North Korean (DPRK) trip

hi as some of might know from previous posts i a bit of a traveller, my most recent trip was to Beijing China, followed by a 10 day trip to North Korea (DPRK) after which i then left North Korea by bus over the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge to Dandong China.

Well i have to say i was pleasantly surprised by DPRK, its not like what western media says its like now before you start to say that they(the guides) only show you what they want to show you, i would like to point out this is only to a certain point, as i got to see things we weren't suppose to see, such as artillery positions, camouflage radar installations, SP artillery driving 20 metres away, and soldiers marching through a town carrying Ak-47's, RPD, RPG, and type 73's (NK copy of Czech Vz. 52 machine gun), i was only ever left on my own when getting on the bus from Sinuiju (NK) over to Dandong (china) and when i was on the train from Pyongyang to Sinuiju in north/west DPRK.

Life isnt as bad as some make out people are not starving in fact theres plenty of food around and people did not seem to be starved looking at them, there is a lot of building work going on as many older buildings are being knocked down with new blocks of flats being build, and pictures of the west showing people cutting grass to feed themselves is total crap, yes people cut the grass but thats because thats there job, and if anyone believes that North Korean people eat grass then i challenge them to try and eat grass and see what happens, grass cant be digested by humans, even cows whos main source of food is grass need four stomachs just to digest it. I was lucky enough to visit the DMZ the day before they closed it due high tension between the two Koreas over mine blasts and artillery strikes. I was also there for the 70th anniversary of Liberation day.

I will post some pics below but cant post them all as i took 595 pictures and 46 video clips.

my other travels this included Ethiopia visiting and spending time with various tribes, visiting erte ale active volcano, and danakil depression, then a short trip to Somaliland (breakaway region in northern Somalia). Last year saw me in Uzbekistan including aral sea, Tajikistan including Pamir highway, and Ukraine which included Kiev, Pervomaisk missle silo, Donetsk, Crimea, and 5 days staying in the exclusion at Chernobyl, this is my second time to Ukraine, Crimea and Chernobyl, but last year was different, Kiev maidan square was in ruins, Crimea was part of Russia (Russian visa needed) and Donetsk was taken over and no Ukrainian government in place.If anyone wants any info or pics please ask.

KoTeMoRe wrote:Fucking Communist impressive, gotta find the old archives, to show credentials, like when DPRK was looking like any other second world State and China in the 80's. Thanks for the pict res man.

thanks, if you want pics of the subway and trains, and monuments etc, then i have pics of them as well, like i said have loads of pics.

George1 wrote:d_taddei2 how are the women in N.Korea?

take a look lol.










does anyone know how to post videos?

max steel wrote:I guess N.Korean women don't feel awkward in taking snap with tourists


You can't upload your videos straight here.  Have to upload it somewhere else and link it here.

ah i see might have to upload my vids to youtube.

the guides i had were really open and i could ask them anything, one male guide even talked about North Korea should attack the south and take it back, and was bad mouthing Obama and asked me what my views were on certain opinions.

pics from the metro system of Pyongyang enjoy

some of my video clips from North Korea if anyone is interested.

Book. wrote:

@d_taddei2
Nk look clean. look metro city

its the cleanest country i have ever been to, and everyone is well dressed, nobody is allowed to wear jeans as its seen as an american thing, lol, but despite what people may thing or read, the guides were telling me that they love there country so much that why would you want to ruin it by throwing rubbish on the floor? i suppose it makes sense, everything is provided by the state free housing, free education, there was even brand new built basketball courts, table tennis, football pitches etc for everyone to use, didnt get a chance to take pictures of these as i was in the bus driving past them, the media really does portray in a different light, there was no people starving, people seemed happy, and i was surprised at the number of new cars, and a lot of the old buildings were being torn down and new being built in there place. but don't get wrong it is still pretty weird rules in place and people dont have as much freedom as we do in the west, such as internet and being able to send post/letters etc out of the country.

George1 wrote:taddei what about entertainment? are there any clubs in N.Korea?

yeah theres clubs i went to the diplomat club, which is a club and karaoke bar, it was pretty nice. many people seem to sit in small bars, and hotel bars and drink, and every man smokes in North Korea, women don't and they prefer chinese cigarettes, there was also theme parks, small roller coasters, swimming pools, water parks, in fact when i visited the swimming pool in the hotel which was being used by locals it was pretty funny as i was the only westerner in there and they just all stared and made gestures as to how hairy and pale my body was lol.

flamming_python wrote:

d_taddei2 wrote:

Book. wrote:

@d_taddei2
Nk look clean. look metro city

its the cleanest country i have ever been to, and everyone is well dressed, nobody is allowed to wear jeans as its seen as an american thing, lol, but despite what people may thing or read, the guides were telling me that they love there country so much that why would you want to ruin it by throwing rubbish on the floor? i suppose it makes sense, everything is provided by the state free housing, free education, there was even brand new built basketball courts, table tennis, football pitches etc for everyone to use, didnt get a chance to take pictures of these as i was in the bus driving past them, the media really does portray in a different light, there was no people starving, people seemed happy, and i was surprised at the number of new cars, and a lot of the old buildings were being torn down and new being built in there place. but don't get wrong it is still pretty weird rules in place and people dont have as much freedom as we do in the west, such as internet and being able to send post/letters etc out of the country.

Pyongyang life is reserved mainly for party functionaries, specialists and people who just got lucky. I don't think more than 1-2% of the population lives there.

There was an article by someone who visited NK and wrote about it on Huffington Post. It's heavily biased as can be expected, but full of interesting information:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erick-tseng/8-days-in-north-korea_b_8473368.html

yeah the article is pretty good, but i disagree with Pyongyang being reserved for specialists etc, as i witnessed street sweepers, labourers, factory works, but i do believe that if your high up within the ranks of the army or other government position then yes maybe you will be first to get a new built apartment, but our guide's husband worked for the government and they stayed in a normal apartment block just like anyone else.

Also during my trip which lasted 10 days, i visited different areas, and stayed in other cities and towns, and to be totally honest the other cities and towns were just as clean, people weren't starving, wearing nice clothes, and yet more construction, its seem to me that there was a lot of construction projects going on throughout the country, i was also put on the train at Pyongyang and travelled to Sinuiju without a guide and there was nothing really stopping me from getting off at any of the stops on the way.

from memory i visited Dongrim, kaesong (inc DMZ), Sariwon, Nampo, mount Myohyang, and stayed over night in Sinuiju, and Wonsan as well as other areas such as waterfalls, factories, tombs, etc etc, i ended my trip by leaving Sinuiju by bus and going over the North Korean/Chinese friendship bridge ending up in Dandong in China and stayed a night there.

a few more pics enjoy (just too many to post out of the 500+ pictures)



TRAIN STATION


BLOCK OF APARTMENTS WONSAN


MAIN STREET SINUIJU


COUNTRY LIFE,

Dima wrote:Excellent Job d_taddei2

Highly appreciate and admire your clean sheet report/observation on DPR Korea. All the earlier documentaries/reports that I have seen or read are mostly with a pre-concieved notion and mentality that the particular individual have had after getting exposed to the various media reports. So their tone and content was basically based on/centered on the image created by the western MSM of DPR Korea. Even the earlier RT documentary was sort of pathetic as the reporter went in their with sort of an established mentality about the nation rather than learning it from his own clean sheet.

Good job buddy. Can't thank you enough for a clean refreshing report as seen by a citizen not soiled by prior western reports!

I would have loved to see and hear more about the agricultural sectors, pharmacy, their locally manufactured consumer products and the various expos that happen in DPR Korea, but not given any coverage in MSM.
Also, I would love to see their rocket/satellite launch videos/animation in HD, their animation on the launch - the trajectory, progress, status, as seen during their last couple of launches have been excellent. Loved it!

I have my own personal observations of DPRK that I have over the years seen trickle from the Japanese and Korean media. Both are biased, as expected, to their northern neighbor, but the Japanese at times let out truth and if you are lucky you catch it in their broadcast/programmes. One such fact was same as what you mentioned, North Koreans may not be rich and 'glamorous' as their southern neighbor, but people are not 'widely' starving to death (as propagated by western media) and they enjoy their own little life with whatever is at their disposal with family on the beach etc.

Wish you were there during their satellite launch. would have loved to get some good pictures from the various sites.  


KCNA official website
http://www.kcna.kp/

hi thanks,
they have collective farms but the day i went to visit was National holiday so nobody around, but they were telling us that everybody spends 14 days a year helping the farmers out as to give something back to the state, and they usually get some food in return as well.
I also visited a cosmetics factory, water bottling plant, they seem to produce a lot of there own things, the bicycles you see then riding around on may look old but there new built, it seems as far as bicycles go they have kept the same design since the 1970's lol, but a bicycle is a bicycle to them no fancy bicycles here, they also produce there own cars but i think they had help from the chinese in setting up this, i will post some pics etc, North Korea is also famous for its Ginseng products, such as Ginseng tea, and soap, of which i bought both, they also produce vases, which i also bought but only a small one due to limited space, i even managed to buy a North Korean film on dvd called "Order no.27" havent watched it yet, also bought some books in english called "man's destiny and juche idea", "Kim Jong Il on the Juche idea", and "Kim Jong Un towards final victory", but yet again havent read them yet.

you mention rocket launches i got a chance to visit there museum in regards to rockets etc, and they darken the room and you sit and stare at the roof which is a giant dome, and they show you a video on the dome of the stars and rocket launches likewise i will post pics unfortunately it was too dark for my camera to take vids/pics of the show.

your spot on with the bias media and i also think that journalists who visit DPRK then come back and do a report they totally go over the top and make it out to be something different, but then again would anyone outside of DPRK really want to know the truth or some made up  madness,

when i went to the beach i was swimming with the locals and the beach was busy as it was holiday season and people did stare me out of interest. But you have to ask yourself if the people in the country were really unhappy there is nothing stopping the people and the peoples army from starting a coup like every country, the people have a breaking point and that obviously hasn't been reached in DPRK. yes they will never be millionaires, drive fancy cars, and they maybe never travel the world, but they see what they have and everyone in society gets the same. One thing that did interest me was that once a year the people of Sinuiju get to go over to Dandong(China) to visit, so its obviously not as bad as some make out. But they cant receive mail from outside of the country as i wanted to keep in contact with the guides but it was impossible, i have heard some tour agencies can receive mail and pass it on but its difficult to do so. Another interesting point was some christian americans have been given permission to set up a goat farm in the north east of the country and have been given special passes to move around.

thanks for replying and taking the time to view the pics,
pics will follow soon and i think i have a clip of one of the factories but will have to upload to youtube