Dandong is China's gateway to North Korea and vice versa. The only railway connection between Beijing and Pyongyang and the main truck route runs across the Yalu River bridge connecting the two countries.
Dandong offers not only some excellent peeks into a forbidden kingdom but also the chance to have an actual chat with people from the other side.
The city visible right on the other side of the river is Shinuiju, one of the main trading posts of North Korea.
Perhaps the best way to travel to Dandong is by ferry from Incheon, South Korea. It is an overnight ferry and the noisy announcements over the speakers and the many Korean traders busily moving about the boat in the early morning make sure you get an early start no matter how many duty-free Hite beers you have pulled out of the vending machine during the night.
From out on the deck, you will see plenty of freighters carrying along the busy waterway. Soon, small fleets of rusty fishing boats will come into view and finally, to the right, the first islands belonging to North Korea. It is not long before the North Korean coastline begins to reveal its shape.
The ferry heads towards the mouth of the Yalu River, separating China from North Korea, then turns left towards the flat Chinese coast with comes into view much later than the hilly North Korean coast.
Dandong Port
Finally, the ferry anchors in Dandong Port. Right behind customs is a small table with a uniformed lady. She sells the bus tickets to downtown Dandong. 15 Yuan for the ride. There is no exchange bank here at the port. Make sure to change your money in Korea into Chinese currency before you arrive. The port in Incheon, for example, does have an exchange counter.
Once the bus pulls out of the harbor, a giant construction area unfolds in front of your eyes. Dandong has big plans. The already busy current harbor is being enlarged multiple times over to become the main harbor for the whole of North East China. To house all the people running it, a giant field of high rises has just started construction.
As busy as things get on the Chinese side, the more quiet North Korea seems to be whenever the bus route comes close to the river and permits you a peek over to the other side. The scant buildings scattered over there seem to have hardly any life going on inside, in fact, many of them look run-down and possibly abandoned. There are a few rusty cranes and ships docked underneath but they too look rather derelict.
Eventually, the bus arrives at the final stop, right next to the big statue of Mao Tse-tung in front of the train station. Mao has his right hand stretched out as if to say: “Look at that!” Indeed, if you follow the direction his hand points to, you will see that he is indicating directly towards a huge advertisement of Yalu Beer, the local brew. Keep the great helmsman's advice in mind. Yalu Beer is quite good.
Korea Town
Walking from the train station towards the river, you soon enter Dandong's Koreatown. Clean, reasonably priced hotels are easy to find. They generally have display boards in the lobby spelling out the choice of rooms and their prices in English. If you are versed in Korean or Chinese or if you are traveling with somebody who is, great bargains are the rule rather than the exception.
The Yalu River is only a 5 minute walk away from Koreatown and about 10 minutes by foot from the train station.
Dandong's main sight is the two parallel bridges stretching out to the North Korean side. Both are vintage steel constructions, erected by Japanese engineers when Korea was a Japanese colony (1910-45).
The bridge on the left, finished in 1943, and now called the Friendship Bridge, spans the river. The Beijing - Pyongyang railway line crosses this bridge and whenever Kim Jong-il is making one of his semi-secret visits to China, his personal train runs into China here. Kim doesn't like to fly, he prefers his luxury train.
Trucks and buses also cross the border via this bridge. In fact, this is the main crossing point for Chinese goods, traders and tourists into North Korea. For people with a passport other than Chinese, crossing is rather difficult, to say the least.
Right next to the Friendship Bridge is the Broken Bridge. It is much narrower than the Friendship Bridge, three decades older (built in 1911) - and it leads only to the middle of the river.
Bridges
Both bridges were destroyed by American bombing during the Korean War (1950-53) but only the larger bridge with the railway tracks was restored afterwards.
The Broken Bridge is a national monument today, though it is hard to say what kind of monument actually. Officially, it commemorates the "War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea," as the Korean War is called in China. But does it really?
After paying a fee of 30 Yuan, you can walk the bridge to the end. From there, you get a great view of how different the river banks of the two countries look. High-rises, a traffic-heavy street and a wide walkway along the river on the Chinese side, quiet low structures and a few dead chimneys on the North Korean side point to the difference in the development of the two countries.
At the very end of the bridge, a telescope allows you to peek over to the city of Shinuiju on the other side for a few Yuan. Peeking over in late April 2010 revealed the sight of people dressed in shabby working clothes constructing a small river promenade - all by hand and using vintage building methods. That is, one man shovels dirt, his shovel is connected by string to two female helpers standing right and left and aiding his shoveling by pulling the strings. That's supposed to make the shoveling easier for him if the moves and all parties are absolutely in sync, which certainly requires a lot of training. In China in the 1960s, work teams operated like that, now the Chinese have heavy machinery to do that work for them.
Sinuiju
The most prominent and permanent fixture on the North Korean side however is the Sinuiju Ferris Wheel. It is pretty small and looks rather like a toy. A cute toy, actually. It never moves, these days, at least. Defectors from Sinuiju report that it is part of a now largely defunct amusement park built in the times when North Korea was economically way better off than it is now. That means circa the 1960s and 70s.
In fact, according to defectors in Seoul, the remnants of that amusement park is one of the main casual gathering places for Sinuiju youth today.
An even closer view of the North Korean side of the river is offered by the various tour boats starting out not far from the Chinese end of the bridges. A basic boat tour is 80 Yuan.
Indeed, North Korea means business here. Vendors have their carts parked on the promenade and offer North Korean cigarettes, (most likely fake) party buttons and more recently, complete sets of North Korean currency. North Korea underwent a currency swap in late 2009 and the new notes are touted here by every vendor.
Women can even dress up in a rental hanbok (traditional Korean dress) and have their photo taken in front of the North Korean riverfront. Chinese tourists actually do so frequently.
The stores along the promenade also trade largely in North Korean goods. You can buy picture books of North Korea, North Korean music CDs and other assorted kitsch.
North Korean Restaurants
More interesting however is a visit to a North Korean restaurant. There are plenty of them on the Chinese side of the river and you can easily spot them as they always have a North Korean flag on display, alongside the Chinese flag (as do the shops trading in North Korean goods).
These restaurants are actually run by the North Korean government and all personnel are North Korean. Young, cute but stern-faced girls welcome you at the door, and you are served by young, cute, stern-faced and taciturn waitresses.
North Korean movies flicker over the video sets while you place your orders. The menus are generally in Korean and Chinese only. The range of items is however very similar to the traditional foods offered in Seoul and the menus have pictures. Make sure, though, to order Pyongyang naengmyon. That's Pyongyang-style cold buckwheat noodles and they are absolutely delicious. Eat it North Korean style by mixing mustard into the broth. That's the one and possibly only great dish North Korea has contributed to world cuisine.
Watch out of the window as you eat your big meal - as everywhere in China, the meals tend to be large in North Korean restaurants, too. When night falls, you can see the two bridges lighting up. The light extends all the way to the other side of the river - where it remains otherwise pretty dark. There are a few dim lights here and there but in no way do they give the impression that there is a living city over there.
Where to head for the nightlife? Dandong doesn't exactly have an abundance of Western-style bars. The traditional way to go drinking here is the “coffee bar”, the Korean way of the small town hostess bar. That means, you enter the facility, negotiate with the madam which girls you would like to drink with and then go with them into a separate room. It's usually a small group activity involving several male guests and several girls. Beers will be supplied, then you are left alone with the girls.
If you ask around a bit and are lucky, you might find a joint that employs North Korean Chinese girls. There is a Chinese minority in North Korea. While they have no chance of a civil or military career in North Korea, they have considerably more freedom than the North Koreans themselves. This includes the right to reside in China.
If you find some girls to talk to and are able to converse with them (they will most certainly not speak English), you can have a great time in the "coffee bar". Talk about life in North Korea with someone who has actually lived in it, but who has a somewhat unique perspective on it. The "coffee bar" girls are neither the kind of stern-faced representatives the official North Korean restaurants employ nor are they desperate refugees. They know North Korea inside out, but from the detached perspective of an outsider looking on at a society that has both excluded them from its inner workings but at the same time, afforded them a measure of freedom their North Korean peers could only envy.
The beer flows and the stories from the other side of the border get ever more interesting - who said Dandong doesn't have an interesting nightlife?
The Dandong Ferry travels from Incheon to Dandong on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 5pm. From Dandong to Incheon, it leaves on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday at 3pm. In both cases, the arrival will be on the following day. An Economy class ticket is 115,000 Won one way, a bed in a Deluxe cabin (cabin for 4 people) is 145,000 Won, a bed in a Suite (cabin for two) is 210,000 Won. Plus harbor tax of 5000 Won in Incheon and about 30 Yuan in Dandong. A 5% discount is given when buying a return ticket. Web site of the ferry company: http://www.dandongferry.co.kr (Korean only).
Visa: Foreigners from any country other than Japan, Brunei and Singapore need a visa to visit China. Make sure to obtain it beforehand at the Chinese embassy or consulate most convenient for you or through a travel agent.
Dandong is China's gateway to North Korea and vice versa. The only railway connection between Beijing and 
