Friday, biking and waterpark!!!

So back in the saddle we are for a longer bike ride through the streets of Pyongyang.  Our first, destination is the library.

This is Bill and Michael.  This was a square that we had to walk our bikes through.  It is quite large.  It is across the street from the 2 big statues.  It was so strange to see everyone walking their bikes and their motor scooters.  We  got here from the water front and a couple of the up-down things with the bikes.  That was the most taxing part of the day.  They bikes were very, very heavy and push/pulling them up a steep slope was not something that I relished doing over and over again!


We parked our bikes to one side of the library and entered.  The building was expansive, marble, gold spangled, chandeliered, and ultimately cold.  We headed into a reading room.  It was a massive room with desks arranged in rows, like a testing situation, and students could come here and order the books that they wanted.  We then went into a lecture hall where a teacher was handing back papers.  The students were crammed together on chairs and benches with the teacher at the front and the lecture up on a screen in a power point presentation.  I don't think that questions were tolerated.

We then went to see the circulation desk.  On the desk were an example of books in English.  A book about chickens, another farming type manual, and something else that seemed incongruous in an urban setting.

Next stop was the roof top gift shop.  We were able to go out on the roof and take photographs.

 As you can see, it was a bit cloudy that day so these are not spectacular shots

After the library, we headed back on the bikes for lunch at PFC, Pyongyang Fried Chicken.  But before we could go in, we went to the postal museum that was right next door.  Bill was in heaven.  There were tons of interesting stamps and propaganda post cards which were purchased and subsequently mailed from the DPRK.  The guides loved this place, just that comment alone tells you it was not my favorite.  In several pieces the chicken was still bloody.  

After this we hit the War Memorial Museum.  This was a very strange place.  The koolaid was definitely drunk and passed around multiply times.  Our guide was chiding us for keeping her waiting in the cold and that we were not thinking of her....said with a smile, but (shoulder shrug), I don't know!  There were no photos allowed inside the museum only of the war wreckage outside. There were spy planes, parts of spy planes, tanks, and other war materiel.  The best was the Pueblo.  Yup, the entire battleship was there.  We heard a lot of blah blah description of all of the spyware that was found on board when the Korean's boarded her.  

Next stop the water park!

The "girls" chose not to ride, as my knee was yelling at me and to push it further seemed stupid.  So onto the bus we went and arrived at the park long before the boys and the one lone trooper, Lilijana.  The sun had come out at that point and standing in it felt really good which we waited.  Once the boys arrived, the bikes were loaded onto their bus and off we went.  

The water park was a HUGE complex.  Once inside, it was humid as all get out.  Oh, there was another statue of Kim Jung Il that needed to be bowed to.  There were many many choices of activities, face massage, body massage, water park, gym, bar, coffee shop, etc.  Lilijana and I chose to get facial massages. All the boys, except Bill, went to the water park.  Bill got a shave.  I knew he wanted to go to the water park, but they lend out suits, and the woman behind the counter, kept pulling up various sizes and holding them up, and shaking her head no.  It was very funny.  She was really trying.  Josh even suggested that he swim in his shorts.  But Bill was not confident that they would stay on.  So, off to shave land he went, Lilijana and I for face massages, and the others went for coffee.  

The face massage was quite nice.  lots of creams and gentle strokes.  At one point during it, my leg started twitching and another woman came over and started massaging my thigh.  It wasn't working, so we came over with a hot towel and stroked the area above my knee some more.  Finally, my leg stopped spamming.  Don't know what was happening with the face at that point, I was too focused on my leg!

We are heading  to the Juche Tower.  It is really cold at this point, maybe in the upper 30's or low 40's.  We pay our money to go up the tower to the top.  There are freezing gale force winds up there.  Fabulous views, but really cold.

 You can see my hair whipping around in this selfie.

 The sky was beautiful and the lights of Pyongyang are just coming on.

We headed over to the foreign bookstore which was right on the Main Street.  They had all sorts of pamphlets translated into many languages.  Bill stocked up on both father and son's words of wisdom.  He also purchased a beautifully bound book on the Palace of the Sun.

It is not pitch black and we head over to another hotel for foreigners and have a drink, or three.  Do you sense a theme here?  I will help, Koreans love to drink, doesn't make any difference which side of the DMZ you live on!

Then dinner, which I can't recall at all.