The highlight was the 360 degree panorama of battle scenes. It is the biggest in the world (of course) and was created by 10 soldier artists in just 40 days. It is 132m long, 15m high and the back wall is 1.3 m away. It is difficult to tell where the models stop and the painting begins. We rotated around in the middle It was extremely well done and very effective.
There was also another display created by soldier artists, only this time the models moved. It was all very exciting with North Korean women and children transporting weapons and bombs in the back of trucks in the dead of night whilst being attacked by the US imperialist enemy with search lights piercing the dark, and air raid sirens, etc. Great theatre!
Next stop the Mansudae Art Studio. It is most probably the largest art production centre in the world (are you surprised?) with over 1,000 artists. We were disappointed that our visit was restricted to a couple of artists who specialised in landscapes. Although I spotted this sketch on the wall that I really liked.
The only time we felt that we were being 'watched' was during our visit to an orphanage. There were 190 children with 60 teachers and workers. The children looked happy and healthy, and put on a little show for us. I took photos and tried to show them their pictures, but they seemed to have no comprehension of what they looked like! Other Korean children we had encountered knew exactly what a camera was, but these little guys had no idea! And they were so adorable, I could have easily taken a couple home!! It seemed that most of the parents had died in industrial accidents. I wanted to suggest that perhaps Chollima had a bit to do with it, but didn't think that this view would be acceptable!
When they are six years old, they leave the orphanage for the revolutionary school (specifically for orphans) and live in dormitories. Fostering and adoption doesn't seem to happen very often. I was met with blank looks when I asked whether uncles and aunts were willing to look after the orphans. Obviously it is difficult enough to bring up your own children, without taking on any extras! The orphanage also had 3 lots of triplets. The government welcomes triplets and they seem to be a source of national pride, but it is decided that parents can't cope with three at once. So off to the orphanage they go, but they are allowed home at the weekends.
After our hot pot dinner, we visited the Kaeson Youth Park. It had been visited by Kim Jung Un in May and as a result was extremely popular. There were very long queues to get into the park. Everything was so controlled. People queued in groups to get in, and you had to stay with your group for each ride. We enjoyed special status as visitors, jumping every queue, but we decided it was a step too far when they started pulling people off the ride so that we could get on!! We didn't want to start a riot! It was enjoyable mixing with people who were out having a good time with their families. When we left the park, fairly late in the evening, there were still long queues of people waiting to get in.
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