The tour to North Korea (or the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea, DPRK) was organised by Koryo Tours who have an office in Beijing. I paid one sum of money which covered transport from their office to Beijing airport; the flight to Pyongyang; all hotel costs, meals and transport within the country; the train journey from Pyongyang for an overnight stop at the border with China at Sinuiju and a tour of Sinuiju before crossing the border into Dandong, China. Then I stopped for two days at Dandong where everything was included again as well as the cost of the final train journey to Beijing. A British guide went with the group of twelve of us from Beijing to Pyongyang then we were joined by male and female North Korean guides who stayed with us all the time. A some visits we were joined by local guides with obviously local knowledge. There were additional choices available at the end of the tour with two of us choosing to stop in Sinuiju while the others went by train straight through from Pyongyang to Beijing. After crossing the border into China I had a guide, car and driver to myself for the stay in Dangdong. Apart from the above the tour cost included a travel insurance premium for the tour, far, far cheaper than that available from the UK.
There was no problem booking in at the airport and while some flights were delayed due to snow our flight left on time. The plane was a fairly new Tupolev Tu-204, comfortable, clean and tidy. During the flight time of 2 hours and 45 minutes passengers were given a burger and soft drink and arrived at Pyongyang on time. I’ve looked on-line for comments about Air Koryo, many which are not good, but as far as I am concerned there was nothing to complain about.
At the airport could be seen many planes under canvas with all having parts missing. It may be that at the time I was there that the airline only had one aircraft licenced to fly outside the country but I do not know the truth of that.
Immigration was no bother as visas had been arranged for us. Customs was another matter as the older grumpy man checking my bag (I only took in a 20 litre day bag) wanted me to take everything out but was stopped by one of the Korean guides who saw what was going on and was not happy with the way I was being treated. It turned out that he did not believe that I did not have a mobile phone so wanted the bag emptied to check for himself. I did have a reading book and that was taken away to be checked and returned to me quite quickly. A normal customs check but a good result with the guide. One thing that happened was that the customs man took my reading glasses out of my pocket and actually looked through them, something I have never had done before. (A similar thing happened when going into the Kim’s mausoleum later on when, during a search, the glasses were again looked through. I realised then that the people were checking that they were really reading glasses and not glasses with cameras or whatever in them).
It took less than an hour to reach the Potonggang Hotel where we were to stay while in Pyongyang. This looked to be a 5* plus hotel and I had a large heated en-suite room to myself. We were not allowed to relax even though it was getting late in the afternoon by now. After leaving the bags in the room it was straight out sightseeing to Kim Ll Sung Square (the central square where all the military displays are held), Juche Tower and the Grand Theatre. When taking photos of the Kim Ll-Sung Square some of us stepped onto the road and were quickly told to move back onto the pavement. Jay walking is completely banned in Pyongyang we were told. Most junctions have underground passage ways for pedestrians and those having bicycles. Should an elderly person want to cross the road then a policeman/woman would hold up the traffic and help that person across the road!
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| Kim Ll-Sung Square |
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| Permanent position markings on the square floor |
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| Juche Tower |
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| Grand Theatre |
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| Wall painting outside the theatre |
By then it was dark so back to the hotel and dinner at 20.00 hours which consisted of fish, duck, meatballs, rice, vegetables, beer and the inequitable kimchi. I watched some television in the room with the programmes all state controlled but the theatre performance with Kim Jong-Un in attendance was still good. There were no women to be seen in the audience though.
Our passports were taken away by the guides (not returned until the end of the trip) which meant that we never had to fill out any forms for hotels while in North Korea (and roadside security checks while travelling by bus to various places) as the guides sorted everything out.
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