North Korea - Scott of the World

Overview

Whenever I travel I’m always looking to travel to unique or undiscovered destinations that feel like an adventure and are away from the general tourist trail. I also like to experience a rich culture and learn something for myself and I thought that The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (aka DPRK – North Korea) was the perfect opportunity to combine all of these with the fact nobody I know had been to the country before.

Trips to North Korea aren’t for everybody because you won’t have the freedom to explore the country at will. Your itinerary will have been agreed between your tour company and the North Koreans in advance and every group, even groups of one person, will be accompanied by at least two guides who will be with you for the entire time in the country. You must follow the rules the guides give you and you will not be able to leave your hotel without them.

If that doesn’t bother you, and you are willing to respect North Korean culture, then a trip here can be very rewarding. The architecture, scenery and culture of the country are all beautiful and you will learn a lot. You will also see ane experience a lot of things that you will not find anywhere else in the world.

Many people wonder about the safety of a trip to North Korea, and several of my friends asked me whether my visit would be safe, but I felt safer here than I have in many places around the world. The guides that were with us in country kept us safe and watched out for us all the time and would not have let anything happen to us – they wanted us to have a great time and see the best of North Korea and they did this incredibly well.

I was a little worried about the food before visiting the country – the staple diet always contains Kimchi (cold, spicy pickled cabbage) and I knew I wouldn’t like this but we were always presented with many options for all of our meals. Our breakfasts each morning were buffet style and most evening meals were family service where all of the food was on the table for us to help ourselves. The food was not of the highest quality compared to some places I have visited but it was always filling and you will definitely not go hungry on a trip here.

My Trips

October 9th – October 16th, 2010 [view blog]
A trip to The DPRK to see the highlight of the country including The DMZ, the sights of Pyongyang and the Arirang Mass Games, among others. I flew into the country on Air Koryo and took the train back to Beijing.

My Experiences

	International Friendship Exhibition – This is a huge complex of bunkers built into the hills north of Pyongyang near Mt Myohyang that contain all of the gifts that were presented to President Kim il-Sung and Leader Kim Jong-il. Most visits here will only see a small selection of rooms but you’ll see everything from vases to armoured trains.
	West Sea Barrage – This is a dam that plugs the estuary of the Taedong River and helps to irrigate the surrounding farm land. It is a structure of great pride to the North Korean people and many trips to the country will include a visit here to showcase the facility and allow you to get out of the city for a couple of days.
	De-Militarized Zone – Every trip to the country includes a trip to the DMZ, which forms the border between North Korea and South Korea. We were given a tour by a military officer who showed us around a selection of exhibits telling us the history of the DMZ before showing us down to the border with the south. One of my favourite travel photo is one from here of me straddling the border between North and South.
	Mineral Water Bottling Plant – We were shown around a water bottling plant in the countryside outside of Pyongyang. While this didn’t rate at the top of my experiences within the country I found it very interesting to learn the bottling process as it was something I didn’t know. It was also great to taste the freshly bottled water – you can’t get much fresher than straight out of the ground!
	Pyongyang – The capital city and showcase of North Korea I spent a lot of time here seeing the sights. It’s a very clean and quiet city and contains a wealth of cultural sights such as monuments, museums and the Mausoleum of President Kim il-Sung. Key sights are listed below.
	Schoolchildren’s Palace – I felt very untalented after visiting the Schoolchildren’s Palace. The Palace is an after-school facility where the children who show the most talent in the arts are nurtured to maximise their potential and fine-tune their skills. It seems to be working as the artwork we saw and the music we heard were amazing, especially as it was created by young children. The visit ended with a music and dance performance in the auditorium and I was left in awe with how talented the children were.
	Mass Games – One of the highlights of my visit was when I saw a performance of the Arirang Mass Games. The mass games are a gymnastic and musical extraveganza containing up to 100,000 performers including 10,000 children who hold up cards to make the images at the far side of the stadium. It was definitely spectacular so if you’re in town in September / October and are offered a chance to attend then make sure you say yes.
	Fatherland Liberation War Museum – This is a facility containing many exhibits and artifacts from what the west call the Korean War. I’m not much of a museum person but I enjoyed my time here and found the exhibits interesting to see. There’s even a 360-degree diorama depicting a scene from a famous conflict which you can see.
	Kumsusan Memorial Palace – We spent a few hours visiting on a very moving tour here. The Kumsusan Memorial Palace is the former residence, and now Mausoleum, of President Kim il-Sung. You are shown exhibits from the life of the president before being taken into a room where his embalmed body is laying in state. I felt honored to have visited this facility, and believe that it is also now the resting place of leader Kim Jong-il.
	Pyongyang Metro – The metro is one of the main methods of transport around the city for residents and is so deep it doubles as a shelter in case of war or bomb attack. The stations are the most grand I have ever seen anywhere in the world and if you’re interested in transport it’s a great step back in time. Reports I had read online said we would only travel one stop along the line on a special refurbished train that would be reserved for us and no locals but don’t believe everything you read online – we travelled several stops on a regular train with the locals.
	Yanggakdo Hotel – Our hotel was on an island in the middle of the Taedong River. This meant that we were kept segregated from the rest of the city but it did provide some great views and mean that we were able to wander around in the hotel grounds to get some fresh air unlike if we stayed at the Koryo Hotel in the city. The hotel rooms were spacious and clean and the hotel contained a communications office, bar, several restaurants, a shop, laundry service, bowling alley, pool hall and more.
	Fireworks – I was lucky enough to be looking out of my room enjoying the view of Pyongyang during the final celebrations for the 65th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Party of Korea. There had been parades all day, watched by Leader Kim Jong-il and his successor Kim Jong-Un, and the celebrations culminated with a mass ralley in Kim il-Sung Square. We were not allowed to attend but I did see a VERY impressive fireworks display from my room – no photos unfortunately but there is a video within my main blog posts.
	Train to Beijing – I was a bit reluctant to travel back to Beijing on a 24 hour long train and initially wanted to fly back to China but I’m glad I took the train. It was a great chance to relax and chat to the other members of the group after a very packed itinerary and we saw some great scenery along the way. Unfortunately photos are not allowed from the train while it is in Korea but I was able to take a few photos at Pyongyang Station, and of the train while in China. I only went as far as Beijing but you can take the train all the way from Pyongyang to Moscow if you want to.

Other Highlights

There are so many things to see in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea that even with one of the extended trips that some tour companies offer you will never see everything. Other things I saw, however, include a hot spring resort, the military circus, the maternity hospital, library, an orphanage, a film studio, a cemetary of war heroes, a captured American spy ship, lots of monuments, another museum, a buddhist temple, the tomb of King Kongmin, the birth place of President Kim il-Sung, a city park, a school, the bronze statue of President Kim il-Sung and much more. Every trip to the country will be packed full and you will never find yourself bored.

Conclusion

I am glad I visited this country and would like to visit again some time in the future so that I’m able to see some more of the country. This will have to wait until I visit other places on my to-do list but I feel very honoured to have visited the DPRK and feel it helped me grow as a person. If you’re reading this and are considering visiting you’ll most likely already know if it is a place for you. It’s definitely not a place for families with young children but if you are willing to respect the culture and rules of the country, and want to visit a unique destination, then it is a place I would highly recommend. Trips here can work out pricey compared to some trips but they offer very good value for money when you think about how much is included.

If you decide to visit The DPRK make sure you take plenty of Euros – they will offer the best exchange rate of all currencies you can use and most items are priced in Euros anyway. If you can make sure you take lots of small notes and coins (0.5, 1 and 2 Euros) as you will find these incredibly useful – as will the North Koreans due to the lack of people paying with coins. For example on my last day in Pyongyang the cashier at a souvenir shop saw I had coins and asked if she could have all of the coins I had (around 50 Euros) in exchange for notes of the same value.

Photo Highlights

(Please note – I have been given permission to include details of my trip on my blog by the tour company but the names of my guides as well as photos of them have left out to respect their privacy. It is forbidden for journalists to visit The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on a tourist visa and it is forbidden for us to publish information about our trip in any capacity without permission. As a result I do NOT give permission for anything I write about North Korea in this blog, or any photos I upload of North Korea, to be used anywhere for any purpose other than reading directly on my blog if you are considering travelling to North Korea as a tourist. In addition I do NOT give permission for my name, my blog’s address, or any photos of me to be used or quoted anywhere for any purpose related to The DPRK. If you breach this notice you will be subject to legal action from the tour company. Thank you for your understanding.

If you feel that the post / page containing this notice breaches any regulations or if it contains any information or photos which should be changed or removed to respect the rules of the tour company or the traditions of The DPRK please let me know ASAP so I can fix the problem.)