Final Day in North Korea

Our last full day in North Korea took us north of the city, across more baren landscapes to the "mountains". First stop is the International Friendship Museum, consisting of two monumental concrete replicas of ancient Korean temples - each housing room upon room of gifts to the Fatherly Leader and The Great Leader. The buildings belied their contents as the cavernous rooms were just that - caverns dug deep into the hillside. There was no time to see all of the 10's of thousands of gifts - Herend china from Hungary; Czech crystal; Soviet trophies and plaques from every imaginable ministry; rail cars from Stalin; even a crystal paperweight from "the mayor of New York circa 1985".... Does Ed Koch have anything to say about that?

After lunch, we left the fresh air of the mountains - along with it's mysterious blue hues (fog?) - and headed back to the city. The afternoon was packed with illuminating visits to the "Victorious Fatherland Liberation Museum", the aforementioned Juche Tower (capped by it's illuminted red plastic flame), the Pueblo Spy Ship, a stamp shop and a book shop! The museum was predictably devoid of relevant exhibits - except an extraordinary revolving platform (!) placed at the center of the world's largest circular diorama which, of course, depicted the routing of the American Imperialist Aggressors from Kaesong during the war. And of course the Pueblo was another mandatory stop scheduled to give us our fill of the North's version of events.

Some of the group headed back to the Mass Games for another go and others went to "the coffee shop"... which amazingly enough sells western foods such as pizza and hamburgers. I opted for the opulence of our island hotel.