Trip to North Korea - review of an unforgettable journey (pt. 1)
Last night I was posting a couple of reviews of places I’d visited in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (aka North Korea) online when I got a message asking me if I would be able to write a description of my trip, the places I visited and the experiences I had. I’m always up for fulfilling requests, and so I replied that I’d be happy to recall my DPRK trip. Please take into account that this trip was taken back in June 2005, and so a few of the minor details may be incorrect or information a little incomplete. I do have my travel journal at the side of my computer to help me, and will try to be as descriptive as possible.
First of all, and the question that many people ask me: Why the hell do you go to North Korea?! The answer is simple: I like to do things a little differently. Most people think a great holiday is sitting on a beach in Thailand for a week, burning themselves and getting hammered every night, waking up around midday etc. I would much prefer to see places and do things so that when I come back from my holiday I’ve got a feeling of accomplishment. I wasn’t really looking at holiday destinations when I was browsing the BBC news website and a story about DPRK’s nuclear ambitions when I saw a link entitled, Holidays in North Korea. In that article I read about a company called Koryo Tours and from then my interest rose hugely. This company, run out of a Beijing office by 2 British guys, arranged visas and did regular tours to DPRK throughout the year, during which you had the chance of visiting and seeing things most of the world will 
never see. This was right up my street, and I exchanged a bunch of emails with one of the guys, getting more information on the trips and what was possible (unfortunately no diving was allowed, by I did ask and they did enquire!). In the end, I settled for a 6-day tour of the country, flying into Pyongyang and coming back by train to Beijing. Not only would this tour include seeing some spectacular and rare sights, but there was also the prospect of going to see the World Cup Qualifying match between DPRK and Japan, to be played at the country’s May Day Stadium. This is the biggest stadium in the world, seating over 150,000 people. To put it into perspective a little, it is over twice the size of the Olympic Stadium in Seoul, South Korea.
I did a little research about the country, and although information is fairly limited, I managed to pick up an excellent travel guide and DVD documentary about the country. First of all, the Bradt Travel Guide to North Korea was an excellent resource, both before my trip and during my travels in DPRK. It includes a lot practical travel information and covers almost every area of DPRK that you might want to visit. If you ever manage to go there, this book would be highly recommended. Through Koryo Tours, I also managed to get my hands on a copy of a BBC documentary called A State Of Mind. This is a fascinating documentary, and is one of the best DVDs I have ever bought. It revolves around 2 girls who are preparing for the Mass Games in DPRK. More about these later, but in summary the Mass Games is a huge choreographed gymnastics spectacle involving thousands of gymnasts. In simple terms, it makes the Olympic opening ceremony look like a primary school festival. I will talk a little about this later, but will leave you with a photo of the event itself (unfortunately not mine, I didn’t have chance to see it on my visit as it is usually held in April/May and August/September).
As for currency, we were asked to bring anything, although Euros would be preferred. US$ were accepted, but if you paid for things in Euros you would get a much better price for things. In DPRK they have their own currency, although foreigners are strictly not supposed to have it for some reason. The money situation is a little strange at the best of times, and sometimes downright bizarre. Firstly, very few places will have change, so you should take small denomination notes of your money. Indeed, a number of places will have no money at all! For example, one night we were sat at the bar in our hotel having a beer or two after a hard day of sightseeing. I was about to pay the tab and head off to bed as I was feeling a little weary so I went to the bar with my bill (around 7 Euros) and I gave her a 10 Euro note. I sat around for 5 minutes or so waiting for my change, and then the waitress came back to me, said “No change” and handed me another beer! What an ingenious way of doing things: we won’t give you change, but we’ll just give you more of what you’ve been drinking. I’d have been paralytic if I’d have only had a 50 Euro note to hand! We were also asked to bring small gifts for the guides we would meet, as they would be more appreciated than money. So, as advised, I bought some hand cream for any female guides I would meet (Nivea is favoured by them, if my memory serves me correctly), and some cigarettes and chocolate for the men (the more nicotine, the better).
We had a brief meeting in Beijing 2 days before we travelled, to sort out our passport visas and be given a few guidelines for DPRK. It was all fairly routine stuff (be respectful, ask before taking photos etc) but it had to be said because if not then someone would always go too far. The thing is, in DPRK the foreigner wouldn’t get into much trouble about that, but their tour guide would be severely reprimanded and the company may not get as much chance to tour the country. We were especially told to be respectful and nice to the main guides, because if they like the group then you might see things that not every tour group gets to see. We were also told that, disappointingly, the World Cup Qualifying game between DPRK & Japan had been moved to a neutral location (Thailand) because of crowd trouble in a previous game. Some people were unhappy with this, but there really was nothing we could do. We could complain and be grumpy through the entire trip, or we could make the most of what we would see. Even though the Kumsusan Memorial Palace of Kim Il Sung could not be visited due to renovations, I still knew this would be an unforgettable journey. With that in mind, 2 days later we boarded the twice-weekly Beijing-Pyongyang flight, courtesy of Air Koryo.
Now, when you travel somewhere, there are certain signs that your trip is going to be an eventful one. Being on an flight to one of the most secretive countries in the world, sat inbetween a guy from the World Food Programme an an Ethiopian arms dealer is one such sign! But this was the situation in which I found myself, sat in this plane straight out of the 70s. But to their credit, both guys were very friendly, although the Ethiopian did bend the truth slightly, saying he was visiting DPRK on holiday. It was only later I found out he travels there almost every month, and always says to people he’s going on holiday. I wonder how big the North Korean tourism business is in Ethiopia. The mind boggles. There was also a Spanish guy on the flight in a communist-style suit with a big medal, who told us he was connected to the DPRK government. We were told by one of the tour company guys to steer clear though, so I kept my distance.
The first thing you see when you get off the plane in Pyongyang (Google Earth link) is a huge picture of Kim Il Sung on the roof of the airport. As I looked back at the plane, I noticed the air crews pouring water on the smoking plane tyres! Think someone might have landed a little too quickly! Other than that, the flight was great. Everyone was slightly confused as to why the landing gear was lowered at about 20,000ft, but who are we to tell the pilot what to do! In the airport, bags were collected and items such as MP3 players and mobile phones were handed in to customs officials as they are not allowed in the country. Contrary to popular opinion though, camera and video cameras were fine to bring in. The guides introduced themselves to us, and our main guide was a 
woman with perfect English, called Mrs Lee. She was an awesome guide… very friendly and knowledgeable about everything. She was one of the government-appointed guides, but talked about everything with the minimum of bias and the highest amount of information. She’d obviously met quite a few tour groups, and was full of questions about our families and what we did in our home countries. A few people brought photos of our photos and lives from home, and it was a nice feeling to introduce them to her. There were actually 2 guides appointed to our tour group of 20 people. There were 2 reasons for this I think, neither of which was that they could spy on us better! Firstly, the group was quite big and they wanted to manage everyone in the best way. The second reason could be (and I hasten to add that I don’t know this for sure) that the 2 guides could censor each other. If there was only one, then it is possible that they could say something negative about the country or its politics; with 2 people there is always someone else listening. We also had a cameraman walking around with our group, who would make a VCD of our trip that we could purchase at the end of our trip. That was a nifty little idea, and I said I would definitely like a copy of that.
One of the first things that hit me as we entered Pyongyang on our tour bus was how clean it was. There were lots of people, both adults & children, who were pulling up weeds along the streets and paths by hand. Technologically-advanced, this city is not, but it looked friendly enough so far. None of the military 
parades of huge missiles evident so far, that you usually see in the western media. Our first stop on the tour was Fountain Park (Google Earth link). This was a wide open space (Pyongyang has a lot of these) with many very large water fountains, along with some beautiful statues of women dancing. In the photo to the right, you can see some of the Fountain Park, along with the Grand People’s Study House (Google Earth link) in the background. There were a few kids walking around and we managed to get some friendly acknowledgments from them by smiling and waving. The power of a smile, even in the so-called Axis of Evil, is immense. A small group of girls were walking across the park and they came over. One of the girls proceeded to give us a 2-minute jamming session on her guitar-like thing (can you tell I don’t play music?!) while her friends looked on. As advised, we asked for permission to take some photos of the girls and the surroundings, and then started snapping away. To be honest, there were not the restrictions on taking photos that you might expect. Of course, nobody tried to take photos of military installations or personnel, but whenever we asked to take shots, the answer was always “Yes”.
From the park, we headed to our next stop (and the most important stop on the tour): the bronze statue of Kim Il Sung at Mansudae (Google Earth link) . For those of you unfamiliar with DPRK’s history & politics, Kim Il Sung was the leader of 
the country from 1948 (when the country was founded) until his death in 1994. Following his death, there were 3 years of official mourning. This period of time with Kim Il Sung’s mourning, coupled with bad harvests and declining living conditions, became known as the Arduous March. The statue was said by our guide to weigh as much as all the hearts of the Korean people. Note that the word “Korean” was used to signify both Koreas. In DPRK they still say that Korea is one country, and that they will reunify in time. Around the statue are 2 other monuments, both depicting people fighting in the Korean War (called in DPRK The Victorious Fatherland Liberation War) from 1950 to 1953. As the statue, a few of us bought flowers and laid them at the front of the statue, before walking back and paying our respects by bowing. This was the first occasion I realised that some people might not be suited to a trip to DPRK. You have to go through the bowing to Kim Il Sung, and just accept it, even if you don’t approve of the leadership of the country. It is all about showing respect and politeness for a foreign country in which you are a rare guest. It’s a similar deal with the stories that you are told. Sometimes they seem far fetched, the guides know they sound far fetched, you know they do, and the guides know that you know. But the key is just to play along with it, take it in with interest and use your head a little. A couple on our tour tried to ask questions that were pushy or embarrassing, and all that did was make the guide flustered and upset at us. Nobody benefited and, most likely, everyone lost out. So if you do consider a trip to this fascinating country, bear that in mind.
It looks like this travelogue could get pretty sizeable, so I’ll call it a day for here. In the next entry though, I’ll be describing much more of the tour, as it gets into full swing. If you have any comments or any questions about the country, please let me know. I’m by no means an expert but will try to answer anything I can.
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hiya dave, just wanted to say that it’s great to stop by and catch up with how you’ve been doing! also, i think it’s a great idea to post on your DPRK trip - your stories and photos provide a much more realistic version of the country than most media reports… maybe i’ll be able to find A State of Mind somewhere around here, too.
Hi Dave,
What’s the quality of the nightlife in DPRK
Dave,
Fascinating log on DPRK so far, do love your travel journals. Look forward to the next instalment.
Bim x
Dana - thanks for the comments. Glad to hear you’re reading my blog and keeping up with it. Hope all’s going well for you in the States. Good luck finding A State Of Mind over there; you may have to do what I did and buy it from the source. You won’t be disappointed.
Guy at the airport - Nightlife isn’t exactly up to Eden standards, or even Soi Reggae on a Saturday night, but it was interesting! Live music and/or karaoke at a restaurant followed by a couple of beers at the hotel was about it. There was a casino/brothel area run by Chinese in the basement of the hotel, but it wasn’t open when we were there.
Bim - thanks for the comments once again. They’re always encouraging and appreciated:)