visit to the roof from where we had a wonderful view of Kim Il-sung Square, they say, the largest in the world, where all the notorious parades are held. It was interesting to find that they had a massive digital screen on the building side which was used to coordinate the moves when people in the square were doing mass dances.
We made two more "revolutionary" visits before lunch - the Tower of the Juche Idea honouring Kim Il-sung's philosophy and the party foundation monument.
We had an interesting "hot pot" lunch. We were brought a hot pot, half full of a thin broth with our choice of uncooked meat or fish. The broth was placed over a burner and when it was boiling you added and cooked your own ingredients, finally adding and egg and eating a self cooked meal - novel and enjoyable.
Following lunch we visited the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum, as with the DMZ, we had an army guide but she was much more open, just presenting the facts - and therefore, far more effective. She referred to either the enemy or the Americans never the American aggressors or similar. After a propaganda film she showed us round lots of relicts and dioramas. There was a fascinating range of military hardware including wrecked tanks and planes from both sides. They had been located in the basement before the building was erected over them. The climax is a 360 degree diorama of one battle which consists of a 120 metre painting merged into recreated landscape complete with real trucks etc. In the vast museum, we were the only visitors and rooms and halls were especially opened for us, additionally the power kept on going and we could only see some of the displays by taking a flash photo and seeing what was illuminated!
After a brief visit to the international visitors shop we boarded the metro. Very interesting. In the streets people ignored us or smiled but the atmosphere in the metro was different. Virtually no one spoke to each other and some people actually appeared slightly hostile, two six year olds seemed scared and wouldn't get in our carriage. Our guide said it was probably because they have been taught how terrible Americans were and didn't know we were any different!
That said, the metro was amazing, it doubles up as a nuclear bunker and is 120 metres deep with blast doors and lengthy corridors leading from the end of the escalators. It is decorated with marble columns, gaudy chandeliers and impressive murals detailing heroic activities of the people, and of course the Great Leader.
We then went for a very pleasant walk through the park on Moran Hill before finally visiting the USS Pueblo, a US spy ship captured in 1968. We had a guided tour by a retired captain of the marines who had been one of the boarding party. It seems pretty certain that that this was indeed US aggressive here.
Our final visit of the day was to the supposed childhood home of the Great Leader. It is a collection of traditional huts, a typical Korean peasant house with thatched roofs, living block on one side and barn on the other. It doesn't, however look over 100 years old as advertised!
Another nice, traditional Korean meal ended our final day we fly back to Beijing in the morning.
Tuesday
No problems getting out, although the guide did check Steve's camera and was surprised how few photos he had taken. "Where are the ones from the metro" she asked, Steve replied that he had wanted to be sure he hadn't taken anything inappropriate. In fact every photo was hidden on my laptop with just a token few left on the cameraJ. I had no problem reclaiming my camera and we were back in Beijing by 10am. Although the visit had been extremely interesting, I felt a real sense of relief from oppression as I stepped off the plane. On the journey back to airport we both talked almost none stop, telling the Chinese guide about our trip, it was such a relief to be able to talk freely. At one point she commented that her country had been a bit like that thirty years ago, in fact I don't think even then, China was quite so restrictive. I went behind the iron curtain several times, getting in was difficult and movement was restricted to the city you were in but I have never, not been allowed out on my own.
After briefly checking our emails we headed off to explore Beijing, wondering through the hutangs, old areas, and into Tiananmen Square, which is certainly much larger than Kim Il-sung Square and would have been even bigger before they erected Mao's Mausoleum! We arrived at the Forbidden City at 3.30 but were too late to get in. We were able to get a really good view of its immense size from a nearby hilltop. Unfortunately my photos aren't too clear because of the pollution haze.
We had our evening meal at a "cook your own" restaurant. You choose your meal but the meat arrives raw. A gentleman then placed some red hot coals in a container set into the middle of the table, the waitress then covered it with a griddle and you barbequed the meat to your taste. Every 5 minutes or so the waitress came and swopped over the griddle so that there was now accumulation of fat. It was delicious and most unusual.
Wednesday
I fancied a lie in, but Steve is used to waking at six, so we arranged to meet at Beijing North Railway station just before 11am, keeping in touch by text. We successfully met up and caught the fast train 75 km north to the Great Wall at Badeling. The journey was fast, just over an hour at speeds of up to 140kph, and incredibly cheap - £1.20. It was also one of the most comfortable trains I have been on. The wall is truly amazing, I have read about it but not really appreciated what it was actually like. It follows the mountain tops so at places it runs in a sort of U shape around a ridge with the two arms of the U almost touching. I knew it had been restored but assumed that was just small sections, however it was intact for as far as the eye could see, as well as in several other places we passed on the train. At places it is incredibly steep, there was one place where it sloped vertically upwards at what must have been more than 45 degrees, it was quite nervy just to climb it. Badeling, being the closest part of the wall to Beijing, is a very popular place for visitors and it was quite crowded - even on a winter's mid week day, I hate to think what it would be like on a summer weekend. What was interesting was that the vast majority of the visitors were Chinese. I enjoyed some brief moments of notoriety because several teenage Chinese girls kept coming up to me and asking to be photographed with me - Steve reckoned it was because of my white hair which is quite unusual in China!
When we returned to Beijing we spent some time looking round a shopping mall and then had our last Chinese meal, similar to the Mongolian wok, where you choose the ingredients, they are weighed before you pay and then they are cooked for you. Some entertainment was had for all because the serving lady had no English and wasn't too quick on the uptake. She couldn't understand that Steve and I wanted separate orders. We spent a hilarious time involving several customers who could speak English until all was finally resolved.
We finished by making our own way back to the hotel arriving within five minutes of each other. I felt completely safe walking along the shopping streets and through the hutangs in the dark but I'm not sure if I'd wish to return to Beijing, it is just too crowded and large.
Overall an extremely enjoyable trip with no low points. The high point would have to be North Korea, not because it was enjoyable but because it was fascinating to get a small glimpse into the Hermit State. It may have been noticed that the day after our visit the DPRK and USA have announced that, following agreement on nuclear reduction, more food aid will be made available. I like to think that this rapprochement was, in part, due to our visit J.
For anyone who is interested my photos can be viewed at:
https://picasaweb.google.com/106027128611804476034/TransSiberian#