evidence: The key to our speedboat turned, the engine roared and Chinese pop music blared. Beneath us, the Yalu River was a muddy brown; above, the sun shone. We hurried on toward our destination: Sinuiji, North Korea. [...] The ruins of the China-North Korea Friendship Bridge extend across the Yalu River, built in 1911 to celebrate the alliance between China and North Korea but destroyed by the Americans in the Korean War. Today, the bridge is a tourist attraction. For 30 yuan, you can walk the bridge to halfway across the river, where damaged concrete foundations lie abandoned in the water. Directly across on the North Korean banks stands a large white waterslide – never in use, but a strangely recent addition that was built within the last year. With binoculars, you can just make out a few people walking on the banks. Travellers pose for photos by a North Korean flag at the bridge’s Chinese-side base, the North Korean landscape in the background.