Yanji

Korean-Chinese side dishes, kimchi, rice cakes and dried pollock all under one roof. Kimchi waits in tubs by type and goes by weight; ask for a taste and a vendor spears a piece on a toothpick. Ask a price in Korean and the answer comes back in Korean.

A folk village under Mao'er Mountain of old Korean thatched and tiled houses, moved here or rebuilt. Inside you can see the ondol floor heating and the kitchen firebox as they were. Many come to rent hanbok for photos, so the lanes are packed at weekends.

Across from Yanbian University's main gate, a building face stacked with Hangul signboards turned the crossing in front into a photo spot. People line the kerb around sunset, waiting for the signs to light. Cars use this road, so cross on the signal.

A hill south of town, named for its hat shape, where a forest trail leads up to a view of the whole Yanji basin. Locals climb it for their morning exercise, so the path is busiest around sunrise.

Called Changbaishan in China and Baekdu by Koreans; from Yanji you go up the north slope. The rim stays windy and cold in midsummer as well, so pack a jacket. Cloud often hides the crater lake, and many people keep a spare day for a second try.

About an hour east of Yanji, North Korea's Namyang shows across the Tumen River. A bridge between the two countries lands by the riverside park, and the water is narrow enough to make out windows on the far side. Better not to aim a long lens at that bank.

The house in Mingdong village, Longjing, where the poet Yun Dong-ju was born in 1917, restored. Stones cut with his poems line the yard, and the old Mingdong church survives next door. Nearly an hour by car from Yanji; a hired taxi beats public transport.

The pavilion of the Korean song Pioneer, on top of Biam Hill in Longjing. The pine in the lyrics died long ago, and the one there now was planted again. Look down from the pavilion and the Hailan River bends across the fields.

A school site that remembers Yun Dong-ju and Song Mong-gyu, its old classroom block kept as a memorial hall. Photographs and textbooks of the students of that time hang inside. It stands in central Longjing, so it goes with the birthplace in one trip.

A tower near the Tumen's mouth, where Hunchun runs out; from the top, China, North Korea and Russia lie in one view. Chinese territory stops right here, about 15 km before the sea, and never reaches the coast.

The prefecture museum shows how ethnic Koreans crossed the Tumen to settle here and how they lived after. Farm tools, wedding clothes and old textbooks carry Hangul, so objects read before labels do. Tickets are issued on showing a passport.

The river splits central Yanji east to west, a promenade running the length of each bank. At nightfall the bridges light up, and locals dance to music on the riverside squares. Walk across two or three bridges and the city layout falls into place.

A morning market on the Burhatong bank, open from about sunrise and done before noon. Fresh pancakes, rice cakes, tofu and mountain greens sell off handcarts, more neighbourhood market than the West Market. Sleep in and most stalls are gone.

Where Heaven Lake drains north over a cliff; the north-slope shuttle covers it the same day as the crater. The approach crosses ground where hot water wells up, and stalls sell eggs and corn boiled in it. Getting to the falls takes a long uphill walk.