"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move." RLS
If you have read some of my Panmunjom entries you will be aware that, officially, the Korean War which commenced in 1950 continues to this day. However, hostilities, barring a number of minor and not so minor infractions, came to an end in 1953 with the signing of a military Armistice Agreement outside Panmunjom, a small village, in what is now the Demilitarised Zone around the border with South Korea. Continue reading “Chollima Statue”
This is one of Pyongyang’s older modern age monuments having being built in 1947 (refurbished 1985). It stands at a height of 30 metres on Moran Hill close to the large bronze statues of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il (Mansudae Grand Monument) – the location from which I saw it. Continue reading “Liberation Tower”
By the time we visited the Mansudae Grand Monument we had been in North Korea for at least a couple of hours. We had already have picked up the absolute loyalty to, and reverence for, Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il and the current leader, Kim Jong-un, from everyone we met in that short time. Continue reading “One Kim, two Kims…. Mansudae Grand Monument”
While we could admire North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly or Parliament from the outside we could not go inside. Continue reading “Supreme People’s Assembly (Mansudae Assembly Hall)”
The first day of many multi-day tours amount to someone picking you up from the airport and taking you to your hotel where you “have the remainder of the day at leisure.”
Not so in Pyongyang. Continue reading “Mansudae Fountain Park”
Unless you enter North Korea overland from Dandong in north eastern China (in which case you can only visit the border town of Sinuiju) your entry point to the country will be its capital, Pyongyang.
When the time comes to leave North Korea Continue reading “Getting to and from Pyongyang”
I am actually at a loss for words as to how to sum up Pyongyang. Of all the superlatives I could use I will stick to one – Unique.
I came to Pyongyang with a lot of questions. I got many answers. I left Pyongyang with more questions unanswered than I had when I arrived. Continue reading “Pyongyang – A Capital City Unlike Any Other”
If eligible to do so, I actually recommend leaving the DPRK by train. See by separate review “Getting out of the DPRK by train”.
If you do leave by air, repeat, in reverse, the process for getting in – outlined in my review “Getting into the DPRK by Air”. Yes, you will have a rerun of the hamburger experience. Continue reading “Getting out of the DPRK by Air”
If you are an American you will leave North Korea by air. Americans, naturally, cannot be trusted to behave for five hours without a guide. All other nationals have the option to leave North Korea by train, as we did. Those leaving by train now have the option to do a stopover at Sinuiju right on the border with China. Continue reading “Getting out of the DPRK by Train”
To include this review as a warning or danger would be to exaggerate the impact on a visitor. It is more something you should be aware of and indeed I invite you to turn it to your advantage and enjoy the darkness in North Korea.
The Rambling Wombat 