22 February 2019 – Sinuiju (DPRK) to Dandong (China)

Guy had not been well during the night and did not want to leave the hotel for Sinuiju in the morning, but that was not to be so. The crazy drive took two hours, crazy because the driver kept his foot to the floor and ignored the local people repairing the road for most of the journey. I even shouted at him  one time to slow down but the guide and driver thought this was funny. The road was a dirt road with people scraping it, cattle carts carrying dirt and water with generally people everywhere. Tree trunks and stones were being painted white so as to show the edge of the road at night.  One of the guides said that everyone was responsible for looking after something as she was responsible for caring for four trees outside her office.

Family Group

Family Group

Once in the Sinuiju we began the tour with a visit to more statues of the Kims. There was a family visiting here at the same time. The guide said that the parents were celebrating a birthday or wedding anniversary when it was common for the family to tour the various sites around the city and have photos or video taken of the visit for remembrance purposes.

 Lunch was at the tour companies office then a walk along the Yalu (or Amrok) River bank to get rid of the effect of the meal (where plenty of good food was available) and to look at the bridges which crossed the Yalu River with China on the other side. 

Towards China

Bride and Groom

I noticed then that it was the first sunny and somewhat warm day since arriving in North Korea, and this was to be the last day here.  From the riverside we could see the ‘Broken Bridge,’ a railway bridge, built in 1911, which at the time connected Busan in South Korea to Calais in France by rail. The bridge was destroyed during the Korean War. We were then taken to an art gallery, a cosmetic factory and the Bonba Kindergarden. Looking on the internet it seems that all tour groups to Sinuiju, (and there are a lot of one day tours from Dandong taken by the Chinese), are all shown the same sites and school. The kindergarden accommodates more than 700 children and is famous for training acrobats and performers from a young age with the best performing in the Korean Mass Games. It seems that there are two groups of children who alternatively put on a show for tourists a few days a week, a show which we enjoyed.

School and teachers

Children performing

Children performing

Teacher and children performing

Teachers and children

It was then time to leave North Korea for Dangdong in China with immigration and customs posing no problem in North Korea. No-one was allowed to walk across the road/rail bridge to China, a bus had to be taken for a two minute ride and this had to be paid for. Guy had no problems going through Chinese immigration but I was held back for some time until an officer was called. It turned out that my fingerprints were not in their computer systems but eventually the officer could see that my passport had been stamped for entry and exit at Harbin for Seoul, then entry at Beijing and exit to Pyongyang. Few Europeans enter China at Harbin so no fingerprints were taken there so I was told. Guy had no problems as a copy of his fingerprints were part of the biometric information included in his passport. I believe that the UK Government declined to have this done for UK passports some time ago. I cannot understand why someone would object to having this done, it would make things much easier. The clocks had to be put back one hour on arrival in China.

Mao outside the railway station

We were met by a new guide and Guy was taken to the railway station to travel on to Beijing while I stayed in Dangdong as I wanted to see one of the eastern ends of the Great Wall of China, one part being outside Dangdong at Husan Village. It was only when standing outside the railway station that I felt a difference between North Korea and elsewhere (in this instance China) due to the noise, the number of people, the colours and what felt like freedom. Freedom was not so obvious (probably I blanked it out) while in North Korea but it was very obvious in Dangdong.
My stay in Dangdong was at the Hotel Sunny Resort in the middle of the city though not too far from the Yalu River. The guide took me out for an evening meal, just picking a local place where the food was excellent. The meals were ordered, the waitress showed the guide the cost then he scanned a bar code stuck to the table with his phone, paid the bill that was and then the food arrived. Apparently over 90% of the people in Dangdong use their phones to pay everything, cash money is disappearing there.

22 February 2019 - Sinuiju (DPRK) and Dandong (China)

Guy was ill overnight and did not want to travel to Sinuiju after breakfast but he had no choice but to go there. A minibus was provided for the the journey but the driver was so bad that I shouted at him to slow down at one stage much to the amusement of the others. The two hour drive was on a dirt road except when we had to walk across one bridge as vehicles were allowed to be driven across as the concrete bridge had cured in the frost so that the concrete was unstable. For almost all the drive the local people were out repairing the road using hand tools and cattle drawn carts, no mechanical equipment to be seen. Stones and tree trunks were being painted white to line the road at night. With people everywhere the driver just kept his foot to the floor and expected people to get out of his way with what I considered to be some close shaves. The guide explained that the local people were responsible for looking after sections of the road while she was responsible for looking after four trees outside the company office.

On arrival at Sinuiju we went straight to the central square to see the statue of President Kim Il Sung. While there I saw a family group having their photo taken. The guide explained that it was probably the wedding anniversary of the parents when the family would go to all the important sites in the city and have photos taken at each one to commemorate the anniversary.

Family photo at the central square

Bride and groom at the riverside

I noticed then that it was the first sunny and somewhat warm day since arriving in North Korea while this was to be the last day there. Lunch was at the tour companies office then a walk along the Yalu (or Amrok) River bank to get rid of the effect of the meal having had plenty of good food. From the riverside we could see the ‘Broken Bridge,’ a railway bridge, built in 1911 which at the time connected Busan in South Korea to Calais in France. The bridge was destroyed during the Korean War. We were then taken to an art gallery, a cosmetic factory and the Bonba Kindergarten.

The broken bridge and railway bridge looking towards China

Looking on the internet it seems that all tour groups to Sinuiju, (and there are a lot of one day tours from Dandong taken by the Chinese), are all shown the same sites and school. The kindergarden accommodates more than 700 children and is famous for training the children who perform in the Korean Mass games. It seems that there are two groups of children who put on a show for tourists a few days a week.

School entrance and teachers

Students

Students

Students and teachers

It was then time to leave North Korea for Dangdong in China with immigration and customs posing no problems. No-one was allowed to walk across the road/rail bridge to China, a bus had to be taken for a two minute ride and this had to be paid for. Guy had no problems going through Chinese immigration but I was held back for some time until an officer was called. It turned out that my fingerprints were not in their computer systems but eventually the officer could see that my passport had been stamped for entry and exit at Harbin for Seoul, then entry at Beijing and exit to Pyongyang. Few Europeans enter China at Harbin so no fingerprints were taken there so I was told. Guy had no problems as a copy of his fingerprints were included in the biometric information included in his passport. Fingerprints were declined to be put in the UK passports some time ago I believe. I cannot understand why someone would object to having this done, it would make things much easier. The clocks had to be put back one hour on arrival in China.

My North Korean visa, could not keep.

Mao, at the railway station

We were met by a new guide and Guy was taken to the railway station to travel straight on to Beijing while I stayed in Dangdong as I wanted to see one of the eastern ends of the Great Wall of China, one part being outside Dangdong at Husan. It was only when standing outside the railway station that I felt the difference between North Korea and elsewhere (in this instance China) due to the noise, the number of people, the colours and what felt like freedom. Freedom was not so obvious (probably I blanked it out) while in North Korea but it was very obvious in Dangdong.

My stay in Dangdong was at the Hotel Sunny Resort in the middle of the city though not too far from the Yalu River. The guide took me out for an evening meal, just picking a local place where the food was excellent. The meals were ordered, the waitress showed the guide the cost then he scanned a bar code stuck to the table with his phone, paid the bill that was and then the food arrived. Apparently over 90% of the people in Dangdong use their phones to pay everything, cash money is disappearing.