NORTH KOREA

We were the first off the airplane and I took this shot of the airport terminal before getting on the bus for the very short trip to the building. Pyongyang is the capitol of North Korea and has the only airport in the country. Take a look at this picture. What do you notice? What do you not notice? This bleak looking, 1950's Russian /cold block inspired building with no vehicles or people would be a precursor to the sights and the ambiance of our week in North Korea. Kim Il Sung's picture at the top would be a continuing presence throughout our stay. Big Brother was truly watching over us. I think we were the first off the plane because we are Americans and if they didn't shoot us, the rest on the aircraft would be safe. Planes only fly in from Beijing and only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Thus, our trip was from Friday, June 11th until Wednesday june 16th. There was a group of businessmen from China but also some westerners. We thought, " ok, there are some tourists here with us". Turns out all of the non Chinese were embassy related. As the young women from the Czech embassy sitting next to Jane said " You are very brave" ( said with a Natasha accent).
The processing in the terminal was actually very efficient and friendly--kind of like Tom of Tom and Jerry. We were met by our "guides" Kim Un Hu ( Ms. Kim) and Kim Yong Un ( Mr. Kim). They were to be with us for the 6 days. When you travel to North Korea-- They liked to be called Korea or , better, DPRK-- you must be accompanied at all times by your guide or escort. Even if you are touring alone, you will have a man and a woman escort you. We had a set schedule each day and we met in the morning and  had a van and driver each day to take us around. I say we met in the morning but we really never parted. Although, both Kims ( not related) and the driver all lived within 15 minutes of the hotel, they all stayed in rooms at our same hotel. We were not chained to the beds but we were told not to leave the hotel property without an escort. We would get in trouble for this ( worst case is escorted out of the country) but the guides would be punished more severely.
I have been trying to decide how to present our trip to the DPRK on this blog-- chronologically, by site, rambling stream-of-consciousnes-- I do not want to make these postings too long so I am going to wrap up this post with some pictures of our hotel and general sites and then post in the next days about specific topics and places we experienced.
First, why did we go to North Korea? Because George Bush asked us? No. Because it was there. That's why. I was looking at a google map a few weeks ago and noticed a large blank area NE of China and west of Japan. It was the DPRK. There was nothing. I thought that they are so isolated and insular that we had to go to find out for ourselves. We applied for visa's and were told that they were granted. This blog states that this is J and J's adventures in Asia so we had to make good on that promise.                This is the Yanggakdo International Hotel in Pyongyang. It was completed in 1995 and is located on an island in the Daedong river, the main river in the capitol and the third largest in the DPRK. What better way to monitor the visitors than put them on an island.

Let's say that the decor was quintessential Holiday Inn-Disco at best. The DPRK is 25 years behind in their design applications. This is Jane excitedly trying to place a call to all you blog readers out there. Unfortunately, you had to make a special request to make an international call and go downstairs to make it. See the above  pictures. Oh, so 1950's.

The hotel was rated 4 stars but would be 2 stars to western standards , particularly the rooms. They were clean but barely accessorized. We were running out of toilet paper and the replacement roll was only 1/4. They took the old roll to a closet down the hall and wrapped some new paper around it! The picture of my foot is on the bath mat. I do not have a Bob Lanier type foot , but it dwarfs this mat. Jane also took a picture of the much smaller than normal bath towel wrapped around me but that is not for general consumption or derision. The hotel lobby areas were large and marble and empty and cold and there. There were many restaurants at the hotel. Another blog will talk about our dining experience in the DPRK. The picture of Jane dining is on the 47th floor revolving restaurant. That was nice.
The panoramic pictures were out our window on the 22nd floor. It's amazing, you can open up these large windows and just jump out or throw your husband out. I am not an accomplished photographer yet but am proud of the above night time photo . I balanced the camera on a couple of books and held the aperture open for about 4 seconds. The picture shows the eerie view unlike other city night scenes. There are only lights from the apartments. No neon lights, no advertisements, no uplighting on the buildings, no street or automobile lights ( curfew after 9pm).  A reflection of the people, the culture, the country.