According to ABC’s “The Drum“:
The Dandong Jinhua International Travel Service is just one of a handful of small companies organising tours out of Dandong, Liaoning Province, in the north-east of China.
Dandong, a city of almost 800,000 sits on the Chinese side of the historic Yalu River bridge – which was bombed by the United States at the start of the Korean War. By night, tourists stand on the foreshore taking snaps of the renovated brightly lit bridge that connects the two countries – and the total blackout that exists on the other side.
Staff at the travel company say usually they operate tours of about 60 people per day, or 30,000 per year. But during the Chinese National Holidays, which run for 10 days in October, almost 600 tourists returned in one day alone. The mass number of China travellers highlights how North Korea – known in the West as a reclusive nuclear-armed communist country – is still an attractive tourist destination for their neighbouring comrades.
Once in the reclusive country, there are heavy restrictions on what travellers can see and do.
Photos are limited to official tourist sites and the North Korean guides constantly put the hard word on anyone caught sneaking snaps out the bus or train windows. One the way out of North Korea at Sinuiju city, one Chinese tourist had ‘unsuitable’ photos deleted by the guards.
Tourists are also prohibited from straying too far from the group. On top of that the itinerary is tightly managed, meaning tourists only get to see a glimpse of what Pyongyang and a few other national hotspots have on offer.
Tours have also been met with some unexpected hiccups.
“On one winter trip the train had to stay overnight at the Sinuiju stop, with all the passengers on board. Everyone was so unhappy the North Korean guides gave them a Kim Il Sung pin”, says one tour organiser, adding that the national pins worn by all North Koreans are almost impossible for tourists to purchase.
Now trips are closed from November to January because there’s not enough electricity to run the trains.
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Other travel groups also operate out of Dandong offering even more favourable prices than the Dandong Jinhua International Travel Service. Their four-day tour is 2,400 yuan ($370) and an additional 800 yuan to see the Mass Games – an enormous synchronised performing arts act, staged every summer in Pyongyang. It’s 4,800 yuan ($739) for foreigners, excluding Americans.
Read the full story here:
A North Korean holiday
ABC “The Drum”
Kitty Hamilton
2012-1-11
