North Korea. Where do I start?
For anyone who likes travelling, this country is a must to visit. There are strict rules about what you can and can’t do , there are explained to you prior to departing. If you don’t like or feel you cannot comply with them don’t go! If you are caught breaching these rules you can end up in a lot of trouble. the obvious one are criticising the Kims. Even if you don’t agree with what you are told, just accept it and don’t argue back. In terms of photography, you are limited to a focal length of no more than 150mm. You have a guide with you at all times restricting where you can go and what you can take. but having said all of that, it is a fascinating location to visit.
Whilst I would have liked to have taken a lot more photos, it was frustrating that I couldn’t. there were many occasions when I asked if I could take a particular photograph and I was refused permission, even crossing the road was refused on occasions.
Here follows what I managed to take. You may well recognize locations ,it seems tours take people to the same places.
The shot above is taken from the Juche tower and shows Pyongyang. The picture has an almost isometric look about it.
Pyongyang at night.
Pyongyang is the show city of the country and it lit up at night. However there are frequent power cuts. This is the view from my hotel room.
These are a couple of the propaganda posters that you see around the city with a couple of locals walking by.
This is the Korean War memorial. The women are trimming the grass by hand or with scissors. Its a great honour to be maintaining the grounds.
People queue patiently for the bus.
This is the Pyongyang underground system. It is very deep and its secondary function is to act as a shelter. On the way down you pass what look like blast doors.
The train is waved off by a station employee.
The driver attempts to re-connect the trolleybus back to the electricity supply. This was the one and only time I was by myself in Pyongyang. The tour visited a book shop where we were able to buy books and a English language news paper. Once I had finished looking around, I was able to stand outside for 10 minutes. Although standing outside a book shop by myself doesn’t sound like a big deal, it was here as it turned out to be the only time I was literally by myself.
I got mixed reactions whilst waiting outside. Although children were happy to wave or say hello, their mothers were quick to stop them and carry on walking by.
Whilst waiting, one of the buses lost contact with the electric wires above and the driver got out to reconnect them back to the power supply. You can see the passengers were obviously curious about me.
A man walks across a square in the light rain with the Juche tower in the background.
This is one of the traffic police , the photo doesn’t capture their robotic movements and they direct the traffic around. The traffic is light and doesn’t seem to actually justify their presence, but they are there none the less.
A couple of cyclists in Pyongyang. This was taken from a tram that travelled around Pyongyang, in fact this was apparently the first time tourists had travelled around the city on a tram. The locals surprise of seeing westerners on the tram was all too evident.
This is the DMZ, a view that may be familiar only this time this is taken from the North Korean side looking towards South Korea. There are no visible South Korea guards although they are obviously there. From looking at other photos and videos, it seem that guards from both sides are not at the border at the same time. I’ve no doubt that the North Korean guards are here on this occasion both to protect us and stop any of having any ideas of crossing over to South Korea.
If you are not familiar , the concrete line midway alongside the huts is the actual border.
A man sits on top of the roof of a block of apartments. I wonder what he is thinking?
Ten pin bowling.
Commuters on the Pyongyang subway.
