Democratic People's Republic of Korea / DPRK / Korea (north) - road trip

[Chicken]

This trip happened 2019 September. I have been busy with work, and job hunting, and new job, and stuffs. COVID-19 Easter is an opportunity to get this trip report done. My point is, this trip report was written retrospectively.

After my trip to DPRK in 2018 October, I am going again for the second time, but this time would be a road trip with domestic flights and long drives. This tour was organised by Koryo Tours (the company which organised the Michael Palin one)

New flying experiences for me this time, would be
- flying Chinese airlines
- flying Air Koryo domestic
- flying Air Koryo in Y (I was in J last time)

4/9 CA174 SYD PEK
5/9 CA1509 PEK HGH Hangzhou
I will spend a few days in Haining -> Shanghai > train back to Beijing, then
10/9 JS152 Beijing Capital > Pyongyang
11/9 Drive from Pyongyang to Hamhung 함흥
12/9 Hamhung 함흥
13/9 Wonsan 원산
14/9 Kosong 고성
15/9 Drive via Wonson to Pyongyang
16/9 JS3541 fly from Pyongyang to Samjiyon 삼지연 , for Mount Paektu / Paektu san 백두산
17/9 JS3541 Fly from Paektu san to Mount Chilbo / Chilbo san 칠보산
18/9 Chilbo san 칠보산
19/9 Drive from Chilbo san to Chongjin 청진
20/9 Drive from Chongjin to Hoeryong 회령
21/9 Massive drive from Hoeryong -> Chongjin -> Kyongsong 경성군 -> then fly JS3542 from Orang airport to Pyongyang.
24/9 Train from Pyongyang to Tongrim 동림 then into Sinuiju 신의주
25/9 Sinuiju 신의주
26/9 Bus ride to exit DPRK from Sinuiju into Dandong 丹东 China.
28/9 Train G398 Dandong to Beijing
29/9 MU2106 PEK to XIY (Xi An Xianyang) , then MU749 via WUH Wuhan to SYD



I will be going to all the dots on this map.

 

[Chicken]

The trip starts at Sydney airport, Air New Zealand lounge. I think the drinks selection is really cool. There is nothing for me to drink most of the time in most lounges (I am the sort who goes to 170 Russell or Lansdowne Hotel, so whisky and stuffs don't interest me).

 

[Chicken]

Time to get on the flight.

Hard product wise, the layout and spacing are not the worst, they are manageable for me; it is the padding which is a disaster. They are like very used mattresses, your body simply sinks in. Without support, my body was just rolling around the seat.

 

[Chicken]

Free newspaper? I always take one when I'm out of Australia, just to see what's being reported at wherever I am.

Let's read the China Daily.



Hong Kong seems quite peaceful, according to this report.

So why is the Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK reporting so differently, on the same day?
Students form human chain in Shek Kip Mei
Schoolboy hurt as police chase pupils in Tai Po
Former students rally to support class boycott
Oh right, RTHK is the public broadcaster who conducts "dangerous" interview with WHO. Bloody separatists.

 

[boomy]

Looking forward for this unusual TR.
Thanks in advance @Chicken for sharing.

 

[Chicken]

Crews want to take food order before take off, so here we go.

--------------------------------------------------

AUTUMN

Lunch / dinner

Canape :
Smoked salmon caviar
Mozzarella with semi dry [sic] tomato
Chinese lamb skewer

Western appetiser : Hot smoked salmon

Salad : Mixed seasonal salad with French dressing or Caesar dressing

Bread with butter

Chinese main :
Chicken chilli plum ; or
braised pork ribs with sweet vinegar
1 of the above with steamed rice

Western main:
Grilled feed fillet with pepper sauce

Vegos:
Braised tofu szchuan style with steamed rice

Dessert:
Baked cheese cake with fruits; or
chocolate cream pie

Cheese plate and fresh fruits.

Movie junk food on demand

Fruit / yoghurt / choco / dessert (don’t know what this means) / ice cream / tea cookies.

Breakfast

Chinese:
Starter Salted duck egg and pickled vegetables
Main dim sum + congee with millet
fruit

Western :
Starter Jam honey corn flakes milk
bread with butter
Main mushroom omelette
Pastries + fruit

--------------------------------------------------

I guess I should have told them to fix up some of the things, like dried tomatos, and dessert available on demand but what sort, and no, I don't think anyone wants chocolate cream pie on a plane, it is very messy.

 

[Chicken]

Din din time.



The food was surprisingly good. I was very happy with them.

 

[Chicken]

Breakkie next morning was a dilemma:

• with Chinese options, I eat dim sim, but I don't like congee, and I don't eat that salty preserved duck egg ;
• with western, I want omelette and pastries, but I don't want corn flakes, because corn flakes is what I normally eat at my desk in the office in the morning. I don't want to feel like eating at my desk in the office.

So ...

 

[Chicken]

Got off CA174 SYD PEK and change to CA1509 PEK HGH. SQ booked this for me with a 2 hour stop over, which is clearly a legal connection, but turned out the 2 hours was just sufficient for cleaning immigration and take the shuttle train back and forth. There was no time to do anything, let alone visiting any lounge.

 

[Chicken]

Breakfast again, but it was totally fine, even the bread wasn't too bad, for a 2 hour flight.

 

[OZDUCK]

Breakfast again, but it was totally fine, even the bread wasn't too bad, for a 2 hour flight.

View attachment 213226

Were the cornflakes as nice as the ones you eat at your office?

 

[Chicken]

Um, what happened here? Did I break it? It's stuck?!



Yep, it's stuck, that's it.

The staffs were very apologetic, and didn't know what to do as J was actually full. They were like OMG!!! and talking and round around like headless chicken. I told them not to worry about it at that stage, as it's only a 2 hour flight.

The manager gave me a form to fill out, which provided me with a CNY 800 CA credit. I had to open a new FF account with Air China, using CA's mobile phone app (not PC), then attach the CNY 800 to it. That took a lot of effort. I did that after coming back to Australia, and needed their help over the phone and e-mail. Some of the staffs were very knowledgeable (both phone and e-mail), some where just directly me up the wrong tree. I guess customer services is like this nowadays.

Time to land, and I was left to my own device. I flagged down a FA, I asked her, uh, like my seat? She was like "yeah?" I was like my seat, stuck. She was like, more "yeah?" I told her that they could not land with me like this, especially bulk head. More run around, asking each other what to do. After a while, they took me to a bulk head seat in economy.

People around me were a little curious (which was usual, just normal curiosity). A FA told people around me that, my seat was stuck, and I wanted a proper seat for landing, hence I was seated into my Y seat. 'foreigners are like this, they want safety, they won't land with their seats broken'. (I guess they didn't expect that I could understand a little bit of Chinese).

Does that mean other passengers were thinking "This person gave up his business class and come sit with us plebs? He paid so much money for J seat but asked to be seated here? Weird."

 

[Chicken]

Were the cornflakes as nice as the ones you eat at your office?

I forgot, I may not have actually eaten that corn flakes. (I buy the Be Natural Cashew, Almond, Hazelnut & Coconut which stays crunchy regardless of how much milk you add)

 

[Chicken]

I stopped at Zhejiang University international campus in Haining. A friend won a scholarship and is now studying there, doing a degree which is a joint venture with Edinburgh University.

There were a lot of international students there. Brand new tennis courts, swimming pool, etc.

Below 2 photos were taken from outside the canteen.



My friend also took me to the China mobile desk, and signed me up to a student plan, it was around AUD $20 for something like 10 GB per month for 12 months, but that does not mean $20 per month, it was $20 for the whole year! You leave the campus and you pay normal price. Just a hint for anyone who goes to China and stops at universities.

 

[Chicken]

Below are photos I took, of things which I found interesting.



I took this on a bus (I don't do taxis unless I have to, even at places I have never been, cos I don't want to worry about all the security issues with taxis and scams, plus being on a bus means I could see how locals live).

The top poster with QR code states:
大元公交 Daen Public Transport
Hearts together | Travel together | Civilisation together
[pics of buses]

Underneath (middle poster) is very common across China, it was everywhere every city I went.
Socialism core value
Rich powerful | democratic | civilised | harmony
Freedom | equality | justice | rule of law
Love (thy) country | Enterprise | Trustworthy | Friendly



The last one is a police notice, I could only understand the bit about safe driving.


The green circle sticker was in every restaurant. The top says "No left over rice, no left over vegs, clean plate action". Bottom says Haining city market authority. It is basically reminding people not to order too much food which end up being wasted. We should have this here.


Mi goreng pack of 4 CNY 7.9 = AUD $1.8 . So cheap.


An alleyway


This is KFC selling durian chicken. If you never tried durian, watch this BuzzFeedVideo


Let's get away from durian, and eat some human food. This was grass jelly with dragon fruit and mango and paw paw in coconut milk. It was very hot that day, so this was nice.

Haining was previously a centre for leather goods, but it has since sunk. The city look very sorry. I could count at least 3 empty shops for lease every block. My friend and I were walking around 2PM after arriving into Haining from Hangzhou airport, and we had so much trouble trying to find somewhere to eat. Shops were just closed or vacant. On the other hand, it was mobile phone network outlets everywhere. How many phone could they sell there really?

 

[Chicken]

Train to Shanghai.

This is my first time to Shanghai, and I realised why so many students in Hong Kong were burning 'blue' shops (yellow means pro democracy, blue means pro China). Too many Hong Kong companies have expanded into China, which means they always have to say something which pleases China, and so, their businesses are boycotted and suffer from arson attacks in Hong Kong.


Hang Seng Bank started in Hong Kong in 1933. It is now part of HSBC, and is responsible for the Hang Seng Index which is the indication for Hong Kong stock exchange.


Kee Wah Bakery started in Hong Kong in 1938 and is a famous brand.


City Super, an upmarket supermarket in Hong Kong.


Honeymoon Dessert


Even Japanese department store.

I sometimes wonder if I was in China or Hong Kong.

 

[Chicken]

Went into a coffee shop for breakfast, and found this in the coffee shop. CNY 135 = AUD $31.



Getting near Oct 01, the national day of China. This at a subway station.



5 taste platter CNY 39 = AUD $8.8
NEW durian chicken piece CNY 11.5 for 4 pcs AUD $2.6

 

[VPS]

I just watched Michael Palin's trip to the DPRK and found it really interesting

 

[Chicken]

Here in Shanghai, there is a 'marriage corner' at a park, where desperate parents would exhibit info on their kids, while also shopping for a partner for their kids.



People use umbrellas as stands, put a piece of paper on them with what is on offer. People would also walk around, look at these papers, and see what is on offer. Kinda like newspaper classifies.

I tried to take an aerial overview photo, to show how pack the park was, but an old lady screamed at me and tried to snatch my phone, so I had to delete it. It seems taking photos of the ads is OK (I guess because that's what is on offer), but it's not OK to take photo with people's faces in them.

Let's do some window shopping.


male 1983 June never married
Qualification: Tongji University B of construction
Work: construction planning vice supervisor
Income: annual CNY 1000000+ AUD $224200
Height: 1.70m
Has depth, separate marriage house (Pudong (Shanghai))
Accept: Year 85~88, 1.58~1.60m
[can't understand]
Better looking girl (read: don't want uglies)



Male : Year 72 Oct born, never married
Height : 1.70 m
Qualification: University
Work: company staff
Requirement from girl: year 76 - 80 born.
Shanghai residency, never married
Contact phone 13918334136
Ms Dai



My record
Sex: male (never married)
Residency : Anhui (then somewhere I don't know can't translate)
Born: 87 year Aug
Height: 1.82 m
Weight: 70 kg | Qualification : [can't understand]
Occupation: program manager (timber)
Self assessment: Likes physics, chemistry, history. Have dreams, career orientated, working towards provencial level!

Description of target: after 1980, height 1.60 m above, likes at first sight (not love, just like, yeah, it's a Chinese saying). (don't understand this bit in bracket). Chat, grow together gets priority.
Non STEM (sci tech eng maths) girls best (don't understand) help you grow on the other side.
If there is feeling and fate, please add WeChat, contact me myself, don't contact me if not interested! Thanks.
My phone and WeChat same : 153...

Note that, how that construction supervisor was earning AUD 224 k PA? Not even a manager, just a supervisor. There were a lot more examples of these. Another friend of mine who is working in Shanghai in pharma at the moment told me this is the amount of money flying around in Shanghai, this is also why so many people go into China to work. There are opportunities everywhere, you just need to be half decent (not be bottom of the barrel), and you will get a good job and get good money.

 

[Chicken]

I just watched Michael Palin's trip to the DPRK and found it really interesting

Thanks for reminding me, I totally forgotten to mention. My trip this time was organised by Koryo Tours, which is the tour company who organised Palin's trip. I am yet to watch that episode. Where could I watch it?

Now I have to go back up to my first post to update this ...