Day 1: Arriving

My friend and I start the day in Shenyang, China. There's nothing for tourists to do here.  It's largely pretty run-down and quite smelly in parts.  Got lots of long stares from the locals, a couple of whom nearly crashed their mopeds because they were so amazed.  But it's where the North Korean consulate is, as well as the airport that we fly into North Korea from.  First thing in the morning we head for the North Korean consulate to pick up the visas we had been approved for months ago.  After that, there's a long awkward taxi drive to the Shenyang airport with a North Korean official accompanying us.

For some reason, there was a power socket in the shower of the hotel we stayed in Shenyang, kind of a seedy place but it was something like $20/night.  None of the staff spoke any English, we requested a wake-up call, and a lady came by with more pillows. 

Picturesque view from the hotel entrance/exit

My tourist visa for North Korea.

We flew into Pyongyang an old Il-62 airliner.  Nearly 50-year-old design and it shows.

Interior of the Il-62, the overhead compartments don't close.  In the upper left corner you see someone's suitcase that was sitting precariously on the shelf right over my head.  The flight attendant noticed, and looked concerned, but not so concerned as to do anything about it.

Pyongyang's international airport.  Very small, run down and experiences very little traffic, believe it or not.

Photo of my having just gotten off the plane.  Definitely a "What have I gotten myself into?" moment.

The view from Pyongyang from our hotel, the Yanggakdo Hotel.  The hotel is on an island, and the only place they let your roam around freely (without minders), at least up until the checkpoint at the hotel parking lot.

It's pretty hazy, you can barely see the unfinished 105-story tall Ryugyong Hotel in the distance, by far the tallest building in the entire country,

Our hotel room.  They make no secret of the fact that rooms are bugged.  I made some minor effort at finding the bug but wasn't able to.  Probably inside of the 1970's phone.  Apparently the people that listen in are located on the 5th floor (the hotel has 47 floors).  The elevator doesn't stop at the 5th floor so I couldn't drop by and to say hello.

One of the several restaurants at the hotel.

Some North Korean beer and bottled water.  They have 3 brands of beer, but this one was the most common.  It's not bad, but I'm no beer connoisseur, despite living in Oregon.

The revolving restaurant at the top of the hotel.  There were waitresses up there but no one was eating there... we just went up there to have a look around.

The following morning was a bit clearer.

This phone guide attempts to explain how to make international calls from the room's phone.  We tried several numbers but none of them worked, the hotel staff person, "Those numbers don't work."

The lobby of the hotel.  The elevators are kinda weird, as people get on the elevator sinks lower and lower, at times people were asked to get off to keep the elevator from dropping to the bottom floor... even though there never too many people on.