In North Korea they have a saying: Pyongyang isn’t a city with many parks. It is a city inside a big park. So after a day of looking at monuments and statues we went to Kaeson Youth Park.

Kaeson Youth Park is a popular amusement park in Pyongyang. It has several rides in good condition, including a roller coaster. Several of the locals filled the place and were clearly having a good time.

Being the tourists we they let us jump the queues. Being short on time they only allowed for two rides. The first one we decided to ride was the pendulum ride.

I have a shameful confession to make. I’ve never been one for scary amusement park rides. For some reason when it comes to shaking hunks of metal hurling people along twisting and turning tracks I get a bit more than nervous.

There were a couple of us that decided not to ride. I could have made an excuse and stayed with them. Unfortunately pride got in the way and forced me to ride the pendulum for the first time in my life.

I actually found it quite fun and not as scary as I imagined it to be. Once it got going I enjoyed it. This mustn’t have been clear to the others though, as one person commented that I managed to turn whiter than usual.

The second ride we chose was the swing ride. Again, this was my first time on one of these. I shared a seat with my girlfriend. Much to her amusement I did not like this one at first.

Thankfully I got used to it. It was pretty amazing to be able to pick out landmarks such as the Grand People’s Study House while spinning through the air.

After our second ride we headed back. No gift shop this time, just back to Yanggakdo to drink a few beers before retiring.