sudden snow in DPRK mountains

white PICKINGS from my NORTH KOREAN DIARY 11.–21. April 2011

Ominous silence

SUDDENLY THERE was an eerie silence in our car, nobody talked any more, not even breathing I heard.

eerie silence

On our way to Wonsan on the East Coast of North Korea, we had run into a snowstorm and within 5 minutes everything had turned white.

The driver, glued to the steering wheel, changed gears driving more slowly but to me it felt much more like swimming. I had checked the tyres before we had left Pyongyang, they had no tread.

There was no oncoming traffic.

Broken down truck

Only a broken down truck was blocking the opposite lane in the tunnel. No emergency road box, no road service either. If we would get stuck we would be stuck till the weather would change. After we had put on our coats, the car heating was barely sufficient. I figured out that 5 more minutes of heavy snowfall and we would be mired in layers of sludge and ice.

Silence

sudden snow

Seeking shelter in the tunnel

It was a good time to make some photos, our two guides were tuned out there for a moment.

People were heading to the tunnel not to take cover but to cross to the other side. The tunnel on the photo was 4km long. It had light – the only one of the many tunnels we passed through – but only for 2 or 3 minutes then there was a power cut. The people walking in the tunnel were difficult to detect, some had stopped in the middle of the road… .

People heading for the tunnel