HOT SPRING – soviet-style POMP

July 13, 2011 1 Comment

“quality” PICKINGS from my DPRK DIARY 11.–21. April 2011

Entering the resort – Lonely as the lamp post...

The Ryonggang Hot Spring is located 40 km outside of Nampho. The compound consists of 12 houses. There are no other hotels between Pyongyang and Kaesong.

DDR-style design – We live on the ground floor – Our two “permanent" guides are in the background

The Ryonggang Hot Spring resort looks like DDR-design. It is guarded by soldiers with machine guns around the clock. It is closed off to the outside world as well as to those who are inside. Nobody can enter, nobody can leave without permission and guide.

It has been a famous spa of the former Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. The vacation compound in the woods offered complete seclusion where Communist Party Members of the former Soviet Empire, from Ukraine to Kazakhstan, from Poland to Cuba, could enjoy themselves in total privacy.

It has special services like floor heating in the bedroom, a bathtub with hot water from the hot spring  for three hours in the afternoon and two hours in the morning…

Reception area

The reception area was huge, well, that was my impression when I entered the main building. But soon I had to adjust my perception of space in this “otherworldly“ environment.

Billiard room

After dinner we went to the billiard room – it looked like the first class waiting room of a  small town railway station. One could still feel the activity of decades ago.

Going to the bar, another  – abandoned – enormous empty space brings up the fantasy – I can’t resist it – that, year by year, train loads of vodka and kaviar must have passed through this exclusive resort which served former communist apparatchiks from all over the world.

Pomp in the UDSSR has always been expressed by size.

Pomp in the UDSSR has always been expressed in size and kilos. Oversized constructions carried the nimbus of “Excellence“ and “Quality“.

Dining room

In that respect, our dining room was of “very high quality“. It was super huge and  only the two of us were experiencing the remote and odd luxury in the woods of this once exclusive resort.

Bedroom with floor heating from the hot spring

Times have changed? I guess they have – in some respect. Nowadays, modern communists expect more comfort.

The game is over. Now we tourists pay for the upkeep.

Hot water for three hours in the afternoon and from 0600-0800 in the morning

Now the tourist pay for the upkeep

Filed under Democratic People's Republic of Korea, DPRK, North Korea, Pickings, Pyonyang, UDSSR Tagged with , , , , , ,

BREAKFAST at a SOVIET SANATORIUM

May 17, 2011 2 Comments

Our local guide and receptionist at a formerly Soviet spa

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

At lovely lake Si Jung, the sanatorium is tucked away...

We are located in a old Soviet-type sanatorium at lake Si Jung outside Wonsan which was built  in the early 1960s, when North Korea grew rapidly. During that time a chain of resorts were built all over the Soviet Empire for the Communist Partys’ leading members to visit and consult each other, relax and go hunting.

Built on an artificial lake, the sanatorium is tucked away behind the road but close enough to the sea with a view to the mountains we had just passed. It offered privacy to the communist party members of the Soviet Empire from Georgia to Kazakhstan, from Moscow to Kyrgyzstan. Tourists nowadays pay for their upkeep (since almost no communist party boss is left over “from the good old times“ and those from China and North Korea most likely prefer more comfort.).

From "Russia" to "Kyrgyzstan."

From the "Georgia" to "KAZAKHSTAN"

We stay at this famous spa with electricity for 3 hours in the evening, almost no running water and a special fango-pack  treatment that was cold because of a power cut.

We are the only guests and retire early to do some talking and writing. Unexpectedly at 10pm, the light goes off and we sit in the dark not quite remembering where the toilet was… .

From nowhere we jump awake at 5am next morning realising that we forgot to switch off the light… . Suddenly the electricity was back on… .

Waitress at the bar

Breakfast is at 8am. We are very well received by our waitress behind the bar which serves us a full meal under a big painting of a mountain scene close to the Chinese-North Korean border.

Oh! KIM IL SUNG!!... Oh! KIM JONG IL!!... Oh! Communist Party!

Filed under China, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, DPRK, Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, My Dear Leader, Nord Korea, North Korea, Pickings Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,