North Korea

Visiting North Korea was one of the most surreal travel destinations I’ve ever been to. It’s almost like stepping back into the 1950s. It’s also a strange feeling because you have yo be so careful about what you say and do there, and the average North Korean might be very hesitant about talking to a foreigner (if they can even speak English), so it’s almost like you’re only watching them through a pane of glass even though you’re traveling right in the country. If you’ve ever spent any period of time in South Korea, you would find North Korea so interesting, because there really is no comparison between the two. It’s hard to imagine that the two countries were ever the same country, and it’s equally hard to fathom that they could ever be reunited. They are just so different; like night and day. Definitely make friends with and establish trust with your North Korean guides within the first day of being there because they have the power to either make your trip really memorable or just kind of okay, and if they like and trust you, they will make it memorable! The only way to go to North Korea is with a tour group from Beijing, and Koryo Tours puts on one hell of a tour and the Brits who run this tour company are amazing as well. This is also the company that put out the documentaries about NoKo (Crossing the Line, The Game of their Lives, A State of Mind), so they really know their stuff about North Korea. Also, for people concerned about safety, don’t worry! At all times in North Korea, you will be accompanied by two guides, a driver, and likely a cameraman. Also, I think that North Korea understands how big of a blow to their image it would be if anything ever happened to a foreigner in North Korea (maybe it hasn’t always been that way in the past, but these days, I think that’s true), so you can feel pretty safe in North Korea.

The Panmunjom Tour is worth the visit. It is one of three ways into North Korea. The Panmunjom Tour explores the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of North and South Korea. Other ways into the country include a mountain tour via South Korea or a tour of Pyongyang the Capital City via Beijing. Pyongyang is extremely difficult to get into and requires months of visa preparation.

It is hard to describe the feelings of being in North Korea,
I guess it is perhaps something you have to experience for yourself with your own interpretations and perceptions,
Often when people write things from their own perceptions and they are read by others, the reader uses their own perception to analyse what was written, thus the true intention of the writer is lost, so perhaps with a place like North Korea, where so many people have their own ideas about it and there is so much controversy concerning the country
I shall say simply that it is a beautiful country with beautiful kind people and I would travel there again and I intend to again quite soon

Nature wise, it’s supposed to be beautiful. I’ll go when that crazy guy loses power first.

Make friends with your guide. Be unrelentingly friendly. He or she will determine what you see, where you go, to whom you can speak, and what you can take photos of. If they like you, they will spring amazing surprises on the group – you can see great things.

Six feet inside at the DMZ.

North Korea is near to my hometown and they share one boundary. I usually saw North Korea from one side of the river belongs to my country. People in North Korea usually wash their clothes beside river. I want to really go to here and not just see.

Went to DPRK in Sept 2004. Visited Pyongyang and Kaesong. Hard to describe what it was really like – you have to see for yourselves. Won’t forget the underground Chinese casino at the Yanggakdo Hotel (next to the ‘golden shower’ sauna) – we played blackjack on the first night in Pyongyang and I won $50 US!!

Bring lots of really small denomination Euro notes. These are accepted more readily than dollars, but are hard to change in the DPRK.

I’m just back from a 10-day trip in the DPRK, and looking at the tags given here it is painfully obvious how much the ideas about the country are shaped by what we hear in the western press. Go with open eyes and an open mind (knowing that what you’ll be shown is a selection just like what you see and hear in the West is a – different – selection) and you’ll come away with a very different picture of this country.

I really hope that late president’s Kim Il Sung’s idea of reuniting the “two Koreas” (really one country, one people, one language) as federal country with two states, each with their own system, will one day become reality. Economic development in the North (helped already by joint ventures with South Korea and China) will help making that dream a reality – but so will, in a small way, visits from people from other countries, providing a small “window on the world” through those guides (like ours) that are not only interested in teaching about their country but also in learning from their guests. What won’t help is demonizing the country.

I’ve come away admiring these proud people and their old culture and hope to return one day to see more, and see how they’ve progressed.

The picture shows one small aspect I’ve come to love: all main roads across the country (not just entrances and exits to cities as you often see) are lined with flowers. Even when growing food is hard work, a small amount of effort is given to grow a little beauty.