This day starts with a drive to the International Friendship Exhibition. Sadly photography is not allowed here, our cameras (as well as hats, watches,etc) are taken away until we leave the exhibition. Basically, this place is a museum of gifts that Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il have received from various people and places all over the world. There's an electronic counter keeping track of how many gifts there are, as far as I can remember there were 59,000+ gifts, There's also a map with illuminated dots indicating places that gifts have come from. There are a handful of neat things (like a bulletproof limousine made in the USSR) but also a lot of really funny things like ashtrays from Jimmy Carter, two plastic menorahs, a stuffed crocodile holding a tray, an iMac computer from 1999, a Bulgarian television set, a set of chopsticks from Mongolia and so on. They're quite proud of this place; it's guarded by soldiers with silver-plated AK-47's We have to go through metal detectors and are required to wear shoe covers.
One of the few photos I was able to get from around the International Friendship Exhibit. There appear to be a number of tourist buses parked out front but there weren't any other tourists.
A rare photo of the quieter, friendlier of our two minders, Ms. Li.
Another shot outside the International Friendship Exhibition
After the exhibition, we went to some 700-year-old Buddhist sites. The North Korean government allows this place to remain because of the role Buddhism has played in Korean history. However despite an official claim of guaranteeing religious freedom, religious belief and worship are disallowed. Some of the news magazines touted that a Russian Orthodox church has recently been built in Pyongyang, but this is apparently more for Russian diplomats as well as their families and staff rather than for ordinary North Koreans.
After that, we had something of a picnic in this area. Once again we finished too quickly and had to hang around for 45 minutes or so before the next spectacle in our itinerary was prepared. Several military trucks drove by, which made us suspect that they may be a military base in the area. We waved at each passing truck loaded with North Korean soldiers, few soldiers smiled and waved back.
Love that delicious North Korean bottled water.
Afterwards, it was a two-hour drive back to Pyongyang to the Children's Palace. It was described to us as a place children go after school where they can learn an art form of their choosing, whether dance, painting, music, etc they make sure to add that it's all free of charge.
The kids here are freakishly good at all that they do, it makes me wonder if they're really here by choice and what exactly it takes to get kids so young to be as good as they are at their respective arts. Seems like every room had those same watchful portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.
Some hall inside the Children's Palace. According to the abridged biography I skimmed in one of the book shops here, Kim Jong Il personally participated in the construction of this building, hauling large blocks even though his shoulders began to swell and skin began to peel. It seems they genuinely believe Kim Jong Il does everything, knows everything, and is everywhere, the notion crosses deeply into the realm of the absurd, but it seems here in the DPRK it's all said and written with a straight face.
After we toured the Children's Palace, we attended a 1-hour performance. Have to apologize for the quality of the photos but the lighting in the auditorium was pretty awful. Didn't understand a word of the show, but seemed to be entirely about how awesome North Korea is in every way.
Orchestral performance to a video backdrop of a military parade.
On the way to the restaurant. Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung make yet another appearance. According to minder Mr. O, Pyongyang has a population of 4 million people, leaves me wondering where they all are. Then again, he also told us the DPRK has a population of 70 million. Western and South Korean estimates place the number at 25 million and 29 million respectively.
After the concert, we went to a restaurant in Pyongyang that apparently specializes in duck. Here's another variety of North Korean beer.
The food here was remarkably good, probably the best meal of the entire trip. It's pretty clear ordinary North Koreans can't even imagine eating this way, they'd all get fat. In fact there were never any ordinary people eating at any of the restaurants we went to, and we went to quite a few.
After dinner we head back to the hotel and challenge one of our minders to a game of pool. First time around I'm easily able to beat him. When we play for money, his performance improves significantly. I'm out only 10 euros, in North Korea that's about a week's worth of pay, however.
Mr. O, our chain-smoking, foul-mouthed, Chinese-bashing minder. He claimed to be 28 years old. According the our contact in China who'd met with Mr. O just a few months prior, Mr. O claimed to be 23. Strange.
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