Lucky trip to North Korea-itinerary

I am lazy again. I don't write travel notes that seriously. Write whatever comes to mind, because the money has basically been paid. During my four days in North Korea, you don't have to worry about anything. All the arrangements were properly arranged by the DPRK. Feel, see and listen with your heart.

It is no exaggeration to say that you can play for four days even without a dime. No one will force you to shop, and no one will give you a hard time. Don't worry about having no money to eat. Of course, everyone travels for different purposes. If you are not interested in Korean specialties such as Korean ginseng, Angong Niuhuang Pills (items restricted by China Customs) and cigarettes, there will be no big consumption and you can have fun. The purpose of my visit to North Korea this time is simply to have a look and feel, so there is basically no consumption and the whole journey is very comfortable.

Conventional tours to the DPRK generally include: one-day tour, four-day tour, five-day tour and seven-day tour, among which four-day tour is more popular. North Korea is not allowed to travel freely and can only join the group. The significance of joining a group does not mean that many people must join a group, but there are also small groups of two or even one person. It is specially customized, and the cost will be higher, but it must also be accompanied by North Korean personnel. All foreign tourists in North Korea are not allowed to move freely. All the tourist routes are arranged by the DPRK, and you can't go to any city you want, so you will see that all the tour groups of the same type have the same routes and go to any scenic spots. Go out for a walk or even go to the toilet with a guide. It sounds scary, but there's nothing to worry about. These will definitely not affect the mood of travel, because the service of North Korean tour guides is really impeccable and will not make you feel any discomfort. Most tourists here do their homework in advance, so it is important to respect other people's national conditions.

According to the different modes of transportation, there are train groups and plane groups. Generally, the train group flies directly from Dandong to Pyongyang, the plane group flies directly from Beijing to Pyongyang, and there are also flights from Shenyang to Pyongyang. The price is just different.

No matter which channel the tour group reported in China, it will be received by North Korean tour guides and North Korean staff after arriving in North Korea. In other words, once in North Korea, the whole tour group will be taken over by the North Korean tour guide. Although China tour guides will leave the country with tour groups (customized tour groups may not necessarily follow, but they were also received by the North Korean side in the past), they only play the role of leader, assist in docking and do not provide specific tour guide explanation services. The tour guide in North Korea told me that there are more than ten travel agencies in North Korea, all of which are state-owned, the largest of which is North Korea International Travel Service (below 1), as well as North Korea Sports Travel Service (below 2), Taekwondo Travel Service, Korean Air, Korea Travel Service and so on. Different China travel agencies connect with different North Korean travel agencies, so the channels for reporting tours are different, and so are the North Korean travel agencies that receive you. The tourist service in North Korea is quite good. Basically, you don't have to worry too much about North Korean tour guides. On the contrary, tour guides in China need to pay a little attention here. Although it has been received by the North Korean side since then, China tour guides still need help with some formalities and docking work when leaving the country and returning home, and organize team members. The experience and ability of tour guides are very important. For example, when we returned to China, a young tour leader (Chinese tour guide) in the same group next door was not particularly clear about the requirements of China Customs. You don't know if you ask questions carefully. Our tour guide (Chinese tour guide) is very good. He is a veteran of traveling to North Korea for more than ten years, and he knows exactly what he can and can't take. Customs also teaches you how to retrieve restricted items (quantities). If you know the border guards when you leave the country, you can give priority to security inspection; It can be said that it is very excellent.

Registration: I signed up directly at a travel agency in Zhu Fei because time was tight. There are 95 international trains, all of which are sleepers (the hard seat group seems to be cheaper) and four-day tours (in fact, there are only two days, and the first and fourth days are on the train). The cost is 2880 yuan, including all the expenses from Dandong to Dandong for four days. Accommodation in Dandong and expenses from other parts of China to Dandong are self-care.

Visa: After paying the money, send the 2-inch photo, passport home page and ID card photo to the travel agency, and the travel agency will handle it for you. North Korea does not accept individual visa applications and can only sign in groups. Remember to bring the original passport and ask the guide to take the visa page when you leave. Very convenient. An interesting thing is to interrupt. An aunt in our company accidentally used an old passport when she signed up, so both the visa and the train ticket were marked with the passport number of the old passport. But on the day of departure, she took a new passport, didn't bring the old passport, and didn't even have a photo of the old passport. The passport and the visa didn't match the passport number on the ticket. The ticket inspector refused to let her into the waiting room. Fortunately, the staff of Dandong International Travel Service were also very helpful and communicated with North Korea in time. You may not believe the on-site modification of the visa page. The North Korean Customs erased the original passport number on her visa page with a correction fluid (that is, the correction fluid used in our primary school), and then directly handwritten the new passport number in the original place, and then stamped with the official seal of North Korea. I was shocked and really flexible. .

I signed up seven days in advance and was lucky to be placed on the last replacement list. Because the reception capacity of North Korea's tourism is limited, the number of tourists entering the country every day is limited. As mentioned earlier, North Korean personnel are responsible for the reception, and they need to report to the DPRK in advance to arrange manpower. Unlike traveling to other countries, they can go whenever they want. It's the peak season for tourism in North Korea, so it's lucky to report it seven days in advance. There are many people on the flying pig, who are only responsible for sales. It may be some travel agencies in Dandong. When I arrive in Dandong, I will inform you of the time and place of assembly and the telephone number of the team leader. Then I was lucky to find that I was in the group of Dandong International Travel Service again. When I first signed up, I wanted to sign up for a tour group of Dandong International Travel Service, because I checked this major online (this is indeed the case), but I found that there was no earlier schedule. On July 3 1 q, I replied on August 3 1 that there was only one tour group, which was definitely not possible, so I went to the flying pig and asked that there was actually a tour group on August 8. Dandong International Travel Service is a better travel agency to travel to North Korea. The direct flight is North Korea International Travel Service, but you must register in advance. Now it seems to be a month ahead of schedule. Ask for recommendation ~

Currency and shopping: The common currency of North Korea is Korean won, but Korean won is a very unique existence. It is not in the international exchange rate system, but only circulated in North Korea, so there is actually no international exchange rate to check. Because there is a lot of border trade between China and North Korea, the exchange rate between folk RMB and Korean won is 1: 16, but no one in China will use Korean won. As mentioned earlier, North Korea tourism is a fixed route. There are shops in all the scenic spots and restaurants on the route, and tourists don't need to exchange Korean won. In these designated shops and shopping spots, they can directly use RMB for shopping. Just bring RMB, buy more and bring less. North Korea does not have an ATM to withdraw money, and it seems that there is no currency exchange point, which does not support online payment. So be sure to bring enough RMB before you go, so as not to find a colleague. However, the prices of other projects are relatively high. For example, I bought a small notebook in Beitian Zige, which was written by primary school students. A * * * is only 20 pages, and I spent 5 RMB. It may be that materials are scarce, or it is expensive to sell to foreigners. It is more expensive to buy Korean ginseng and Niuhuang pills, ranging from thousands of expensive to hundreds of cheap ones. At every scenic spot or dining place, the North Korean tour guide will give 10 to 15 minutes of shopping time, which is completely voluntary and not mandatory. If you don't want to buy it, you can go to the store and blow out the air conditioner. If they don't buy it, they can ask the waiter to take it out and have a look. If they don't buy it in the end, no one will give them a good look. If they have language barriers, they can ask North Korean tour guides to help them communicate. Everyone is fine. They get on the bus when they arrive, and don't wander around all the time. Everyone travels for different purposes. Some people just come to buy ginseng, Niuhuang pills and the like. Let's understand each other. Or sigh again, China's spending power is really strong, and two uncles in the same group bought more than 30,000 things. And I was miserable, including buying ice cream, mineral water, drinks, yogurt and two packs of cigarettes for my friends, which cost 100 RMB. .....

Communication and network: North Korea has no network, and it has been isolated from the world since the past, and its mobile phone has become a camera. It is said that you can buy a paid flow card, but the price is really, really expensive. North Korea's official charge is about 1.400 yuan, including 50M free traffic (if you send a few pictures, it will be gone ...), and the free traffic over 50M is 0.28 USD /M, but most cities except Pyongyang have no signal coverage after opening. The hotel has a landline to make international calls to China, and the cost is about 17 yuan/minute. Time is counted from the moment you pick up the phone, not from the moment you connect it. On the ground floor of Yangjiao Island, there is a Adu field opened by Macao people. There is wifi here, but it is also paid. You must exchange chips, starting from $20, and you must go to the table to play and use wifi. But personally, I think that since I have come to North Korea, I should not surf the Internet, leave the network and relax myself. In addition, you can receive a signal from South Korea near Panmunjom, and you can send a circle of friends online.

Details of the specific itinerary: I started from Guangzhou. Because there is no direct flight to Dandong, I have to transfer from Dalian, first fly from Guangzhou to Dalian, and then take the train from Dalian to Dandong. The same is true for the return trip. Take a train from Dandong to Dalian, and then fly from Dalian to Guangzhou (it's really hard to go to North Korea). Fortunately, it is quite convenient for Dalian to travel to and from Dandong. It takes about two and a half hours by train, so you don't have to grab tickets. I can buy tickets two days in advance.

Meet at Dandong Railway Station at 8: 30 the first morning. The tour guide will issue visas and entry cards to everyone. The brand and color of the mobile phone should be written on the entry card, and the rest is some general information. Like Vietnam, a visa is another piece of paper. There will be no trace of North Korea on the passport when entering or leaving the country. It is said that some people are worried that they will be refused a visa after going to the United States with North Korea's entry and exit records. In fact, they are all rumors, because they are really backward. There is no machine in the security check, it is all manual. I will talk about it later. The entry card is very strange. It was only taken away at Sinuiju Railway Station when I returned to leave North Korea. The visa paper was also taken back by the North Korean border guards before I returned to China and was no longer issued. This photo was taken before I received it.

After getting the visa and entry card, check in, go through the customs border inspection, and then wait for the bus. Dandong Railway Station is small, and it is very convenient to be guided by a tour guide. The train leaves at Beijing time 10. After boarding the plane, you need to stand for 5 minutes. When the train crosses Yalu River and arrives at Sinuiju Railway Station in North Korea, you get off at Sinuiju Railway Station. When you get off the bus, North Korean staff will take away your passports and visas at the door of the carriage.

After arriving in Sinuiju, we will start using Korean time. Beijing time is just+1 hour, and the departure time of the train is also based on Korean time, which is about noon 13:30. Counting, the train will stay at Sinuiju Railway Station for more than two hours, and during this period, tourists will have to accept security checks here. As you can see from the above picture, there is no security machine at all. It's purely a manual security check. All the tourists sat in a row, put all the boxes and bags on the ground like me, opened them and accepted the 360-degree inspection by the North Korean border guards. When the border guards see something he is interested in, they will let you open it directly or show it to him. For example, the frontier defense began to see my portable washing clothes and let me open them, and then took a fancy to my Bluetooth headset. I don't think I've seen this thing before? I asked all the buttons and holes on my earphone, what each button is for and what each hole is for. Fortunately, he knows some Chinese, so I will explain it to him one by one, and then let me show him how to use it face to face. I picked up my mobile phone and connected to Bluetooth, and then I played a song "Goodbye Jack". He put on headphones and listened for a while, asked me how much it was, and then gave it back to me. It's very cute. . In fact, whether the frontier inspection has radio function, I am really afraid that he will confiscate it for me. In addition, all electronic products, including mobile phones, cameras (lenses are needed, and it seems that they can't exceed 150mm, so I brought a dog head of 18-55, and the staff registered the camera brand without looking), ipad, laptops, USB flash drives and hard disks should be registered separately, and the staff will register them one by one, and everyone will record items. But we didn't look through the contents of mobile phones and cameras like the legend. It's just luck. Our tour guide knows people at the border, and the inspection is not strict. It's better to ask the travel agency what to take and what not to take before departure, which is more convenient. Although the tour guide told us before departure that there was no privacy in front of the North Korean security personnel, I still think this way is quite remarkable ... I don't know when to equip the X-ray machine ... I will wait to get on the bus after checking in.

I will send my passport and visa back to myself before I get on the bus, and I need to hand them in when I get to North Korea.

As mentioned earlier, the cost of signing up for the tour covers all the food, accommodation and transportation for the four-day trip, so a box lunch and a bottle of mineral water will be given after getting on the bus, both of which are cold. Korean cold dishes look good, but they are not delicious, which is not to the taste of my southerners. Fortunately, I was resourceful and bought a pack of mustard tuber the night before I left. ...

North Korea's sleeping car is a gift from China, so it is no different from China's, and the trolley service is the same as China's. However, I was a little surprised by the uniform of the sales staff. It turned out to be the configuration of China high-speed rail. They only know some simple Chinese and can pronounce the Chinese names of every commodity, such as "beer" and "beverage". You can buy RMB directly on the train, because there are tourists from China and many Koreans on this train. I saw the salesgirl in North Korea put all the RMB in a plastic bag. Whenever a China person needs to change something, she will open the plastic bag to find money. What she sells is Korean goods, and the price is on the high side.

The train speed in North Korea is really slow. The following is the result of my speed measurement with app. On the left is the speed of 22 kilometers I measured on the train, and on the right is the speed measurement result on our way from Pyongyang to Kaesong the next day. In contrast, I set off at 1: 30 and arrived at Pyongyang Railway Station at about 6: 30 pm North Korea time.

The two guides in charge of reception in the DPRK are already waiting for us on the platform. They will come and receive us immediately after getting off the bus, then guide us out of the station, and then take a bus to our hotel, where everyone's passport and visa will be taken away. On the way to the hotel, the tour guide told us that we stayed at Yangjiao Island Super Hotel, which was another big surprise. You know, when we signed up for the tour, we booked a first-class hotel, not a super hotel, and North Korea was upgraded to a super hotel for free (as mentioned earlier, the North Korean side was responsible for all the trips in North China, including accommodation, so the tour guide and all of us didn't know where we would stay before coming), so we were lucky all the way. ...

Hotels in North Korea are divided into super hotels and first-class hotels. Super hotels include Yangjiao Island International Hotel and Koryo Hotel, and first-class hotels include Liangjiang Hotel/Youth Hotel/Xishan Hotel. Yangjiao Island International Hotel is located in Yangjiao Island in the middle of Datong River, with a building height of 47 * *, a revolving restaurant on the top floor, and a Adu Stadium (with paid WIFI), swimming pool and badminton hall opened by Macao people on the ground floor. Although it is a super hotel, don't compare these levels with domestic hotels. If there is no comparison, just look. Yangjiao Island is an old hotel with old facilities, but what I want to say is that it is really clean and there is no discomfort for staying for a few days. I admire that after our lunch break, the hotel staff will come to clean the room again, and the room will still be clean and tidy when we come back at night.

We live on the 32nd floor. When we open the window, we can see a panoramic view of Pyongyang. Pyongyang is really beautiful in the morning. Here is the Datong River, the mother river of North Korea, which is similar to the Yellow River in China.

The group meal on the first day was eaten in the hotel restaurant, which can be said to be a high-standard group meal. I have always felt guilty about eating in North Korea, because basically everything on our table is inexhaustible, and it should be a very bad thing to waste in a country like North Korea. ...

The following is a picture of eating in North Korea.

The first morning, I went to Panmunjom. I had to cross the 38th parallel to the military demarcation line, where Kim Jong-un and Trump often shook hands online. The road conditions in North Korea are so ordinary that even our provincial roads are not as good as ours. It is good that the bus can drive to 70 km/h, and it takes more than three hours to get there from Pyongyang. Tourist buses need to pass through sentry posts when entering and leaving Pyongyang. Soldiers with guns patrol near the sentry post, and they also have passes and things like that. North Korean tour guides will communicate with soldiers without getting off the bus. In addition, on the way from Kaesong to the military demarcation line, there will be four People's Army posts, all guarded by soldiers. Whenever approaching the post, the North Korean tour guide will remind us that there is a People's Army post ahead. Please don't take out your mobile phone or camera to take pictures, or you will be seen. The basic requirement for taking pictures in North Korea is that you can't take pictures of monarchs. At the fourth sentry post, all employees need to get off and the car will be checked. Drive there first, then people will arrive (without checking people), and then get on the bus. At this time, a soldier of the People's Army will get on the bus with us, because after the fourth sentry, he will enter your territory, and all your personnel will take over. After getting on the bus, the bus will take us to the scenic spot to listen to the explanation. ?

The next afternoon and the third day will be arranged in Pyongyang ~ See my city stamp for the picture, so I won't introduce it.

(Ten thousand words ........... omitted here)

On the morning of the fourth day, the North Korean tour guide arranged a stop. First, he takes a bus to a designated restaurant to buy a box lunch. In the car, he will send us his passport and visa, and then he will be dragged to Pyongyang Railway Station to wait for the bus, which is similar to the pace of the trip. The train leaves at 10:25 North Korea time and arrives at Sinuiju Railway Station around 3 pm North Korea time. After stopping, customs and border guards will collect their passports and entry cards. I was checked by the customs and border guards for more than two hours. This time, it was inspected directly on the train and unpacked manually, but it seems to be a random inspection. Our group was lucky not to be checked (lucky again), which made me worried about the photos in my mobile phone and camera. I took the trouble to move the camera photos to the safe of my mobile phone. Passports will be issued after inspection, and visa documents will be taken back by the customs. There is only one Yalu River between Xinyizhou Railway Station and Dandong Railway Station, and the train will arrive in 5 minutes. When I arrived at Dandong Railway Station, it was about 5 pm Beijing time.

8. 1 1 After returning to China, I heard that Dalian was affected by the typhoon. The flights I bought 1 1 and 12 were cancelled. I was worried that 13 could not fly, but I didn't expect the typhoon to have any impact on Dalian. 13 flight cancelled.

When waiting at Pyongyang Railway Station, I want the North Korean tour guide to leave her contact information. She generously wrote down her name, mobile phone number and work address in the notebook. I invited them to take a group photo, and they readily accepted. Don't let go of phone numbers, names and photos ~ haha

The moment of parting will always come. These days, I was deeply impressed by the serious, responsible and dedicated attitude of Korean tour guides. I have never seen a tour guide anywhere so responsible and dedicated as a Korean tour guide, and the service attitude is first-class. As can be seen from some small details, we often need to get on and off because of the tight schedule and many scenic spots. There are many old people and several children in the group. Every time you get off at a scenic spot, the tour guide will stand at the door of the car to help the elderly and children get off. Sometimes it's a tour guide, sometimes two tour guides stand aside to help the old man help the child get off the bus. It's really warm. When eating in the restaurant, arrange more than 20 people first, see that everyone has finished eating, and then ask everyone what else they need before eating. When you leave, wait on the platform until our train leaves, wave goodbye to us and never see them again.

There are many ways to be happy. This is how they live in North Korea. What has the rich material life brought us? (End)