North Korean paddler

[Walter Snowdon]

In the days when East Germany was still a communist state, The leader of north Korea visited and sailed on the Elbe in one of the old Paddle steamers on the river. He was so impressed that when he returned to Korea he ordered an exact replica to be built. This I believe was named Pyong Yang 1.
 I have combed the net but cant find anything on this paddler other than a passing reference in some wierdos blogg. Does anyone know of a source of reference and especaly photos of this ship plus any other Korean paddle steamers? Does it still exist?.  regards, walter.

[Roderick Smith]

All you need is money.

I was in North Korea in Dec.93.  At that stage, I wasn't a Paddleducks subscriber.  The country would do anything for me, at USD100 per day.  I was travelling for only 1 day at that price.  I was to be given a guided tour of a railway workshop on my arrival day, but my train was 8 h late.  I missed that tour.  My guide took me from the station in darkness to a 1000 bed hotel, where we were the only two customers in the whole establishment.  Next morning, I got a tour of the metro and along some city streets (viewing trams without riding them).  Photography was not restricted.  I left at 10.00 on the world's longest single-train journey: via Hasan to Moskva.

So, don't be deterred: somebody on GBP (a better excange rate than I get) can go there, preferably as a duo or quartet, and get the coverage.

I am assuming that the river passes through the capital.

Such a trip could fit with heading to Yakutsk, but after three failures Bill W's group has abandoned all hope.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[AlistairD]

I have attached what is on my hard drive

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/tramways/North%20Korea.htm has a couple of photos

I always thought this was steam, but a recent visitor has confirmed it is diesel. I don't know if it was originally steam or not

Alistair

----- Original Message -----
From: Roderick Smith (research@paddleducks.co.uk)
To: research@paddleducks.co.uk (research@paddleducks.co.uk)
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 12:49 PM
Subject: Re: North Korean paddler


All you need is money.

I was in North Korea in Dec.93. At that stage, I wasn't a Paddleducks subscriber. The country would do anything for me, at USD100 per day. I was travelling for only 1 day at that price. I was to be given a guided tour of a railway workshop on my arrival day, but my train was 8 h late. I missed that tour. My guide took me from the station in darkness to a 1000 bed hotel, where we were the only two customers in the whole establishment. Next morning, I got a tour of the metro and along some city streets (viewing trams without riding them). Photography was not restricted. I left at 10.00 on the world's longest single-train journey: via Hasan to Moskva.

So, don't be deterred: somebody on GBP (a better excange rate than I get) can go there, preferably as a duo or quartet, and get the coverage.

I am assuming that the river passes through the capital.

Such a trip could fit with heading to Yakutsk, but after three failures Bill W's group has abandoned all hope.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

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