BAIHE - the birthplace of Kim Jong Il, dog meat and the most scary shower on this planet

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The busride to Baihe was amazing. While the outside temperature was around -22°C, the busdriver liked it warm and put the heating on level "hell". Within one hour there were around 32°C inside and we had to face the truth: it was the most stupid idea to enter the bus, still wearing all the layers we had to wear in Changchun. In an acrobatic act we tried to get rid of at least 2 layers. The temperature was further boosted by a natural character trait that seems to be inherent to a lot of chinese guys: making business. Of course it is not really convenient to put only as much people in the bus as seats are available. So the bus stopped several times to pick up a lot more people. These people were really clever because they brought their own little plastic chairs to sit down in the aisle. So all in all it was as cosy as in a finnish sauna...for 8 hours.

The bus did one longer stop so people could use the toilet and eat sth. quickly. Unfortunatelly the feisty assistent of the driver decided after 10 minutes that we have to leave right now. And she really meant NOW. My flatmate was bold enough to think he would have enough time for a piss after the meal but he was so wrong. The bus just went of the parking lot and it was a big effort to convince the assistent to convince the driver to wait for one more minute.

Another 5 hours and we arrived in Baihe. I mean it was not really Baihe but some empty street in the middle of nowhere. But we were lucky because the hostel was also in the middle of nowhere. We checked in and had a cold but short night.

For the next day a trip to the ChangBai Shan National Park was planned. After a nice breakfast with Kimchi and steamed bread we took a bus to the park, another bus inside the park and then had to switch to a 4- wheeler to reach the Tianchi (the Heaven Lake which is supposedly the birthplace of Kim Jong Il). We were really lucky with the weather and had a clear, deep blue sky, even though the temperature on top of Baekdu Mountain was still around -30°C below zero. In addition it was really windy so the -30°C felt more like -40°C. Anyway, the view from the top was just stunning and we tried to stay outside as long as possible. There were a few more spots to visit in the National Park and we spent allmost the whole day there. Inside the park there are buses and minivans bringing you from one stop to the other. There were steaming hot springs, frozen waterfalls and it was snowing recently so we took some long walks in a real winter-wonder-land.

Back in the hostel we were really looking forward to take a shower. Finally we found the "shower". It was a nice place in the basement with broken windows (yeah -20°C inside) that looked more like a torture chamber or like someone recently cleared the elecric chair. But the water was warm so it was fine.

The next day we explored Baihe, bought some supplies for the traintrip to Dalian and had a dog meat dish in a north-korean restaurant. And I have to admit, it is pretty good, even though we tried to avoid looking at the dogs on the street afterwards.

Next stop: DALIAN - delicious seafood, a sad seaside and a fairytale mega castle

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Photos

Tianchi
supposedly birthplace of the Great Leader; Kim Jong Il