Introduction to today's journey
Today's journey takes me into Dandong, where I pass through Chinese immigration before catching another train across the rickety Sino Korea Friendship Bridge to Sinuiji and enter North Korea. From there the train continues to Pyongyang where we have our first appointment with the great leaders at Mandusae Hill before checking into our hotel.
Today's Journey
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Thick mist hovers over the towering apartment blocks of yet another city as the sky dawns. |
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A couple of hours later we arrive in Dandong, and we have about an hour to explore the city centre before catching our next train. Here is the square in the city centre with a huge statue of Mao Zedong overlooking it, now dwarfed by the modern apartment blocks. |
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Having passed through customs and left China (on my multiple entry visa and alien card), I stand on the platform as we await the train to Sinuiju. We board a very crowded carriage with mostly Koreans who are returning from working in China, Russia, and Mongolia to bring more money into the country. |
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Crossing the Friendship Bridge, the sole surviving bridge crossing the Yalu River. The last pillar of a bridge bombed in the past is to the right. The difference in civilisation between China to the right, and North Korea to the left is very dramatic, especially with similar sized cities lining either side of the river. |
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After a lengthy stop at Sinuiju Station to get through customs, we are on our way to Pyongyang. Much of the countryside is mountainous and pristine. There are numerous farming towns with apartment blocks hiding the rest of the towns from the railway line, but the poverty here is very evident with almost no machinery and everything done by hand. |
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Crossing the Chongchon River in the late afternoon parallel to a bridge which was bombed during the Korean War. |
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Reaching Pyongyang in the late afternoon passing close to the Ryugyong Hotel, Pyongyang's most impressive building which has only just been completed on the outside (it was a Soviet funded project which was abandoned when the Soviet Union fall apart). The inside is still under contruction and is not likely to ever have guests. |
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Arriving at Pyongyang Station where we meet our two Korean minders. As we head out of the station and as the sun sets, the air is filled with the mysterious instrumental synth music of a sad song asking where their former leader Kim Il-Sung is. |
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We climb onto a bus we will be travelling on through North Korea. We head to the nearby city centre into Mansudae Fountain Park to these big ceramic tapestries of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, the previous leaders of the DPRK. |
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We head up Mansudae Hill to the Grand Monument at its summit. Here we lay flowers at the base of the 27 metre high bronze statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il which stand in front of the Korean Revolution Museum (see the top image on this page). On either side of the statues is a wing of revolutionary soldiers. This is a very impressive place and here I realise the great leaders are not only revered, but worshipped as gods. The culture here largely revolves around the worship of their leaders - a totally alien concept in the West. |
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