I woke up earlier and took these photos of Pyongyang waking up.
The hotel was in the middle of a river...all the better to contain the tourists within the compound! This was the view from our hotel room window early in the morning. It was cold, but there is a group of people in the middle right who were walking along the river going to work.
We were to assemble relatively early, about 9 am. Today was when we were going to see the Palace of the Sun, which is also the final resting place of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jung Il.
We have been to the other 3 preserved communist leader's mausoleums: Ho, Lenin, and Mao. These 3 are modest (in comparison) several story sarcophagi. The departed leader rests on a dias in a glass case within a single room marble room. Usually well below ground level. Neither of us was expecting what we got here.
From the start, there was a lot of pomp and circumstance. We had to be dressed up in our best clothing. Nothing in our pockets. If we were wearing a jacket, it either had to be buttoned up completely or not worn. No sneakers, no shorts, no short skirts. This was a huge deal to the Koreans. We had to line up in 2 long parallel lines walking up to the entrance. Then, we were arranged into groups of 4, with a Korean guide at the end of the row. So, 3 westerners and 1 Korean in each group. As we approached the entrance, we were told to stay in line and wait to be called up. Upon entering the Palace, we were escorted to a large waiting area and a bag check. We lined up again, and there was one last check made to be sure that nothing was in pockets, and I had my room key in my pocket and was able to put it with my phone and jacket in the bag check area.
We march into another anteroom and wait for the group ahead of us to move through the scanners. We ascend an escalator and step onto a people mover. (Like at the airport, you don't have to walk). In fact, we are not allowed to walk. On each side of this people mover are important scenes from each leaders life. On the left hand side, the father, Kim Il Sung and on the right, the son, Kim Jung Il.
The hallway is extremely long. All the while you are moving very slowly there is martial music being played over the loud speakers in the room and on the grounds. The grounds were magnificent. Beautifully planted and manicured. When you reach the end of the hall, you descend a short staircase and get on another people mover. More photos left and right.
There is a huge door looming ahead, excitement is mounting. We enter the door and there are 2 gigantic statues of the leaders. Again, we assemble into groups of 4 and approach the statues. On the signal of the Korean guide, we bow in unison and after a bit, stand up again and exit to the right through another huge door.
At this point, I'm thinking, that's it??? 2 huge golden statues and that is what the hubbub is all about??? But I was very, very wrong. After leaving the room with the statues, we go upstairs into another large room which is dedicated to events of importance in the father's life. Photographs, memorabilia, uniforms, and assorted possessions. We exit that and head into a room where there is a large Mercedes Benz on a marble block. His favorite car and the one he was using at the end of his life. Then there is the train carriage that he used to visit the people. Preserved as it was the day he died. There was also a map of Asia, that lit up blue and red, to show where the leader visited by train or plane during his reign.
We are then ushered into "the room". In it is a glass sarcophagus with the leader in there. The protocol is we approach his feet, in our row of 4, bow, then move to his right side, bow, the walk past his head, no bow, and finally approach his left side and bow and file out of the room. It was a very somber experience. The room we exit into now is a repository for every award he ever received. Honorary Degrees from many universities, medals, pins, chains, etc. There are the cap and gowns from every honorary degree ceremony as well. Most are from other communist countries and a few smaller African and South American countries. There was one degree from a US college, Kensington. Someplace no one has ever heard of! Turns out it was an online university that was forced to close.
We now are escorted into the memorabilia of the son, Kim Jung Il . All of his uniforms, his possessions. We exit into the room with his Mercedes, his railway carriage, and his yacht.
Now we repeat the bowing with Kim Il Jung, feet, right, left and exit into a room with all of his honorary degrees and awards. At this point I was becoming glazed over. When suddenly, back on the people mover, heading in the opposite direction with the pictures of Kim Jung Il on our left and martial music. We are able to get off the people mover and exit onto the grounds. Again, these are exquisitely planted with many, many grounds keepers scurrying around sweeping up dead leaves and trimming the grass. The grass was a new hybrid that was developed to stay green all year. It was a beautiful shade of green.
This is the picture of the "crew" plus Ms. Pak and Mr. Song. Obviously, Mr. Kim was taking the photo. The tall bearded fellow in the front row is Josh and Charlotte is not in the photo for some reason. Starting from the left of the front row: Michael, Sherry, Lilijana, Josh, Mitch. Top row: Sharon, me, Bill, Simon.
Mitch and Simon are brothers from Australia. Sharon is also an Aussie. Michael is Belgian, Lilijana is Serbian, and Sherry, Bill and myself are the Yanks. This was our wonderful group of 8 travelers.
We returned to the hotel and got our stuff packed up because we were going to head to Kaesong and the DMZ by bus and stay overnight.
Before we took off, we were given a tour of Pyongyang's metro. It closely resembled Moscow's in that some of the stations were very ornate with chandeliers and murals. See photos above.
On our way out of town, we stopped at a little enclave. Where some of the troupe climbed up a steep staircase for a view over the countryside below. After they descended, we went across the street for Makoli and these pancake like things. I love Makoli! It is a rice wine that is milky in color, low in alcohol, and slightly sweet and fizzy. The batch that we tried was supposedly homemade!
We headed to Kaesong, which is the DPRK's side of the DMZ. We had to do this, Bill and I, because we did not do if from the south side when we were in Seoul.
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| This was the view from our hotel window |
We were to assemble relatively early, about 9 am. Today was when we were going to see the Palace of the Sun, which is also the final resting place of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jung Il.
We have been to the other 3 preserved communist leader's mausoleums: Ho, Lenin, and Mao. These 3 are modest (in comparison) several story sarcophagi. The departed leader rests on a dias in a glass case within a single room marble room. Usually well below ground level. Neither of us was expecting what we got here.
From the start, there was a lot of pomp and circumstance. We had to be dressed up in our best clothing. Nothing in our pockets. If we were wearing a jacket, it either had to be buttoned up completely or not worn. No sneakers, no shorts, no short skirts. This was a huge deal to the Koreans. We had to line up in 2 long parallel lines walking up to the entrance. Then, we were arranged into groups of 4, with a Korean guide at the end of the row. So, 3 westerners and 1 Korean in each group. As we approached the entrance, we were told to stay in line and wait to be called up. Upon entering the Palace, we were escorted to a large waiting area and a bag check. We lined up again, and there was one last check made to be sure that nothing was in pockets, and I had my room key in my pocket and was able to put it with my phone and jacket in the bag check area.
We march into another anteroom and wait for the group ahead of us to move through the scanners. We ascend an escalator and step onto a people mover. (Like at the airport, you don't have to walk). In fact, we are not allowed to walk. On each side of this people mover are important scenes from each leaders life. On the left hand side, the father, Kim Il Sung and on the right, the son, Kim Jung Il.
The hallway is extremely long. All the while you are moving very slowly there is martial music being played over the loud speakers in the room and on the grounds. The grounds were magnificent. Beautifully planted and manicured. When you reach the end of the hall, you descend a short staircase and get on another people mover. More photos left and right.
There is a huge door looming ahead, excitement is mounting. We enter the door and there are 2 gigantic statues of the leaders. Again, we assemble into groups of 4 and approach the statues. On the signal of the Korean guide, we bow in unison and after a bit, stand up again and exit to the right through another huge door.
At this point, I'm thinking, that's it??? 2 huge golden statues and that is what the hubbub is all about??? But I was very, very wrong. After leaving the room with the statues, we go upstairs into another large room which is dedicated to events of importance in the father's life. Photographs, memorabilia, uniforms, and assorted possessions. We exit that and head into a room where there is a large Mercedes Benz on a marble block. His favorite car and the one he was using at the end of his life. Then there is the train carriage that he used to visit the people. Preserved as it was the day he died. There was also a map of Asia, that lit up blue and red, to show where the leader visited by train or plane during his reign.
We are then ushered into "the room". In it is a glass sarcophagus with the leader in there. The protocol is we approach his feet, in our row of 4, bow, then move to his right side, bow, the walk past his head, no bow, and finally approach his left side and bow and file out of the room. It was a very somber experience. The room we exit into now is a repository for every award he ever received. Honorary Degrees from many universities, medals, pins, chains, etc. There are the cap and gowns from every honorary degree ceremony as well. Most are from other communist countries and a few smaller African and South American countries. There was one degree from a US college, Kensington. Someplace no one has ever heard of! Turns out it was an online university that was forced to close.
We now are escorted into the memorabilia of the son, Kim Jung Il . All of his uniforms, his possessions. We exit into the room with his Mercedes, his railway carriage, and his yacht.
Now we repeat the bowing with Kim Il Jung, feet, right, left and exit into a room with all of his honorary degrees and awards. At this point I was becoming glazed over. When suddenly, back on the people mover, heading in the opposite direction with the pictures of Kim Jung Il on our left and martial music. We are able to get off the people mover and exit onto the grounds. Again, these are exquisitely planted with many, many grounds keepers scurrying around sweeping up dead leaves and trimming the grass. The grass was a new hybrid that was developed to stay green all year. It was a beautiful shade of green.
Mitch and Simon are brothers from Australia. Sharon is also an Aussie. Michael is Belgian, Lilijana is Serbian, and Sherry, Bill and myself are the Yanks. This was our wonderful group of 8 travelers.
We returned to the hotel and got our stuff packed up because we were going to head to Kaesong and the DMZ by bus and stay overnight.
Before we took off, we were given a tour of Pyongyang's metro. It closely resembled Moscow's in that some of the stations were very ornate with chandeliers and murals. See photos above.
On our way out of town, we stopped at a little enclave. Where some of the troupe climbed up a steep staircase for a view over the countryside below. After they descended, we went across the street for Makoli and these pancake like things. I love Makoli! It is a rice wine that is milky in color, low in alcohol, and slightly sweet and fizzy. The batch that we tried was supposedly homemade!
We headed to Kaesong, which is the DPRK's side of the DMZ. We had to do this, Bill and I, because we did not do if from the south side when we were in Seoul.
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