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

[Chicken]

My final hurrah in Shanghai would be finding somewhere to go in the evening. I ended up going to a bar + music venue.

This is just like Northcote Social in Melbourne / Oxford Art Factory in Sydney. Small dark music venue, playing indie music.



It was Sep 08, so I would be seeing Shii









I even got her to sign the album!



If you like electro or dream pop (think Triple J or FBi or 3RRR), you can listen to her music on Bandcamp, they are mostly in English)

I am so glad I found this in Shanghai. I stopped at Beijing during my last trip to DPRK, which was my first time to China, and this is my first time to Shanghai. I honestly could not find much interesting things in China, not until seeing a gig.

Now I am going back to my hotel in the middle of the night, happy and satisfied, but need to wake up early tomorrow, to catch train G2 Shanghai 09h00 > Beijing, get ready to go to DPRK.

 

[Chicken]

Got my DPRK visa

 

[Chicken]

I am this time flying Air Koryo in Y cabin, not in J, let alone seat 2D like last time.


Well, no burger. I had business class meal last time, and I'm getting sandwiches this time, so no Air Koryo burger?

 

[Chicken]

Immigration customs was same as last time. The only thing which caught the eyes of customs was that CD I bought from the gig in Shanghai. They were really interested in it. Not interested in phone, Chinese SIM card, just that CD.

Now, let's go to the hotel to leave our luggage.


Is this bus in Pyongyang? Or north west Sydney? It is packed with sardines.



Yes, the traffic had gotten heavier than 12 months ago.

 

[Daver6]

I am this time flying Air Koryo in Y cabin, not in J, let alone seat 2D like last time.

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Well, no burger. I had business class meal last time, and I'm getting sandwiches this time, so no Air Koryo burger?

Leg room looks decent enough for Y, but seat looks extremely narrow.

 

[Chicken]

Leg room looks decent enough for Y, but seat looks extremely narrow.

I think it's my camera. It is hard to get the whole seat into the shot, so I had my phone set to 18:9 + wide view, but that seat comes out very narrow like you said.

Well, we have a lot of young girls as tour guides (you will see them later), so they would know how to use the phone cameras (they are so good with getting angles and selfies)

 

[Chicken]

First night would be the famous Yanggakdo International Hotel. It is considered one of the bests in DPRK, and it's on an island, where people always joke that you have nowhere to escape to.


View from my room.


View from the lift.

 

[Chicken]

Head back out, for a quick walk, to waste time, because we have nothing much planned really, until we have to head to Pyongyang train station, to pick up an Aussie arriving from Beijing (he trained in instead of flying in like us).


Men seem slower with fashion trends (OK, they always do), but you can see how that man on the right is still dressed like this, but the woman is dressed more modern?

Many AFFers complained that the photos from my last trip didn't have people in them. This made DPRK looked more quiet that it actually was. So, I am taking more photos of people, especially I want to show you the women's fashion (if I could shoot without being creepy).

Back to Kim Il-sung Square.





I finally got a close up shot of double decker bus here! I didn't really have a chance last time.


That blue white building on the left of this photo wasn't here 12 months ago. It is now near completion.

 

[VPS]

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 ...

https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/program/michael-palin-in-north-korea

 

[Chicken]

And here we are, Pyongyang train station (and the bus depot right next door).


Now let's get off the bus and go in.

This is looking back, from station main entrance out onto the main road.

 

[Chicken]

Let's look at the latest fashion trends while waiting.

 

[Chicken]

We are going to this district for dinner. I forgot the year this area was completed, but we were told that this area was build for a reason which I forgot, and the whole area was completed in 1 year.


We are starting our trip with "number 2" again.


Stuck in city traffic after dinner.

View from my room, using a phone.



Using a camera.

 

[Chicken]

Woke up the next morning, now I have a bit of time to take photos of my room.

 

[Chicken]

The following photos were taken 2019-09-11 Wednesday, which was a working day, at 08:15 / 08:16 / 08:19. So you could say this is what Pyongyang looks like during the AM peak.

 

[Chicken]

 

[Chicken]

I forgot about this. I didn't write this down. Maybe anyone who could read Korean could translate? (gum sa humnida!)

I remember this is a king during one of the Korean empire period.





This is Korean wrestling. A few in the tour actually did this with a few locals towards the end of the trip.

I think this looks like something from Super Mario Bros.

 

[Chicken]

Some local very small villages along the highway.

 

[Chicken]

Toilet break at the lake side. Let's go into the convenient store and see what they have.



I bought some ice cream for everyone, but they were melted then re frozen. I didn't dare eat them (being in DPRK and their basic health system); a few did eat them thou.

Then someone else in our tour bought this.



Just to clarify, no, not all Koreans drink this stuff. Our local Korean bus driver saw this and laughed really hard.

 

[Chicken]

There is no such thing as roadside rescue. Everyone needs to be a bush mechanic. If you are broken down, you are on your own.

The bus in front was suffering from some problem, and the whole road was blocked. Our driver went to see what was up, as we had a schedule to stick to.

How lucky we are to have roadside rescue here.

 

[boomy]

I forgot about this. I didn't write this down. Maybe anyone who could read Korean could translate? (gum sa humnida!)

I remember this is a king during one of the Korean empire period.

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

Chumo of Goguryeo - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org