The Ryanggang Hotel, Pyongyang

Ryanggang Hotel

For approximately half of our stay in North Korea, we would be staying in Pyongyang, at the Ryanggang Hotel. I wasn't expecting a luxurious experience during my visit to North Korea, although I was hoping to be able to shower each day with warm water. Fortunately, although it took some time for hot water to appear, I managed to have a good shower each morning and night.

Checking in

The hotel was clean, but very basic and very dated. However, it was good enough, the breakfasts and dinners were acceptable, if a little on the cold and bland side. I took some Kikkoman soy sauce with me from Japan which really helped add a bit of taste to the endless supply of omelettes during breakfasts. A couple from the United States passed around their well travelled Tabasco sauce which has apparently accompanied them to all four corners of the world.

As was the case for the whole of our stay in the country, we were not allowed to venture away from the hotel, perhaps not to hide any state secrets, but to protect the North Koreans from any potential embarrassment. There was certainly a very makeshift army camp a couple of minutes from the hotel with very scruffy soldiers pottering about - the guides used very subtle tactics in order to try and divert our gaze during the duration of our stay. On the final night, subtlety was dispensed with and our bus driver turned off all the lights to prevent us getting a further glimpse of the squalor the soldiers were living in.

My room - basic

As is apparent from the photo, the room was very basic. Essentially just a couple of very hard beds (which suited me perfectly) and some space to hang your clothes. The bathroom was actually quite modern and seemed to have been recently redecorated. I was quite happy staying here for 3 nights and I can say that I never had any terrible experiences. I think a good way to describe staying in a North Korean hotel is to say it is a bit like indoor camping. You will come across things which are not perfect, but all the important things like washing, eating, and sleeping will be done to the minimum acceptable standards.

First North Korean dinner

During our evenings in the hotel, there was very little to do but have an early night, or drink beer in the hotel lobby or the rooftop revolving (!) restaurant. Everyone opted to drink beer each night into the small hours. There was a great mix of people on the tour from a number of different countries (France, UK, Ireland, Germany, Poland, USA, Netherlands, Australia, Norway) and the cameraderie was very good indeed - lots of chatting and story telling.

Power cut

One aspect of life in North Korea which we soon all became accustomed to were the power cuts. Throughout our first night in the hotel revolving bar (which did not so much revolve, rather wobble when the motors were on), we had to deal with complete darkness every 30 minutes or so. Each power cut would last 1 or 2 minutes before we could turn off our handheld or iPhone torches. By the second night, we were all fully prepared with torches and the conversations would not even pause as we grew accustomed to the inconvenience.

The Ryanggang Hotel is in a slightly lofty position above Pyongyang. In most cities around the world, you would expect to have some sort of night  view of the city and of the inhabitants going about their business - not in Pyongyang. Complete darkness!

Apologies for my rather lethargic updates regarding my trip to North Korea. I will do my very best over the next few days to give you another insight into my holiday to this rather hermitic country. More soon, I promise....