What a surprise for breakfast, it was almost a western style buffet breakfast with limited selection. I would rate the buffet breakfast 2/5 since some of the things were just ok, like the sausage...still partly frozen, so imagine biting into a watery sausage piece/slice. After breakfast, we began our day, but I didn't know I had to fill out the visa forms for my reentry visa to China. So I had to get off the bus and rush back into the hotel to fill them out. It was the fastest I've ever filled out any visa application, finished in 10 minutes, since I felt bad for holding up the bus but everyone understood. The visa cost 700 RMB since it was a one day rush service, due to the holiday for Kim Jong Il the next day, 광명성절. I figured out the RMB-Euro conversion from that though, just multiply the Euro by 10 to get the RMB equivalent. After that our day finally began. Oh before I forget, the main difference between North and South Korean language is the North uses much more formal and polite endings than the South.
We first visited the Pyongyang metro museum, an entire building which is the size of a compound, all dedicated to the design and execution of the Pyongyang metro under the guidance of Kim Il Sung. Our guide at the museum was very friendly and nice, so it was interesting to say the least, especially seeing the chairs that Kim Il Sung sat in or the flashlight he used. We didn't even finish the whole museum since it had like 80 or so rooms/halls. We only finished the first part which was about design and construction under the leadership of Kim Il Sung. And frankly there was no mention of any other person besides Kim Il Sung, no names of planners or architects or anything, just all Kim Il Sung. It was more of a museum to praise Kim Il Sung instead of the story of how the metro was built. Personally, I think an entire building just dedicated to the construction of a metro is little overboard. Thomas, a fellow tourist in my group said "every other country would be pissing laughing" and he would be right. The sole purpose of the museum was not to tell the story of how the metro was built, but how great the leader Kim Il Sung was in planning this feat, and to venerate him and Kim Jong Il.
Next was the Fatherland Liberation War museum or the North's Korean War museum. It was very interesting to hear their side of the story. It started off with us watching a movie that depicted how the imperialist US and South Korea began to bomb the peaceful and democratic North. The reason why the US wanted to start the war was because it had made so much money during WWII, building and supplying materiel to others, that once it ended, the US needed some new sources of revenue. So it and South Korea conspired to start a war. I recorded 10 mins of the film, and I wish I could've recorded more but I needed to save my batteries, more on that later...after that, we went through the rest of the museum and saw some captured memorabilia from the US and weapons and vehicles used. The usual things you'd see in a war museum. When our museum guide finished explaining how the course of the war and invasion began, and then asked if anyone had questions about it, no one made a sound. But I could tell everyone wanted to say "That is wrong..." though there would be no point in arguing. They're taught that way from childhood. I'm just happy to have both sides of the story now. That museum mostly focused on North Korea's successes early on in the war, before the UN intervention. After, there was not so much talking about glorious victories or destroying the enemies and such. They didn't mention anything about the Chinese intervention for their side at all. Not one mention of China...Ending the museum tour, we visited the war monument outside and it was large, as usual for monuments here in the North. Now I know I need to bring extra batteries since mine died...so I could only take 3 photos of that place. From the war monument, we headed off to lunch at a local restaurant. It was a traditional Korean bbq, with pork, duck, and squid. Really good. And there was also some Korean dancers there for entertainment too. They sang and danced with other tourists as well. But even though it was really fun and entertaining, it's only for us foreigners, it gives us a different view of the country. There was a small tension inside me while watching the performance, that there are people in concentration camps that could only dream of what we just had. Even the performers seemed forced to perform perfectly, since there was one performer there who seemed to direct all the other women dancers.
After lunch, we went to the house where Kim Il Sung was born. Contrary to claims, all the streets we drove weren't deserted at all. His birth place was ok, since it was just a traditional Korean house. The big thing was to show his humble beginnings. The next stop on the itinerary was more interesting, a ride on the Pyongyang subway. The escalator just to get down there was the longest I've ever seen and taken. The train cars of course were like 30+ years old. And riding on the subway, it was packed. That is one thing I won't forget about the subway, the other was seeing 2 small children running about in the station. They stopped for a second and looked at all of us foreigners and smiled. I could see both their hands were covered in soot or something black. That was a little disturbing.
Next stops were Juche Tower and the Kim Jong Illia (flower named after Kim Jong Il) exhibition. The Juche tower at the top was an open platform and there was a strong wind blowing up there so it was freezing. But the flower exhibition was warm. However, it was one of the most propagandist places on this tour yet, besides the war museum. There were flowers and pictures of him everywhere, along with revolutionary slogans too. The other thing I will not forget and was a little disturbing again was seeing this little boy's flower exhibit. He had won first place in cultivating this type of flower, and the guide said he was 9 years old as well. From my eyes, there was no way he looked 9, he looked more like 5-6. He was small and stunted, which brings up many questions, yet his small slogan on the top of his exhibit read: I miss you dear general.
Last item on the itinerary for the day was a trip to the party foundation monument, a statue of hands holding a hammer, torch, and sickle. The monument was directly in line with the statue of Kim Il Sung.
Dinner featured hot pot, it tasted ok. I don't really like hot pots in the first place though, but the dinner was memorable for the Pyongyang blackout.
Ending day 2 with this: very tiring but interesting too. Also able to observe regular North Koreans' way of life and their admiration for their leaders' cult of personality.
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