Pyongyang: Flight and the Arirang Games.

Day 4 – Flight to Pyongyang and the Arirang Games

I started my day with another ‘free’ watery omelette, however this time they were nice enough to give me toast rather then bread, so how can I complain. We made our was to Beijing airport, checked in, and then hung around for a couple of hours. I managed to chat with an Australian girl who had been working in Korea for 2 months earlier in the year and were able share some common stories about our experiences in ROK (S.Korea).

When we finally got to the departure lounge I was quite eager to see what type of plane we would be flying. As we had 3 groups, plus the Americans, we needed 2 planes. We ended up with an old Soviet plane that I was hoping was still up to safety requirements.

Follow the link for the rest of day 4 actions and photos.

My plane, Air Koryo, North’s official airline carrier. It looked in good nick for a plane that was probably 30 to 40 years old.

 

Inside was a tight squeeze and my legs were jammed up against the chair in front. For whatever reason we had an unusual tall group  so I can only imagine how uncomfortable it would have been for the couple of Dutch blokes that were close to 6 and a half foot tall. The guy on the right seems to be enjoying the ‘view’. The flight, for the most part, was uneventful.

 

Pyongyang airport. Compared to other capital cities in the world it’s tiny. In fact its not even a quarter of the size of the Perth Domestic airport mainly because there’s hardly even any traffic in or out of the DPRK. Of course, like with any major building in Pyongyang, a picture of Kim Il Sung, otherwise known as ‘Great Leader’ is displayed proudly on top of the structure.

 

Control tower on the right.

 

My first view of Pyongyang city. The large pyramid structure in the picture is the Ryugyong Hotel, created to be the tallest hotel in the world in the early 90’s. After the fall of the Soviet Union the project effectively ran out of money and supplies and hence was never completed and had been lying idle for the past 10 years. Same say its an eyesore, but I think it symbolize the position the North is in. North Korea was practically propped up by the Soviet union since the 50’s, when it fell the North Korean economy suffered to a point where its doubtable that it’ll ever make a recovery. 

 

Pyongyang is void of traffic with only a few cars ever on the street. Mostly people use street carts, trams, and electric buses, which all look old and about to fall apart.

 

Pyongyang Koryo Hotel in the background. I stayed there one night later in my trip.

 

The view from my hotel window.

 

The Yanggakdo Hotel, my main resting place during my trip. An excellent 4 star hotel complete with Karaoke, a 3 lane bowling ally, shops, bars, and a billiard room. It situated on Yanggak island and you have free range to walk around on it, which I took full advantage of.

 

At night we went to the Arirang Games. This is a picture of the May Day Stadium, the biggest stadium in the world with a capacity of 150,000 people. Lonely Planet writes: ‘…held annually at the world’s largest stadium, the May Day Stadium, in Pyongyang. These mass gymnastic displays involve over 100,000 soldiers, children, and students holding up coloured placards to form enormous murals in praise of North Korea’s achievements, truly an amazing sight.‘

 

Some older students march past us, shouting loudly their praises to both Great Leader and Dear Leader (Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il).

 

Entering the May Day Stadium.

 

The murals you see in the background are actually 20,000 school children holding up coloured cards from a huge book they have. Their timing is incredible. There’s nothing to compare it to, its just phenomenal.

 

Some girls dancing away.

 

Another nice effect is when the school children held up white cards and a projector was used to display a picture or video on them. Incrediable!

 

아리랑 (Arirang) There are a few stories about the origin of the name ‘Arirang’ and if you would like to read more about it I suggest this site.

 

The students that marched past us earlier.

 

Who loves the DPRK???

 

How can anyone declare war against these solders?! purrr…..

 

We all love Kim Il Sung. Truth is, after one day it was apparent that our whole tour would be filled with admiration for Great Leader. Drole.

 

Kid’s doing gymnastics.

 

Happy kids!

 

What came first, the egg or the chicken?

 

Protecting the borders from the American imperialists!

 

Some more impressive gymnastic displays.

 

Soldiers.

 

One Korea…. under North rule. *gulp*

 

I don’t know how to say, ‘Do you want to come back with me for a drink at the hotel?’, in Korean.

 

What Korea would look like directly after the nuclear war.

An amazing first day. Due to some delays we didn’t get much chance to do anything else, but in the end we’re all pretty tired. I ended up sharing a room with a lad from Liverpool, Mark. Good bloke. In fact the whole group rocked, we all got along with each other extremely well as will be more evident in further posts.

Next post, Kim Il Sung’s death bed, Kumsusan Memorial Palace.

3 Comments

• 

  By carneagles, 21/10/2005 - Friday @ 5:20 pm

  Enjoying your write-up. The Sydney Olympics was worse off for its lack of giant egg costumes, wasn’t it.

  You’ve probably already seen this, but a tourist from the US has written about her experience at the Arirang Games on the BBC News site:

  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4353274.stm

• 

  By joon, 23/10/2005 - Sunday @ 7:22 pm

  entertaining little robots those northerners

Other Links to this Post

1. Staypuff.net - Following the life of a Perth lad in Korea — 13/1/2009 - Tuesday @ 10:08 am

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