I jumped the gun a little on the last post as I was anxious to post something before I knew I wouldn’t be able to be in contact so this post is more detail on getting to the NK/Chinese border…

I left Taipei on the 11th and headed off for a night in Hong Kong before flying into Beijing and catching a train north to Dandong on the Chinese/North Korean border.  The Taipei flight was fairly uneventful and the night in HKG was brilliant – nice food and a very nice hotel. Although I did find it a little strange that they had an exchange rate conversion for Scottish Pounds… even I wont accept those dodgy notes 🙂 The hotel was so nice that I have booked to stay there when I stay in Hong Kong for my new Chinese and Russian visas in a couple of weeks time.

Scottish Pound??? Yes, I know they exist but does anyone outside of scotland accept them?

Unfortunately my time in Hong Kong was way too short this time around. I had less than 12 hours and had to be up at 4am to catch the plane to Beijing. Again – another uneventful flight although I had to run from the airport to the railway station to enable me to catch the train – 14 hours to Dandong. Whilst on the train, I met some of the people who were also on the same tour to North Korea.

Arriving in Dandong the next morning, we were met by our Chinese guide who took us to the hotel and then out for breakfast at none other than KFC. Strangely enough KFC breakfast was to become a staple and it certainly isn’t where I would think to go for breakie at home.

Our Chinese guide took us on a tour of Dandong for the day. First stop was “The Memorial of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.” Some of the most entertaining parts of this Museum were the signs that they had. In the Notice for Visiting “The disheveled, psychotics, alcoholics and those with pets are not allowed to enter into the memorial.” There were many other signs that were quite amusing as well.

Say what?!?

One of the displays in the museum was a picture of a Chinese prisoner of war who had been caught by the Americans and had been tattooed by them. Considering that the Korean War was less than 10 years after WWII where the Germans had tattooed prisoners, I found this to be quite interesting. Whether or not it really happened, I don’t know because the museum was very obviously biased towards North Korea.

Americans apparently tattoed POWs

After the Museum we headed towards The Great Wall with a stop at the Yalu River where I got my first glimpse of North Korea across the River. We couldn’t see much but again the signs were entertaining.

I'd be annoyed if they took my camera as well 🙂

Following a quick walk along the Great Wall (where I found the end of the wall), we headed off to lunch and then for a cruise on the Yalu River. The most bizarre thing about that was the number of Chinese day trippers who had turned up to have a look at the North Koreans on the other side of the river. Apparently you can swim over to the North Korean side of the river, hold onto the bank for a rest and swim back. You are only in trouble if you get out of the water – not that I saw anyone doing it.

The end of the Great Wall

We checked out the Broken Bridge and the Friendship Bridge before heading back to our hotel for the day to rest before an early start into NK the next day… which is when I wrote the post prior to this one….

Next post…. North Korea – hopefully later today if I can stay awake 🙂