Mt Paektu
One advantage of being in a large group was that we could charter our own plane to Mt Paektu, Korea's highest mountain and sacred birthplace of the entire Korean nation. Shimmering Lake Chon, inside the mountain, is the highest crater lake in the world.
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Love this shot of the traffic lady at the Pyongyang airport terminal intersection. At this particular corner, the only possible way to go is left -- unless you wanted to plow through the gate and onto the runway. Thank goodness this lady was there so early in the morning to point us in the right direction! :)
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Here is the schedule for flights departing Pyongyang for the entire day! Samjiyon airport in the country's north is the closest airstrip to Mt Paektu. If it weren't for our group's charter flight, there would have been only one single flight leaving Pyongyang the entire day. I wonder how many other world capital cities have this little air traffic?
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Our charter plane, an Air Koryo Tupolev TU-154
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Some of the cool propaganda posters for sale at the airport. But, as happens so many times there, there were no salespeople anywhere so we were unable to buy them. We had to settle for just climbing over the counter and taking pictures of the posters we wanted instead.
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One source of constant amusement for foreigners flying in and out of Pyongyang is the buses used to transport people to the plane. There are no jetways in Pyongyang, but the planes park close enough to the terminal to make for an easy walk. But everyone has to take the shuttle bus. It would actually be faster to walk, so this seems like a tremendous waste of time and money in a country that would be expected to want to save more of each.
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Some things are just universal, like the air safety information presentation. Air Koryo flight attendants are very adamant that they not be photographed for some reason. We found this to be the case on all of our Air Koryo flights, so all pictures of them had to be snuck discreetly.
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Doesn't hostess sound more elegant than stewardess or flight attendant?
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Some light reading for the short plane ride. Nice to see even in poor health that the Dear Leader is still up and around and able to continue to dispense valuable kernels of wisdom in the form of "on the spot guidance".
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Transfer to our microbuses for the drive to Mt Paektu. We are literally wasting no time between landing and climbing to the summit because the weather is perfect and it's only going to get more cloudy at the summit the longer we wait.
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First glimpse of Mt Paektu off in the distance.
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A tram (when it works) is available to whisk tourists up to the next stage of the mountain.
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At the end of the line for the electric tram.
From here you can just catch a glimpse of Lake Chon ("Heaven Lake") at the crater floor.
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This was a proud photo spot for almost everyone in North Korea. Groups of soldiers, school kids, tourists. Everyone waited patiently for their turn to be photographed in front of the lake.
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Mt Paektu is on the northern border of North Korea with China. Roughly three quarters of the lake and coastline are in China. In these shots, only the land in the very close foreground is in North Korea; everything on the far side of the lake is in China.
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The actual volcano summit.
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Thanks to a power outage, the tram was now out of commission. Time to gather up our sore legs and muster all the energy we can because it looks like we're walking back down the mountain...
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After we finally got back down to the base of the mountain, we drove to the actual North Korea/China border where the Yalu River begins. In this shot, the Yalu River (border between North Korea & China) is at the bottom of the gorge. China is the left half of this picture and North Korea the right half.
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The Mt Paektu area is sacred to the Korean people and is regarded as the birthplace of the entire Korean nation. Not surprisingly, the Kim regime has co-opted this symbol of nationalism and made it the secret headquarters of Kim Il Sung's anti-Japanese guerilla war as well as the birthplace of the Dear Leader himself (most western experts think that Kim Jong Il was actually born in Russia. It would have been safer there at the time anyway). Our tour must start, of course, at this lovely stone memorial built to commemorate the miraculous birth that occurred just steps away from where are standing.
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Jong Il Peak
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Our flirty local guide.
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Kim Il Sung is said to have drunk from this stream at this very spot and proclaimed the greatness of the water's taste. We gave no argument. It was intensely hot and humid out, and we were all more than happy to drink our fill and then replenish our water bottles so we'd have some more for later as well.
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Here it is in all its glory, Kim Il Sung's secret military camp.
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Next stop, the birthplace of the Dear Leader Kim Jong Il. I have to say I was quite underwhelmed seeing this in person for the first time. This cabin is always depicted as glowing supernaturally in North Korean paintings and murals, so maybe I was expecting something with more visual impact.
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It was hard not to snicker when seeing Kim Jong Il's supposed "toys". In the middle of nowhere he didn't have much to play with, but to the right you can see that there is a puzzle which, when correctly completed, shows a map of a fully unified Korea!
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Rimyongsu Falls
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Our hotel in Samjiyon, the Baegaebong Hotel, conveniently located away from the city and everything else in the area. We of course weren't permitted to leave the grounds unescorted anyway, not that there was anything in the immediate general vicinity to see. This attractive portrait of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il is directly inside the hotel entrance doors.
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The Samjiyon Grand Monument, the largest set of statues in North Korea. Laid out in an area where the guerrilla army gathered to launch a crucial attack. Here, the Great Leader looks much younger than in other statues because this is at a time in his life when he is still leading the guerrilla assaults against the evil Japanese occupiers.
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The statues here are absolutely incredible both in size and in lifelike appearance.
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Closeup of our local guide's Kim Il Sung pin.
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The Samjiyon Regional Museum, showing models and exhibits of the areas we had just seen in person. It probably would have made more sense to see this first and then go out to the monuments themselves...
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It was a bit bizarre to see countless soldiers waiting outside the museum for us to clear out of the way so that they could come in. It was not the first time in North Korea that we seemed to be getting preferential treatment over the locals. Below, a nice overhead view of everyone gathering outside and waiting for us to leave.
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Of course we had to leave the building eventually, and there was no way to do so quietly. What a scene to be a group of foreigners coming out of a museum completely surrounded by North Korean soldiers! Most seemed more interested in taking pictures of themselves than in us. But we were still objects of great curiosity, and it was fun to watch everyone trying to observe us without being too obvious.
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Onward to the next point in our tour, the Samjiyon Schoolchildren's Palace!
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Looking straight up (finding something -- anything! -- to look at other than paintings of the Leaders), I thought the lighting inside the Schoolchildren's Palace was beautiful with its snowflake motif.
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The children's performance felt forced and a little awkward. But some of them had amazing talent. Our small group was the only presence in the audience. Afterwards we were invited to come on stage and take pictures with the kids. Some of us distributed gifts like pens and little trinkets from home. The teachers were seen taking all of the gifts from the kids as we left.
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A big sendoff as we left the Schoolchildren's Palace to head to the airport.
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Back at Samjiyon airport for our return flight to Pyongyang.
Here's one way to prevent a pre-boarding rush to the aircraft and keep the crowds under control!
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One of the crazy things about chartering a plane in North Korea is how the government/military (one in the same, really) can literally commandeer whatever seats are left over. Our plane was filled with locals on the return flight back, many appearing to be high-ranking military officers. We also had several athletic teams join us as well. Of course this is just part of the price of doing business in this country, and there is nothing you can really say about it.
