There is no breakfast for me, I have to finish writing my postcards. The letters are getting bigger and the number of words is declining. The lunch box for the trains saves me. Somehow the trip is over; I am looking forward to China, the internet, contact to the world and contact to back home. We say goodbye to our guides at the train station. Leaving Pyongyang, […]
It is a ride of several hours to Wonsan. We drive through villages and small towns, see plenty of propaganda slogans and installations, including one showing a direct hit on the US capitol building in Washington, DC. A chance to just observe life. At some point our bus is going at the same speed as a train. We greet the train passengers and they […]
We leave Pyongyang behind. We head south and pass the Arch of Reunification again. I get my camera ready; I want to take a picture of the place where the people have to push their bikes through the stream. We change on the highway to the East. We take a break at a small lake, on the toilet is a sign of times long gone. A towel of the tourist region Kumgangsan. One of the projects established during the contacts under the Sunshine Policy it concerned one of the most beautiful spots on the Korean peninsula, Mount Kumgang, the […]
We have been conditioned perfectly. Five days were enough. We enter the National Library, spot the marble statue of Kim Il-sung sitting in an armchair in front of a panorama of Mount Paektu, search for some orientation, find a reference in the pattern of the floor and line up to bow. No one needs to say anything. And no one […]
The Yanggakdo hotel has 47 storeys and the elevator reaches until the 43rd floor. The fifth floor is missing. There is a button for the fourth and the sixth, but not the fifth. But you clearly notice that there is a fifth floor, it takes twice the time from four to six than between other storeys. The word goes that North Korean intelligence sits on that floor. Possibly correct but who has any interest in observing me? Honestly no one. But North Korea is certainly prepared for all possibilities. North Koreans that live abroad […]
A quickly confirmed rumour is spreading. At night someone from our group tried to leave the hotel. They had taken Rowan’s words quite literally and, after a few beers, tried how far they would get. The went out of the hotel and on to the bridge leading to the city centre. On the bridge some uniformed guy signalled them to go back. They turned around but instead […]
Breakfast consists mostly of potatoes, cabbage, kimchi, toast, jam and spaghetti with some unidentifiable sauce. A small selection for a buffet. I am in awe of the disgusting-looking red and green lemonade. We had to rise early today as we are heading to Kaesong and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), meaning the border with South Korea, a ride of about three hours. […]
The bridge was destroyed by war 65 years ago. It extends about halfway into the river where a viewing platform has been installed. There is nothing interesting to see on the other side. The city of Sinŭiju does not make much of its riverside location. There are a few nondescript buildings, a few ships, a line of trees, the water slide of a swimming pool and behind the trees a ferries wheel. All is hundreds of metres away. Still, a steady stream of people heads to the viewing platform. […]