China, Korea and a little bit (of Japan) on the side

[bPeteb]

Jeez mate. I hope you start to feel better soon

 

[Justinf]

By jingos I think I’m back baby!
I think yesterday was the worse of the days and I woke around 4am in a literal pool of sweat.
@drron will know, but this is a good thing right? It meant my fever had broken?
Anyway I felt tons better today. Not 100% and far from it, but actually kind of like a human being again.

 

[Justinf]

1am pick up just around the corner for the DMZ tour and I was now really looking forward to it given I was feeling stacks better.

 

[Pele]

Why does the DMZ tour start at 1am?

 

[Justinf]

Why does the DMZ tour start at 1am?

That would be because I omitted a zero.
At least you are paying attention.
10am pick up

 

[Justinf]

I’m not going to go too much into detail about the company and our guide for reasons that I will explain a bit later on.
It was a frighteningly cold morning and once on the bus there were 11 tourists for the Chinese commentary who sat on the right-hand side of the bus and 21 for the English commentary.
I’m not really into bus tours, but hey, it is what it is.

 

[Justinf]

It took about an hour out to the zone where we stopped and got to wander around, which was a waste of time.

 

[rbjhan]

It's the flu season....I'm preparing to wear masks, at least on public transports!
The numbers in Japan is getting out of hand...who knows what's like in China....

 

[Justinf]

we had to have our passports and fill out a form.
It was kinda cool having a military officer board the bus to check everyone’s individual details.
One of the main components of this tour was to see and walk one of the underground tunnels that the North used to try and attack the South.
We weren’t allowed any phones and had to don hard hats.
The walk was downhill about 400 metres to the tunnel area and then a few hundred metres where the ceiling would have barely been 5ft.
For someone like me, it meant a horribly uncomfortable hunched over walk to…nowhere.
There was nothing at the end of it.
Then it was back hunched over again and then 400 metres uphill.
Fun times.
Back on the bus and off to the viewing area where you can right over to North Korea.
This actually took my breath away.
To see this mysterious land with my own eyes…I was in disbelief and even though it moght sound boring to some, it was fascinating.
No photos allowed of the North side.
However, our guide had photos that were taken about 6 months prior and WhatsApp them to me. The only stipulation was that we didn’t flaunt the pics as it’s such a sensitive subject.
I’ll only attach a few of the 31 pics I was sent.

 

[Justinf]

With the aid of binoculars I wondered whether this was all real or the scene of a movie set.
Close up views of the nearby city revealed no movement and certainly no cars.
Of course there was opportunity for pics once back outside.

 

[Justinf]

There was a serious accident on the freeway going home and I eventually made it back around 4pm.
Was it worth it?
The tunnel definitely was not.
Seeing North Korea with my own eyes absolutely was.
I can’t put it into words how brilliant it was.
Even though I am feeling a lot better, I’m still not going to risk going outside for long tonight.
Certainly don’t feel like drinking although a I grabbed a burger from Burgerry and damn it was good.
1pm flight to Sapporo tomorrow and I am regretting staying there for one night and then heading up to Wakkanai.
Just seems like a stupid way to waste a day.
Anyway I think I will be feeling the effects of this illness long after i get home next Monday.

 

[Justinf]

It's the flu season....I'm preparing to wear masks, at least on public transports!
The numbers in Japan is getting out of hand...who knows what's like in China....

A lovely pharmacist gave me a moisture mask for free today.
He apologised for his English, which of course was very, very good, and he was embarrassed when I said it was great.

 

[Justinf]

Woke up this morning in another pool of sweat.
I’ve finally accepted that it is highly likely to take me a good couple of weeks AFTER I get home to shake this properly. It’s a doozy too.
That’s OK. It is what it is and I have given up hoping to wake up and be better on this trip. Once I accepted this, I moved on, although it doesn’t make it any less annoying.
Left the Air B&B at 9.30am and then the hour-long train trip out to Incheon.

 

[Justinf]

There was no line for check in. Don’t you love that? I was travelling J and could have used the fast lane from Shanghai when it was busy.
The lines for immigration were long but moved reasonably fast.
Then the lines for security were extremely long.
In the end I got through at 11.30am and looked for the Korean Air Prestige Lounge.
Once inside, this had to be the most drab and uninspiring lounge.

My advice is if you have access to this lounge, don’t allow time especially for it.
The food was a bit meh.
An hour in here was 30 minutes too much.


Who the hell wants to drink water out those things?

 

[Justinf]

Before long it was time for boarding and I was looking forward to trying the A321neo J class, which has lay-flat seats.
There are only 8 J seats on this aircraft.
An ‘influencer’ was next to me taking all sorts of photos of the product and herself.
I was in seat 8D which is the 2nd row and the ‘effluencer’ was next to me, but with both seats in front of us unoccupied, she moved, which meant I could move across to the window.
First impressions were good.
individual air vents
seat comfy
very limited storage space
wireless charging
wireless charging didn’t really work. My phone struggled to stay in place and barely charged
big IFE screen. Not sure of contents as I just had the map going.

 

[Justinf]

Service by the FAs was terrific. Offer of orange/apple juice or water for pre departure drink.
We pushed back 10 minutes early but soon became stuck in an air-traffic control logjam.
Eventually we climbed out of Seoul and over to Hokkaido.
The meal service came out pretty quickly.
I realised I hadn’t tried a local Cass beer, so that was the pre-meal drink of choice.
Note the positioning of the can to spell ‘cough’.

 

[Justinf]

The meal was good although the rice could have used some kind of flavouring. I ended up pouring some of the soup over it. I went with a red wine. Dessert was fresh fruit.


Unfortunately even in J you had to pay for wifi, so I didn’t.


But there was a cabin divider.

 

[Justinf]

After lunch I felt sleepy so I tried out the bed in flat mode.

For a single aisle aircraft I found it to be very good and I do hope QF make use of these for their domestic fleet although I’m not sure they will only want 8 seats up the front. While not twin-aisle comfort, this product would be nicely suited for the transcontinental flights where a couple,of hours sleep could make all the difference.
I managed about 40 minutes of sleep before it was time to descend.

 

[Justinf]

Hokkaido was looking stunning as always.

 

[Justinf]

Flight time was two hours and 13 minutes.
Upon landing I received a message that a snowstorm was likely tomorrow and flight cancellations and disruptions were probable.
I’m on a Dash 8 up to Wakkanai.
I’m really not sure what I’ll do if it’s cancelled. There are no rooms in Sapporo.
The snow festival has began yesterday and lines for immigration were horrendous.
It took an hour.
Onto the train to cut a long story short, found my way to the Quintessa Hotel and checked in.
Please forgive the mess. I’m feeling like garbage.