Breaking new ground

 Morning view from my hotel room. A lot of jobs seems to be done the 'hard' way

 Today we are heading up into the mountains - this is the first year tourists have had access to this area.

 We switch to smaller buses as the roads are not good.

High up on the plateau it looks pretty bleak. I suspect the winters are tough and they are probably cut off for months. So it seems natural that they are already preparing their woodpiles.

 And the houses are wooden

In the end we hit snow and so walk the last 20 minutes to our destination.

 This is kind of like the National Park HQ - combined with restaurant. Our lunch was a combination of potato dishes that proved to be probably the best meal of the trip - who knew you could made such good potato noodles.

 Our guide doubles as waitress

 This was where Kim Il Song met up with revolutionaries during the time of the Japanese Occupation

And there is also the Stone River - with water running underneath. The woman on the left is one of our Korean guides translating for the local guide.

 Revolutionary messages were carved into the trees

 And below was the newly built cabin that was a replica of the cabin where Kim Il Song had met revolutionaries - or some such

 Taken from the bus on our way home - a barren landscape

 Public transport 

 These piles of dirt were deposited all along the road - then people raked and shovelled it into potholes

 Our final destination for the day is Majon Beach - which would be lovely if it was summer - and if we had hot water.

Sign in the hotel bookshop that shows the diversity of the products - click to read

And a wee clip of restaurant decoration