Pyongyang - Nampho
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Aina
07 September 2014 | Noord-Korea, Namp’o
Vanmorgen zijn we in onze netste kleren vertrokken naar het Kumsusan Palace of the Sun (1) waar de 2 Grote Leiders liggen opgebaard. Mijn nette kleding bestond uit een t-shirt, een lange outdoorbroek en sandalen met pantysokjes. Gelukkig was dit net genoeg om naar binnen te mogen. Het mausoleum was immens groot, grote zalen, grote tapijten, grote kristallen kroonluchters en de vloeren en wanden waren bekleed met marmer. Als eerste gingen we naar een grote zaal waar Kim Il Sung lag opgebaard. Ik moet zeggen dat ik kippenvel kreeg bij het binnen gaan van de zaal, maar dat kwam denk ik meer door de airco die op standje vriezen stond. We moesten onze eer betonen door drie keer een buiging te maken, 1x aan het voeteneind en aan weerszijden, niet bij het hoofdeind. Hierna kwamen we in een zaal waar allerlei oorkondes, medailles, etc. Hierna kwamen we in een ruimte waar de auto (Mercedes) en een treinwagon stonden, met deze trein reisde Kim Il Sung niet alleen door Korea, maar ook daarbuiten. Vervolgens kwamen we in de zaal waar Kim Jong Il lag opgebaard, ook hier hebben we onze eer moeten betoond. Ook nu kwamen we in een zaal vol met oorkondes en medailles en ook een zaal met de auto (Mercedes) en treinwagon waar Kim Jong Il mee reisde. Kim Jong Il is in de bewuste treinwagon overleden en alles staat nog net zoals op het moment van overlijden, op zijn bureau stond zowaar een Macbook Pro! De hele tour door het mausoleum heeft ongeveer 2 uur geduurd, waarna we buiten nog wat foto's mochten nemen. Na het mausoleum zijn we naar de 'Cemetery for Martyrs of the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War' (2) gegaan, of zoals de gids het noemde de begraafplaats voor de anti-US soldaten. We zouden lunchen op een boot op de Taedong rivier en onderweg er heen passeerden we het grote May Day stadion (3) waar oa. het Arirang Festival (mass games) (4) werd gehouden. Ik had deze reis speciaal geboekt om naar dit festival te kunnen, maar helaas wordt het dit jaar niet gehouden en misschien helemaal nooit meer. Ik heb daarom eerder in Pyongyang al een DVD gekocht van het Arirang festival. Een gedeelte van de groep heeft een stuk door Pyongyang naar de boot gelopen, maar het was zo heet buiten, dat ik er voor gekozen heb in de bus met airco die kant op te gaan. Op de kade stond de Taedong Gate East (5), de poort maakte deel uit van Pyongyang's Inner Fort. De lunch hadden we op een soort partyboot die uiteindelijk ook echt ging varen, van brug naar brug, hooguit een half uur en nog geen kilometer ver. Na de lunch gingen we naar Mangyongdae Revolutionary Site (het geboortehuis van de Grote Leider). Hier zou hij geboren zijn en zijn jonge jaren hebben doorgebracht. Via een grote 10-baans autoweg zijn we richting Nampho (6) gereden. Naast de fietsers waren er amper auto's op de autoweg, dit was echt een bizar gezicht. In de omgeving van Nampho werd naast rijst en mais ook fruit geteeld en katoen verbouwd. Nampho ligt aan zee en hier had men ook grote zoutbassins. Aangekomen in het Ryonggang Hot Spring Hotel hadden we de mogelijkheid om voor het diner op onze eigen kamer een bad te nemen met warm water (40 graden) uit de hot spring. Aangezien het buiten al dik 30 graden was, heb ik het niet gedaan, misschien vanavond voor het slapen gaan. Dit is ongeveer ook de enige plek waar het water uit de kraan veilig is om te drinken, er komt namelijk mineraalwater uit. Als je van het Yesongsan mineraalwater drinkt schijn je 10 jaar jonger te worden, ik heb dus meteen aardig wat glazen water gedronken. Vanaf het moment dat we bij de grens Noord Korea binnen kwamen hebben we geen toegang tot internet en de mobiele telefoon is hier ook niet te gebruiken. Aan de ene kant is het wel eens goed om bijna 2 weken geen internet te hebben, maar af en toe een berichtje naar het thuisfront kunnen sturen zou ook wel fijn zijn. In sommige hotels is het mogelijk om internationaal te bellen, dit kost ongeveer 2 euro per minuut. Vandaag, zondag, is de enige vrije dag voor de Koreanen, ze hebben namelijk een 6-daagse werkweek. Morgen is het 'Herfst Festival' en veel Koreanen gaan dan naar de plek waar hun overleden familieleden liggen begraven. Overmorgen, 9 september, is het 66 jaar geleden dat de DPRK is opgericht (Dag van de Republiek), de Koreanen hebben nu dus 3 dagen achter elkaar vrij en je ziet ook dat men er op uittrekt. Ondanks dat de Koreanen nu dus vrij zouden zijn, zie je nog genoeg Koreanen werken. Als je de gids hier op wijst en er naar vraagt, krijg je geen antwoord of een vage smoes te horen. Het valt me op dat wanneer er vanuit de groep kritische vragen worden gesteld, de gidsen altijd wel een antwoord klaar hebben, maar wij sterk het gevoel hebben dat dit niet de waarheid is.
1) Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, formerly the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, and sometimes referred to as the Kim Il-sung Mausoleum, is a building near the northeast corner of the city of Pyongyang that serves as the mausoleum for Kim Il-sung, the founder and eternal president of North Korea, and for his son Kim Jong-il who succeeded him as the country's ruler. The palace was built in 1976 as the Kumsusan Assembly Hall and served as Kim Il-sung's official residence. Following the elder Kim's death in 1994, Kim Jong-il had the building renovated and transformed into his father's mausoleum. Despite hundreds of thousands starving to death in a famine at the time, it is believed that the conversion cost at least $100 million. Some sources put the figure as high as $900 million. Inside the palace, Kim Il-sung's embalmed body lies inside a clear glass sarcophagus. His head rests on a Korean-style pillow and he is covered by the flag of the Workers' Party of Korea. Kim Jong-Il is now on display in a room close to and very similar to his father's. Kumsusan is the largest mausoleum dedicated to a Communist leader and the only one to house the remains of multiple people. It is fronted by a large square, approximately 500 metres in length. It is bordered on its northern and eastern sides by a moat. Foreign visitors can access the palace only on Thursdays and Sundays. They must be on an official government tour. Photography, videotaping, smoking, and talking are not permitted anywhere inside the palace. Access to the building is via a underpass from a tram stop across the road. Upon entering the building, visitors (both foreigners and North Korean tourists) have to leave everything except their wallets behind in a cloak room with a numbered ticket to claim them when leaving. Visitors proceed along a series of long travelators. They emerge in a long hall with two white stone statues of the Kims bathed in soft red light. Marble arched columns line the hall. Visitors are told to stop at a yellow line on the floor and, after a few moments of contemplation, beckoned into another room. Here, they are given a small speaker device, that plays a narration of the Korean peoples' grief when Kim Il-sung died. The room features bronze-like busts of people grieving. Finally, visitors go in a lift to the top floor in the white and grey marble walled building. They are filed through a dust blowing machine and enter the room with Kim Il-sung's and Kim Jong-il's preserved remains lying in state. A red rope barrier runs around the transparent crystal sarcophaguses. Visitors are sent in groups of four and are told to bow at the Kim's feet, to his right and then left sides. Adjoining rooms are filled with some of Kim Il-sung's possessions, as well as gifts and awards he received from around the world. There are no signs or information in Korean here. Awards include degree certificates, only one of which is from a Western university: Kensington University in California. A peace medal from Japan lies next to his medal "For the Victory over Japan" awarded to him by the USSR. The room has large paintings and photographs of Kim Il-sung meeting world leaders during their visits to North Korea and during Kim's trips abroad, such as Mubarak, Gaddafi, Ceauşescu, Castro, Arafat, Stalin and Boumediene.
2) The Cemetry (marked by a massive flag-encloaked rifle and bayonet spearing out of the soil) where lie the remains of over 500 martyrs from the Korean War and opened on 27 July 2013 on the 60th anniversary of the war’s cessation of fighting. It’s written here: ‘Heroic feats and undying exploits performed by the service personnel of the People’s Army in the Fatherland Liberation War will always remain in the revolutionary history of our people in golden letters and they will be conveyed down through generations. Kim Il Sung.’
3) The Rungrado 1st of May Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea, completed on May 1, 1989. It is regarded as the largest stadium in the world, with a capacity of 150,000, and occupying over 207,000 m². It is currently used for football matches, a few athletics events, but most often for Arirang performances (also known as the Mass Games). The stadium can seat 150,000,[1] which is the largest stadium by capacity in the world and the world's 12th largest sporting venue. Its name comes from Rungrado Islet in the Taedong River, upon which it is situated, and May Day, the international labour day. Its scalloped roof features 16 arches arranged in a ring, and it is said to resemble a magnolia blossom. It is not to be confused with the nearby 50,000 capacity Kim Il-sung Stadium. It hosts events on a main pitch sprawling across over 22,500 m² (242,200 ft²). Its total floor space is over 207,000 m² (2.2 million ft²) across eight stories, and the lobes of its roof peak at more than 60 m (197 ft) from the ground. While the stadium is used for sporting events, it is most famous as the site of massive performances and shows celebrating Kim Il-sung and the North Korean nation. In June–July 2002 it was the site of the colossal and meticulously choreographed "Arirang" gymnastic and artistic performance (often referred to elsewhere as "mass games"). The extravaganza involved for the first time some 100,000+ participants (double the number of spectators) and was open to foreigners. These performances were an annual feature in Pyongyang, usually in August and September. The Guinness Book of Records has recognized these events as the largest in the world. In the late 1990s, a number of North Korean army generals implicated in an assassination attempt on Kim Jong-Il were executed via burning in the stadium.
4) The Grand Mass Gymnastics and Artistic Performance Arirang is a gymnastics and artistic festival held in the Rungnado May Day Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea. Also known as the Mass Games, it usually begins in early August and ends around September 10th. The name refers to Arirang, a Korean folk story about a young couple who are torn apart by an evil landlord, here intended to represent the division of Korea. According to the DPRK publication "Arirang" this particular mass games celebrates the story of North Korea: "The extravaganza unfolds an epic story of how the Arirang nation of Korea, a country of morning calm, in the Orient put an end to the history of distress and rose as a dignified nation with the song Arirang". The festival has been held from August until October since 2002-2005, and 2007-2013. The mass games will not be held in 2014 and it is unknown if they will be continued at a later time. The Mass Games possess an important ideological character praising the Workers Party of Korea, its armed forces, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. These messages may not be clear to foreign spectators who are not aware of North Korean iconography: a rising sun symbolizes Kim Il Sung. When a gun is shown, it signifies the gun which Kim Il Sung gave to his son Kim Jong Il. The colour red, particularly in flowers, stands for the working class. And the colour purple and red flowers represent Kim Il Sung (as the flower 'Kimilsungia is a purple orchid and the flower 'Kimjongilia' is a red begonia). A snowy mountain with a lake represents Mount Paektu where Kim Jong Il is said to have been born in a log cabin. From as young as 5 years old, citizens are selected based on skill level to serve for the Arirang Festival for many years. In most cases this will be the way of life for them until retirement.
5) Taedong Gate is the eastern gate of the inner castle of the walled city of Pyongyang (Pyongyang Castle), and one of the National Treasures of North Korea. Located on the banks of the Taedong River, from which it gets its name, the gate was originally built in the sixth century as an official Koguryo construction, and, along with the Ryongwang Pavilion and Pyongyang Bell, served as the center of the inner castle's eastern defenses.The present construction dates from 1635, however, as the original was burnt to the ground during the Imjin wars of the late 16th century. The current gate features a granite base topped by a two-story pavilion, called the Euphoru Pavilion, because of its grand views of the Taedong River. This pavilion houses two hanging name plaques, one, on the first storey, reading "Taedong Gate" and calligraphed Yang Sa-on, and the other, reading "Upho Pavilion", on the second storey and written by Pak Wi. It is National Treasure #4 in North Korea.
6) Namp'o is a city and seaport in South Pyongan Province, North Korea. Namp'o lies on the northern shore of the Taedong River, 15km east of the river's mouth. It was a provincial-level "Directly Governed City" ("Chikhalsi") from 1980–2004, when it was designated a "Special City" and made a part of South P'yŏngyang. Namp'o was designated a T'ŭkpyŏlsi or "Special City", in 2010. Namp'o is situated approximately 50km south west of P'yŏngyang, at the mouth of the Taedong River. It was originally a small fishing village, but became a port for foreign trade in 1897, developing into a modern port in 1945 after World War II. With the rapid increase in state investment, the city's industrial capacity grew.
1) Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, formerly the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, and sometimes referred to as the Kim Il-sung Mausoleum, is a building near the northeast corner of the city of Pyongyang that serves as the mausoleum for Kim Il-sung, the founder and eternal president of North Korea, and for his son Kim Jong-il who succeeded him as the country's ruler. The palace was built in 1976 as the Kumsusan Assembly Hall and served as Kim Il-sung's official residence. Following the elder Kim's death in 1994, Kim Jong-il had the building renovated and transformed into his father's mausoleum. Despite hundreds of thousands starving to death in a famine at the time, it is believed that the conversion cost at least $100 million. Some sources put the figure as high as $900 million. Inside the palace, Kim Il-sung's embalmed body lies inside a clear glass sarcophagus. His head rests on a Korean-style pillow and he is covered by the flag of the Workers' Party of Korea. Kim Jong-Il is now on display in a room close to and very similar to his father's. Kumsusan is the largest mausoleum dedicated to a Communist leader and the only one to house the remains of multiple people. It is fronted by a large square, approximately 500 metres in length. It is bordered on its northern and eastern sides by a moat. Foreign visitors can access the palace only on Thursdays and Sundays. They must be on an official government tour. Photography, videotaping, smoking, and talking are not permitted anywhere inside the palace. Access to the building is via a underpass from a tram stop across the road. Upon entering the building, visitors (both foreigners and North Korean tourists) have to leave everything except their wallets behind in a cloak room with a numbered ticket to claim them when leaving. Visitors proceed along a series of long travelators. They emerge in a long hall with two white stone statues of the Kims bathed in soft red light. Marble arched columns line the hall. Visitors are told to stop at a yellow line on the floor and, after a few moments of contemplation, beckoned into another room. Here, they are given a small speaker device, that plays a narration of the Korean peoples' grief when Kim Il-sung died. The room features bronze-like busts of people grieving. Finally, visitors go in a lift to the top floor in the white and grey marble walled building. They are filed through a dust blowing machine and enter the room with Kim Il-sung's and Kim Jong-il's preserved remains lying in state. A red rope barrier runs around the transparent crystal sarcophaguses. Visitors are sent in groups of four and are told to bow at the Kim's feet, to his right and then left sides. Adjoining rooms are filled with some of Kim Il-sung's possessions, as well as gifts and awards he received from around the world. There are no signs or information in Korean here. Awards include degree certificates, only one of which is from a Western university: Kensington University in California. A peace medal from Japan lies next to his medal "For the Victory over Japan" awarded to him by the USSR. The room has large paintings and photographs of Kim Il-sung meeting world leaders during their visits to North Korea and during Kim's trips abroad, such as Mubarak, Gaddafi, Ceauşescu, Castro, Arafat, Stalin and Boumediene.
2) The Cemetry (marked by a massive flag-encloaked rifle and bayonet spearing out of the soil) where lie the remains of over 500 martyrs from the Korean War and opened on 27 July 2013 on the 60th anniversary of the war’s cessation of fighting. It’s written here: ‘Heroic feats and undying exploits performed by the service personnel of the People’s Army in the Fatherland Liberation War will always remain in the revolutionary history of our people in golden letters and they will be conveyed down through generations. Kim Il Sung.’
3) The Rungrado 1st of May Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea, completed on May 1, 1989. It is regarded as the largest stadium in the world, with a capacity of 150,000, and occupying over 207,000 m². It is currently used for football matches, a few athletics events, but most often for Arirang performances (also known as the Mass Games). The stadium can seat 150,000,[1] which is the largest stadium by capacity in the world and the world's 12th largest sporting venue. Its name comes from Rungrado Islet in the Taedong River, upon which it is situated, and May Day, the international labour day. Its scalloped roof features 16 arches arranged in a ring, and it is said to resemble a magnolia blossom. It is not to be confused with the nearby 50,000 capacity Kim Il-sung Stadium. It hosts events on a main pitch sprawling across over 22,500 m² (242,200 ft²). Its total floor space is over 207,000 m² (2.2 million ft²) across eight stories, and the lobes of its roof peak at more than 60 m (197 ft) from the ground. While the stadium is used for sporting events, it is most famous as the site of massive performances and shows celebrating Kim Il-sung and the North Korean nation. In June–July 2002 it was the site of the colossal and meticulously choreographed "Arirang" gymnastic and artistic performance (often referred to elsewhere as "mass games"). The extravaganza involved for the first time some 100,000+ participants (double the number of spectators) and was open to foreigners. These performances were an annual feature in Pyongyang, usually in August and September. The Guinness Book of Records has recognized these events as the largest in the world. In the late 1990s, a number of North Korean army generals implicated in an assassination attempt on Kim Jong-Il were executed via burning in the stadium.
4) The Grand Mass Gymnastics and Artistic Performance Arirang is a gymnastics and artistic festival held in the Rungnado May Day Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea. Also known as the Mass Games, it usually begins in early August and ends around September 10th. The name refers to Arirang, a Korean folk story about a young couple who are torn apart by an evil landlord, here intended to represent the division of Korea. According to the DPRK publication "Arirang" this particular mass games celebrates the story of North Korea: "The extravaganza unfolds an epic story of how the Arirang nation of Korea, a country of morning calm, in the Orient put an end to the history of distress and rose as a dignified nation with the song Arirang". The festival has been held from August until October since 2002-2005, and 2007-2013. The mass games will not be held in 2014 and it is unknown if they will be continued at a later time. The Mass Games possess an important ideological character praising the Workers Party of Korea, its armed forces, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. These messages may not be clear to foreign spectators who are not aware of North Korean iconography: a rising sun symbolizes Kim Il Sung. When a gun is shown, it signifies the gun which Kim Il Sung gave to his son Kim Jong Il. The colour red, particularly in flowers, stands for the working class. And the colour purple and red flowers represent Kim Il Sung (as the flower 'Kimilsungia is a purple orchid and the flower 'Kimjongilia' is a red begonia). A snowy mountain with a lake represents Mount Paektu where Kim Jong Il is said to have been born in a log cabin. From as young as 5 years old, citizens are selected based on skill level to serve for the Arirang Festival for many years. In most cases this will be the way of life for them until retirement.
5) Taedong Gate is the eastern gate of the inner castle of the walled city of Pyongyang (Pyongyang Castle), and one of the National Treasures of North Korea. Located on the banks of the Taedong River, from which it gets its name, the gate was originally built in the sixth century as an official Koguryo construction, and, along with the Ryongwang Pavilion and Pyongyang Bell, served as the center of the inner castle's eastern defenses.The present construction dates from 1635, however, as the original was burnt to the ground during the Imjin wars of the late 16th century. The current gate features a granite base topped by a two-story pavilion, called the Euphoru Pavilion, because of its grand views of the Taedong River. This pavilion houses two hanging name plaques, one, on the first storey, reading "Taedong Gate" and calligraphed Yang Sa-on, and the other, reading "Upho Pavilion", on the second storey and written by Pak Wi. It is National Treasure #4 in North Korea.
6) Namp'o is a city and seaport in South Pyongan Province, North Korea. Namp'o lies on the northern shore of the Taedong River, 15km east of the river's mouth. It was a provincial-level "Directly Governed City" ("Chikhalsi") from 1980–2004, when it was designated a "Special City" and made a part of South P'yŏngyang. Namp'o was designated a T'ŭkpyŏlsi or "Special City", in 2010. Namp'o is situated approximately 50km south west of P'yŏngyang, at the mouth of the Taedong River. It was originally a small fishing village, but became a port for foreign trade in 1897, developing into a modern port in 1945 after World War II. With the rapid increase in state investment, the city's industrial capacity grew.
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
