Travel advice for NK

[Mattloaf]

Im heading to North Korea next week for a vacation and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas of things to see or do?

I'll be going to the mass games of course and I'll be paraded around a few other locations by my mandatory government issued guide, but I do have a bit of time to myself as well and I'm interested in using every second I have there to the fullest.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks :thumbsup:

[jdmXSI]

Out side of what you are doing- Camp 22... j/k ;)

From what ive heard though you will have only government directed tours.

A small side note- A good friend of mine has always wanted to go to NK. Were there any special steps you had to take to be allowed access into NK?

[Mattloaf]

From what I understand you can only enter from China at the moment so your friend will need a Chinese visa. Other than that it's just an application away!

[KrisYYC]

You can't just simply enter North Korea and get a visa. You have to be booked on an organized tour by an approved tour company.

[eblend]

Or be a Russian! They love Russians there for some reason...should be getting my Russian passport soon! Planning to go there someday, should be fun!

[jdmXSI]

Originally posted by eblend
Or be a Russian! They love Russians there for some reason...should be getting my Russian passport soon! Planning to go there someday, should be fun!

Don't forget to bring tonnes of those twinkly type pastries they pay people with, you'll be a god! Or just get locked up...

Edit: sorry they are called Choco pies- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/8909888/Chocopie-inflation-in-North-Koreas-Kaesong-Industrial-Park.html

[eblend]

Originally posted by jdmXSI


Don't forget to bring tonnes of those twinkly type pastries they pay people with, you'll be a god! Or just get locked up...

Edit: sorry they are called Choco pies- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/8909888/Chocopie-inflation-in-North-Koreas-Kaesong-Industrial-Park.html

Could prolly bribe the guides to let you see something else. There was a show on Vice which showed how they travelled to NK. One of the big things that allowed them to go to other places than the standard fare was asking to pay respects to the "dear leader". Say you would like to buy flower and drop them off for the dear leader, and maybe they will let you see more.

[flipstah]

Originally posted by eblend


Could prolly bribe the guides to let you see something else. There was a show on Vice which showed how they travelled to NK. One of the big things that allowed them to go to other places than the standard fare was asking to pay respects to the "dear leader". Say you would like to buy flower and drop them off for the dear leader, and maybe they will let you see more.

Yup, that Vice documentary made me want to see what North Korea is all about.

Please let me know of your process and maybe I'll take a stab at it. :love:

[Forumolacabs]

Original Post Removed. (Please read the Forum Rules and Terms of Use (http://forums.beyond.ca/articles.php?action=data&item=1) before posting again, or risk getting banned).

[Mattloaf]

Well thank you very much for the wonderful information "clearly-not-a-bot". I think a cab company in Bangalore will be the perfect way to get the most out of my trip to NK.

*slow clap*

[Mattloaf]

Ok. Bought a few packs of Marlborough gold (I don't smoke, are these "good" smokes?), a HUGE box of Orion Choco-Pies and a western brand of hand cream in case we get a female guide. Any last minute guide gift suggestions?

I'm definitely going to try the "dear leader" flowers thing, cause that shit would just be cool.

Flipstah, do you have a link to the documentary you mentioned? I'd love to see it.

That being said, I leave in 10 hours! If I don't post my experiences up here 11 days from now it means I'm trapped in NK. Send the full force of the Canadian military in after me. Both those guys rock! :thumbsup:

[eblend]

Search Vice North Korea and its the first 3 videos posted on Youtube

[thrasher22]

http://www.vice.com/en_ca/the-vice-guide-to-travel/vice-guide-to-north-korea-1-of-3

Super jealous of this trip, should be cool!

[flipstah]

Originally posted by Mattloaf
Ok. Bought a few packs of Marlborough gold (I don't smoke, are these "good" smokes?), a HUGE box of Orion Choco-Pies and a western brand of hand cream in case we get a female guide. Any last minute guide gift suggestions?

I'm definitely going to try the "dear leader" flowers thing, cause that shit would just be cool.

Flipstah, do you have a link to the documentary you mentioned? I'd love to see it.

That being said, I leave in 10 hours! If I don't post my experiences up here 11 days from now it means I'm trapped in NK. Send the full force of the Canadian military in after me. Both those guys rock! :thumbsup:

As for the flower thing, you don't really "try"... you're more forced to do it.

You're limited to take pictures but do post them here if you can! :D

[ducaudi]

That is so full of awesome. Thank for the link to the video. Can't wait to watch it tonight!

[Mattloaf]

Back! Amazing trip. I was so freaking thrilled with it that I sat down with the owner of the company and ended up buying shares. Hahaha. I might be doing some TOURS!

It was very controlled, but quite a bit different than what you see in the vid. That documentary is so full of bullshit it's not even funny. I rode the subway, ate at random restaurants, went to a microbrewery, went to the north side of the DMZ and saw so many statues of the two dead Kim's I think I'm starting to understand Gangnam Style! We had guides constantly but they were VERY open about talking about their personal lives. They would clam up if you disagreed with them or were stupid enough to say something bad about the leader though. They answered just about all of my questions though.

We got searched on the way out, but the guy looking through my stuff didn't know how to use a Mac so he couldn't even find my pictures. Haha.

I'll post some of the cooler pics in the future.

Oh, and I didn't get to go to where the leaders are on display because the building is being renovated to house Kim Jung Il's body as well.

[eblend]

Nice. good to hear. Yah thats another thing, you want to hide your SD cards very well, and to avoid suspision put empty sd card (with just a few shots) into the camera, as the card may get confiscated

[n1zm0]

Is the subway really that far down? Doubles as a nuclear bunker kind of thing?

[Mattloaf]

Ya. Super far down. I can't say for sure why as the guides didn't say, and I probably wouldn't really take their word at face value anyways. Conspiracy theories aside, the section of subway that you're allowed to see goes under the fifth largest river in Korea so my guess (and that's all it is) is that it's to account for the riverbed.

[jdmXSI]

Glad to hear you had a great time! I can't wait to see those pics:thumbsup:

[culebra]

Hope you enjoyed the time in NK.

Few years back when both South and North Korea relations were ok, NK opened area called "Mt. Geumgang" to South Koreans which is facing border of South and North. As usual, area was strictly controlled and tourist needs to be accompanied with North Korean tour guide. There was a lady who woke up early in the morning and decided to go for a walk along the beach side. She accidentally went beyond the tourist area and got shot by North Korean coast guard. That incident caused the shutdown of entire tour program for South Koreans and all Hyundai staffs were banned from the site immediately. Oh forgot to mentioned that tour site was provided by NK but Hyundai dumped quite a bit of money to build accommodations and tourist facility but lost them all one day. I think this happened back in 07 or something..

[Sentry]

I'm extremely jealous. North Korea is fascinating.

[cam_wmh]

Originally posted by Sentry
I'm extremely jealous. North Korea is fascinating.

Absolutely agree.

Would be cool if you could jimmy rig a go-pro into your backpack strap or something.