The Great Wall and North Korea

2009 09 17 – Day 83 – Dandong

Not far from Dandong is the most northern and eastern section of The Great Wall. Dandong is about sixteen hours by train from Beijing and I found it mind boggling to reflect on the size of The Great Wall given that it runs not only to Beijing, but further west at least another twenty four hours of train journey! The question arises – Does the word 'Great' do it justice?

Rising quickly, The Wall provides a Great vantage point to survey the juncture of China and North Korea. The hills of the former falling to meet the flat farmlands of the latter, separated by the silver ribbon of the Yalu River.

The only North Korean settlement in sight was a small farming village and, at the crest of the wall, a local entrepreneur provided an old, possibly military, telescope to satisfy the inevitable curiosity of tourists. For a small fee of course. Though it felt a little wrong, I couldn't resist a peek and paid the 3 RMB to spy on the unsuspecting villagers below. It felt like I was looking back in time. The way the people dressed, the tools they used, no evidence of basic modern improvements like road surfacing or telegraph or power lines. I tried to capture an image using the telescope to assist my camera and though I didn't manage to photograph exactly what I'd just been looking at, I managed to get something:

Before I could take any more shots, the telescope owner spotted what I was doing and made a noisy display of disapproval, shooing me off his prize asset.

Sometimes even the ambitious engineers of The Great Wall can't improve on nature's natural barriers:

Walking back around the base of the hill takes you literally within a stones throw of North Korea. About as close as you can get without actually trying to cross the border.

I don't know what the sign says, but I could swim it from here.

Teasing those who might be tempted to try and cross, this boats bottom was so holy it would be about as buoyant as a colander!

At busier times, these small boats would be offering tourists a slightly closer view of their neighbours, but without some pretty good yarns to go with it, I doubt if the few feet of proximity gained would be worth it.

Dark by Day, Light by Night

2009 09 16 – Day 82 – Dandong

With smog strangling the strength of the sun, it seemed like Dandong's days might never be described as bright and twilight slid effortlessly into night.
On came the lights and with them the city seemed to come to life, becoming simultaneously more lively and cheery.

The China-North Korea Friendship Bridge became more friendly, though gaudy, with its lights gently cycling through the primary colours.

A nightly, musically enhanced fountain show provided a pleasant backdrop:

But it wasn't clear if the purpose was to entertain the (few) tourists, the locals or to show off to the North Koreans across the river.
There were plenty of locals about, but most didn't pay much attention to the fountains, entertaining themselves, often in group activities like this tai chi group:

Around Dandong

2009 09 16 – Day 82 – Dandong

After a comfortable overnight train from Chengde, I arrived in the industrial city of Dandong which sits on the Yalu River that defines the border with North Korea.
The sun seemed to be fighting a losing battle with the smog.

Not particularly keen to spend more than the one night necessary to see all there was to see, I managed to buy a train ticket away for the next evening and then set about finding a place to stay. Happily, that didn't prove too difficult, as Lonely Planet's information proved accurate.
It was quickly becoming clear that Dandong was far less prepared for international travellers than Beijing or a more obvious tourist destination like Chengde. This was emphasised when, as I was heading out to explore, I accidentally broke my key in the lock of the door to my room! I found a cleaner and showed them the problem, neither of us understanding a word the other was saying. After that, all I could do was wait as a succession of people came to try their hand at fixing the problem. Had I been in an English speaking hotel, I would have felt comfortable leaving them to fix the door while I went out, but limited by our mutual lack of language, I wanted to do more to be sure my stuff was secure. Eventually, thankfully, the bit of key was extracted and I was able to move my stuff to a different room and head out to explore. The staff were very pleasant throughout the whole incident. I had worried there would be shouting and finger pointing and demands of money, but there was none of that and they even returned my full deposit when I checked out the next day.
Despite the setback in time and the blanket of smog enveloping the city, there was still light enough to explore:

The Yalu River side

The North Korean side of the river is visible in the background. There is supposedly a city on the other side, but the horizon was mostly a tree line, with the occasional building just about discernible. Maybe on a clear day there are more buildings visible... if they have clear days.

This a tourism jetty. You can take tours along the river and close to the North Korean side. I gave it a miss.
Behind are the two bridges on the river. One of the bridges only extends part way into the river as it was not repaired after the Korean War. The complete, China-North Korea Friendship Bridge, carries rail and road traffic between the two countries. I saw plenty of trucks crossing from China into North Korea, but no other type of vehicle and nothing coming back the other way.

The next day, I got a few other views of the city

Above are some of the few older buildings in the central area, before Dandong, like most Chinese cities it seems, became more vertically inclined.

There is quite a Korean feeling about parts of the centre and certainly plenty of Korean influence in the places to eat.
Some shops more obviously welcomed Koreans than others.

Leaving St Petersburg

2009 07 14 – Day 18 – St Petersburg

As with leaving Gdynia, the Tall Ships' departure was a bit of an event. Crowds lined the banks of the Neva to see us off and each ship in turn made its exit stage west, often heralded by hooting, honking, squeeking and booming of nearby ships' horns. Even the submarines joined in, their horn sounding more like a space age whale cry – quite otherworldly and odd sounding above the waves.

This is a couple of moments after a near impact! Apparently this ships old engine needs to be turned off to change from reverse to forward before being turned on again. The current was strong and they drifted backwards across the river towards us, only managing to engage their engines fully 2 or 3 meters from our port side, hence the deployment of their balasts to cushion the impact many of us thought was inevitable.... just like in the movies!!! :)


Leaving a modern harbour is done under engine as I mentioned elsewhere and apparently leaving under full sail like this is dangerous... nice sails though don't you think?


Being tugged out gave us a better view of those subs.


St Petersburg receives a mixed review from the trainee jury.

St Petersburg Arrival

2009 07 09 – Day 13 – St Petersburg


Navigating our way to port in the industrial shipping capital of Russia that is St Petersburg, we are reminded of the brutal reality of modern seafaring.

A far cry from the romance of our fairy-tale tallship, we are greated with giants of steel in the form of tugs, tankers, cruise-liners, cranes and submarines.