Alone at that beach on a rough coast, the sun rising, an ice-cold wind blowing – Day 4 of the Northeastern Adventure was off to a perfect start!
At first it didn’t look like it though. I am not an early riser, yet my third night in North Korea ended 10 minutes prior, when our host brought hot water to our room at around 6.20 in the morning. At the same time a dog started to bark and all of a sudden I knew that I wouldn’t go back to sleep, so I jumped into my clothes instead. Still a little bit sleepy and not yet used to the cold (in Osaka it was still around 30°C!) I stumbled down the dirt road for a few dozen meters until I reached the beach, slightly irritated by the patches of frost on the grass ground – you see that about two days a year in Osaka… which means that Osakans start to wear North Face jackets when the temperature falls below 10°C; at night! I was looking up then, the sun still scratching the horizon, when happiness about my decision not to stay at the room and to head outside instead rose within me. There is something about the combination of nipping air, solitary and beautiful raw nature that puts a smile on my face.
It turned out that Day 4 was actually all about the stunning nature of Mount Chilbo, so we headed out to the Hadok Falls and several viewing points within the Inner Chilbo area. Some we drove up to, but sometimes we hiked for a while (up to a kilometer or two) to reach our destinations. Again a beautiful autumn day at gorgeous locations! Irritating and amusing at the same time were the explanations of our guideguards, when they continued to telling us stories about pretty much every rock in sight. “This we call XYZ, because it looks as if ABC is doing DEF with GHI!” – and of course in most cases there were just rocks with no resemblance or relation to whatever we were told happened there. But Mr. Li came up with one mythological story after another. Stories he really seemed to believe in…
Quite a rare sight was the Kaesim Temple! North Korea isn’t exactly a religious country, so most “sacred” buildings surviving the Japanese occupation and the Korean War were destroyed afterwards. Not so this temple, founded in 826. Restored in 1377 and equipped with a bronze bell from 1764, the temple is an important depository for scriptures, sculptures and paintings.
An unexpected sight was a huge portrait of Kim Jong-il and three other guys halfway up a hill, depicting the group in the Mount Chilbo area. It seemed terribly out of place, but I guess with an increased amount of tourists in the future you have to remind people who was the boss and who started to develop the area for comrades on vacation. It was never mentioned specifically during the tour, but it seems like Kim Il-sung never visited Mount Chilbo as it was too rural and undeveloped during his days.
After a rather late lunch at the Outer Chilbo Hotel (with a group of exile North Koreans living in Japan on the next table – probably pachinko people…) we spent almost two hours on the bus on our way to Kyongsong. We arrived at the Yombun Revolutionary Site during dusk, with just enough light left to take a couple of photos before heading to the Kyongsong Local Hot Spa House (part of the Kim Jong-suk Sanatorium), where some of us took a hot bath. After seven years in Japan still not a fan of the onsen culture there, two other guys and I headed for the Kyongsong Guest House, the local and really basic accommodation – no blackouts, but again neither hot nor running water.
(Funny story: At least one of my fellow travelers took their camera with them into the spa house, but for obvious reasons not into the bath. Later that evening they were told by our western guide that the Korean guides recommended to delete some of their photos! Nothing like privacy, eh?)
The night at the Kyongsong Guest House was not only our last evening with our first set of guides, it was also the 40th birthday of Mr. So, who did a good job keeping us on schedule and ironing out any problems in the background, while Mr. Li kept us entertained and within limits. Dinner was even bigger than usual and after a rather melodramatic speech by Mr. So the celebrations began – including lots of alcohol and songs. Even our third guide, Mr. Sin, loosened up and wouldn’t stop singing, dancing and drinking…
(Speaking of third guides: A third guide is only present if Americans are part of the group! The western tour guides were always vague about it and kind of made it sound as if it was coincidence whether or not a third guide would be with a group, but according to more experienced fellow travelers it really depends on the presence of Americans…)
My twelfth day in North Korea across both trips was probably my favorite one overall. I love spending time in the countryside and this day had it all. A wonderful sunrise at a gorgeous beach, light hiking at a stunning mountain range and a beautiful sunset at the wild cliffs of a revolutionary site – in addition to that good food and interesting conversations. An almost perfect day…
(Please *click here to get to Abandoned Kansai’s North Korea Special* and *here for a map about the tour at GoogleMaps*. *Like Abandoned Kansai on Facebook* if you don’t want to miss the latest articles and exclusive content – and subscribe to the *video channel on Youtube* to receive a message right after a new video is online…)
Beautiful set of photos from Korea.
Thanks a lot!
Reblogged this on Derek Versus Lonely Planet and commented:
Another fascinating article about traveling in North Korea.
Interesting, I didn’t think they’d be so lenient about picture taking (since everything is so restricted up there). But it’s a beautiful sight to see from an otherwise dismal and improvised country.
Hey Lisa,
The guardguides were lenient, because we were in the middle of nowhere – so remote, that even political figures barely ever visit the area. It was a beautiful day amidst gorgeous nature… and nothing to hide in sight. While on the bus, especially when driving through cities, our minders were a lot stricter.
Wow! Beautiful beach shots in the early morning, great light. And interesting words…
Thanks, Sue! Those photos make me want to get up for sunrise more often, but due to the Japanese time zone dawn is at about 4.30 a.m. in summer…
Yikes! Bit early!
Even worse – it’s dark at 8 p.m. the latest, which doesn’t help urbex trips at all.
The animal signpost is wild…not a lot of locals here?
There are a couple of tiny villages in the area, but I don’t think any locals have the opportunity to go sightseeing. (And when you have to walk everywhere, because hardly anybody has access to a car, then hiking isn’t exactly a popular hobby.)
Especially when you do manual labor all day, every day – hiking is not a fun activity. Thanks for another great snap shot of this country.
Yeah, I actually talked about hiking with our main guide in Rason; and he confirmed that it’s not popular at all in the DPRK. I’ll bring it up in a week or two when I publish the article about Rajin.
Thanks for being a regular reader and commenter, it’s much appreciated!
A good travelogue today. It makes me want to visit soon. But I’m sure the current political situation pretty much blocks that idea for Americans.
I am really glad that I went to North Korea before Kim Jong-un went nuts and started to kill friends and family. The missile tests a year ago were kindergarten, pretty much everybody knew that; including Japan and the States, they just couldn’t admit it, because they need NK as an enemy to justify their military expenses. Then current situation is a lot more delicate than what we experienced back then! Well, at least that’s my opinion.
It sounds and looks amazing!
It truly was!