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

[Chicken]

We went up a hill, to a waterfall for a hike and picnic.





Let's open the beer. It's #2 again.



Wait, what? Is this #2 beer? Or ......



So is this #2? Or is this Tsing Tao from China?

 

[Chicken]

 

[Chicken]

We are getting close to Hamhung, and what is this?



Is this a mine? Just like this, chipping away a hill?

 

[Chicken]

Hamhung is a major city, but you can see the difference, the buildings are a lot more soviet style.

 

[Chicken]

Unlike Pyongyang, there were a lot fewer buses here, people seem to walk everywhere. There was a tram line along the main road, but the frequency was, well, really bad (nothing like Pyongyang where trolley buses everywhere non stop). When the tram does come, it is so packed, it is like a train in India as you could see from this photo.

 

[Chicken]

Towns / buildings in DPRK has this habit, of the houses / buildings facing the road being the most 'modern' / best upkeep, hiding the much poorer houses at the back. This is consistent across the DPRK.

It is very hard to take a photo, outside of Pyongyang, being on a bus, rolling down the street, when you try to take a photo and zoom thru a small alleyway to photo buildings behind the buildings facing the street; but I managed to get this.

See the building at the front, you can see the surface is being stripped, and they have completed the first floor, with new blue tiles, glass shop windows. Then you look at buildings behind.

 

[Chicken]

Tonight we will be staying at Majon Guest House. Let's check in, check out the room. (more exciting things to come, including a near death experience)



Yep, we look forward to the day Korea will be reunited again (that's what the picture means).


It was actually very cold and windy, so yeah, no beach day. you can see this would be a summer beach side resort.

 

[Chicken]

I believe it’s about this king (according to my +1 translation)

Chumo of Goguryeo - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Oh cool. This maybe off topic, but the picture I took do have writings saying the ruling period of Koryo I think, but the Wikipedia didn't mention that? I'm confused.

 

[Chicken]

TV didn't work




OK, everyone, listen up. The hotel had very kindly, switched on the water pump this afternoon. The staffs here have filled your bathtubs with water already for shower. They have also filled a bucket with water and boiled it for you.

 

[Chicken]

So this is the beginning of 'bucket shower' for the rest of this trip. We have now officially left the creature comfort of wherever we came from.

There was no running water, this was all that there was.

So what was about the warm boiled water? I forgot to take a photo of the water heater, but I found a similar from eBay



The water in the drum was cold, so I put such heater back into the drum, switched it on, to see if would work. Unpacked my luggage for a bit, went in to the bathroom to see if water was warm. I stuck my hand into the drum of water, while this was still in the water. Yep, I was electrocuted.

Turned out I was not the only one. I found out the next morning that a Dutch guy was also electrocuted.

 

[boomy]

This is one hotel stay you’ll never forget
Were you brave enough to use the amenities (on the sink)?

 

[Chicken]

Today we are going from Hamhung 함흥 via Pujon 부전군 to the Rock River.


This glasshouse was just on the fringe of Hamhung.

Last year, we were told that under the valuable advice of Marshal Kim Jong-un (yes, this is exactly how you say it), they were trialling glasshouses to improve output. Now 12 months later, glasshouses were just everywhere, either completed or being built (during our trip), even in small tiny settlements.



Oh, a dude being a traffic controller.

A lot of traffic lights have been built in the last 12 months in Pyongyang, so a lot of the traffic girls have actually disappeared. And Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un also said that, women are very important, they helped building this country (we may talk about that later including the standing of women in the society), so we cannot have only women standing in the streets battling the weather 365 days, men have to do it too. A summary of the background: OH NO! round 2 - TRAFFICGIRLS DISAPPEARING FROM PYONGYANG STREETS

If you:

• Like girls;
• Have 'yellow fever'

You could spend days on this web site: Free forum : PyongyangTrafficGirls - Portal

 

[Chicken]

This is one hotel stay you’ll never forget

Haha, our UK tour guide actually said that, she would try to remind her next tour group when coming here, since she nearly had to carry 2 big boxes (myself and a Dutch boy in our group) home.

I mean, it is funny how, coming from Australia (and Nederland) , we pay so much attention everyday on safety, yet, we missed the most obvious thing here. We just expect anything electrical would be double insulated and grounded. How spoilt are we?!

Since you asked, I would say that, more and more creature comforts would slowly be taken away from us during this trip. It is funny how we come back to wherever we came from. We flip the light switch, and lights just come on. How does that even happen? Like, where? Where did electricity come from? It's just there. And water? You turn on the tap, and it's there. Like, how did water even get into our homes? Just magic? and the water is clean? Like, did the water clean itself?

We are so spoilt here.

Were you brave enough to use the amenities (on the sink)?

I think you mean the bathtub? Not the glasses. The bottled water? Yes. You could tell if a bottled water has been opened (try opening a brand new 600ml Mt Franklins, then close it, then open it again, the bottle feels very different). So I would brush my teeth by putting bottled water straight into my mouth.

Also, depends on your stomach, you could drink boiled water from the tap. I used water kettles when I was in large cities, boil water from the tap, drink that, while hoarding bottled water from hotels for drinking during the day. Yes, there are kiosks in large cities (think 7-11), but most only accept local Korean Won currency, you have to have some on you, or you may have to pay them in Chinese dollar, that is if they actually take it, and it is just a general PITA. The UK tour guide said, most would drink bottled water, unless you are used to boiled tap water.

 

[Chicken]

Side story.

Someone in our group slept on the beach at this hotel / resort. He was picked up [by someone] on one of the nights.

He told me that he actually chatted with [someone]. That person told him that , that person liked the first leader and the current leader better. The first leader established Korea, liberated the country from Japanese rule (and this is a very important thinking to a lot of Koreans, including South Koreans). The current one, is really driving up economic dev, meaning living standard.

The middle one? Well, remember there was a famine?

 

[Chicken]

We are now around Pujon 부전군


People here just stand in the middle of the road, to sweep / paint / maintenance, and they won't move even if you horn them. They only move a little when you are about to run them off the road. It's like, I don't think you dare to run me over.
Um, our UK tour guide seems to be watching the road really hard.


I tried to see what were they doing, but I could not figure out.

 

[boomy]

I think you mean the bathtub?

I was referring to the amenities on the sink. Looks like shampoo, body wash, lotion and tooth brush underneath?

 

[Chicken]

History background + geopolitics here. Well, a little.



Not much to look at here, because this is really in the middle of nowhere, high up in the mountain. This was a toilet stop thou, that is, nature's toilet.

This is where one of the heaviest battles happened, where the Korean guerrilla army fought the Japanese and gained ground, because the Japanese weren't prepared for this, while the local Koreans knew their local geography of course. As you could imagine from the photos.

Being liberated from Japanese rule is very important, and is a national pride in the DPRK. This is also why Great Leader Kim Jong Il receives so much respect in the DPRK.

And this view is not just restricted to people in the DPRK.

This issue is again raising its head between Japan and South Korea:
South Korea’s ‘No Japan’ boycott is new. But the wounds are old. (PRI)
South Koreans want to avoid Muji, Daiso and Nintendo, but brand confusion could undermine any boycott of Japanese goods (South China Morning Post)

 

[Chicken]

I was referring to the amenities on the sink. Looks like shampoo, body wash, lotion and tooth brush underneath?

I didn't use them to be honest.

I took these from the hotel in Pyongyang, then I just carried them with me, and used them. I felt sorry to open them, because they are so poor, every bit of resources count.

Also, I have my suspicion, that some of them, at some accommodations, were being refilled. I have had 1 or 2, where the outside of the bottle was slippy (had residual of the soap).

 

[Chicken]

So we are getting away from major towns, and you could see the houses. I like looking at houses, because they give you a rough idea on their lives, and their, um, 'wealth'?

In rural areas, both front yard and backyard are used to grow cabbage (for making kimchi of course).

 

[docjames]

Fascinating report thus far, thanks for sharing, enjoying it very much.