Dāndōng - Take Two!

Alright, so recently, despite the cold weather my friends and I decided to venture slightly more north to the city of Dāndōng. You may recall that I’ve already visited this city - back in the summer time when my friends from home came to see me - but as it sounded fun and the plan this time was to see Dāndōng’s section of the Great Wall, I decided to go again!

Once again we went via a 4-hour coach journey – slight hiccup when we missed our 7am coach but as a couple of my friends actually speak close to fluent Chinese, we were able to switch tickets for a later one. Phew. After arrival, we checked in to our hotel (pretty snazzy – and it offered a free breakfast!) then headed out to the Wall! As there were so many of us, and taxis in Dāndōng are cheap as chips, we just jumped in a few of those instead of taking a bus to the entrance. It was about 60 RMB for the ticket on to the wall and compared to those just outside Beijing, this section was very short! But the main attraction was that it was RIGHT next to North Korea on the border. We didn’t spend too long up there as it was a relatively short section, we didn’t have a lot of daylight and it was bloody nippy! But it was still good! And following the Wall round to a certain point you are standing right on the border between China and North Korea – crazay. Post-Wall, we had to hang about a bit and hire a couple of minivans to take us back, but only at about 10 RMB each so not bad at all really!

The evening was spent eating, drinking and being merry, and then the next day we went to the Korean War Memorial Museum. This I had seen so wasn’t too fussed but went along anyway. With a little time to kill before catching our coach back to Dàlián, some of us paid the 30 RMB to walk along the Broken Bridge across the Yalu River. WELL WORTH IT! Firstly, unlike my first visit, it was a much clearer day so we could see more of the North Korean city across the way; but secondly, going along the bridge meant that we were (a more realistic) swimming distance from the North Korean shore! And we saw people! Actual North Korean people – men (we think) fishing in the river. Fascinating! We also witnessed a couple of minivans and buses crossing the functioning bridge – possibly for tourists? Who knows!

One thing I did notice during the evening of Day 1 in Dāndōng was how the Chinese side of the river was all lit up and neon-y, whereas the North Korean side was pretty much pitch black. It was very bizarre. The neon, rainbow lights on the functioning bridge also seemed to stop midway along – presumably signifying the border. No electricity for them!

Here are the photos:

Walking up to the Wall entrance

Group pic!

The Wall

Is it just me, or do I look like a miniature
person here? Damn it.

THE BORDER! Had I ran across that frozen stream,
I'd have been in North Korea (but I'm not mad)

North Korea

The functioning bridge - all half lit up

Sculpture in front of the entrance way of
the Broken Bridge

The entrance to the bridge!

Very bright day! China on the right, North Korea
on the left

NORTH KOREANS!!!
They didn't respond to our calls of 'Ni hao'

North Korean city across the way

Minivans crossing the bridge!

Where the bridge 'broke'!

And that’s a wrap really! Just a ‘weekend’ trip, so didn’t have a huge amount of time – but I don’t think you really need to in Dāndōng. But getting out of the city and doing something exciting has inspired me to actively plan my visit to Hā'ěrbīn and the annual Ice and Snow Festival next month – so stay tuned for that one!

I’ll be seeing ya

xoxo