North Korea tour last week

MickeyFinns

MickeyFinns

MickeyFinns

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Joined
17 Nov 2006
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Tooting, London
Hi all,

I just saw the thread on the nuclear test last week. I was leading a tour in Pyongyang at the time and we didn't feel the earthquake at all although some of my friends in Northern China did. China is pretty annoyed as they evacuated a lot of schools as a precaution.

It barely made the domestic news in North Korea, mostly saw it on Al Jazeera in the hotel.

We did get taken to see the scorch marks from the launch site of the ballistic missiles early this month though which was pretty interesting.

Anyway I just thought I'd offer to answer any questions anyone had about North Korea whilst I'm at it!
 
Genuinely Pyongyang is a really nice city to travel around. Incredible buildings and some good scenery too. There are more opportunities these days to meet locals as well.

We went to the beer festival and people were super friendly. Some senior workers party members actually invited a few people from my group to drink with them and were buying them beers which was crazy to see, they'd normally be really standoff-ish. Even had locals taking photos of us on their phones with their kids and the like. So so different to first time I visited 5 years ago.

Obviously, the country has a lot of problems and large swathes of the countryside have a low standard of living. So yeah the rest of the place isn't far off of Rhyl.
 
Cosimo said:
Do they follow you around everywhere and do they stop you taking photos/videos?
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They do follow you but not as much as they used too.

The group was as follows;

26 clients
3 local North Korean guides
1 tour leader (me)
1 local bus driver

We climbed a mountain one day and were just left to our own devices as there was only one path up it. You could've run off into the forrest if you'd really wanted too.

Most of the rest of time you just need to be within the local guides or my line of sight. We have free time in some of the public areas and you can walk about fairly freely.

You can photo basically everything except for military or construction. If you've got serious camera gear though they may worry that you're a journalist (think full frame cameras with battery packs, multiple bodies and lenses significantly over 300mm).

Saying that they don't even check cameras or bags on the way out most of the time.
 
Always interested to read your travel stories and info, thanks for posting!!!

MickeyFinns said:
We went to the beer festival and people were super friendly. Some senior workers party members actually invited a few people from my group to drink with them and were buying them beers which was crazy to see, they'd normally be really standoff-ish. Even had locals taking photos of us on their phones with their kids and the like. So so different to first time I visited 5 years ago.
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So were the locals genuine locals with phones, or were they staged locals/actors? Always seem to read that when we see them acting normally (I remember reading about the car showroom), it is an act trying to show us that everything is like it is here.
 
Chonky said:
Always interested to read your travel stories and info, thanks for posting!!!

So were the locals genuine locals with phones, or were they staged locals/actors? Always seem to read that when we see them acting normally (I remember reading about the car showroom), it is an act trying to show us that everything is like it is here.
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Glad to hear it! :)

Genuine locals. I really don't believe any of the rumours about things being staged. Some people were so wasted I saw one Korean guy throwing up everywhere and a couple of others being carried out by friends.

I know Brits living and working in Pyongyang who have visited the beer festival on days with no tourists and it was still rammed with locals.
 
I find nk to be quite a tragic place. On the other hand having such unique, isolated culture not buggered up entirely by western input is quite cool.
 
Your NK trips sound a lot like the trips I've been on to Ukraine. As many as you can get on the bus, guides for Chernobyl and Pripyat and the organisers. I'm going in a fortnight for the 3rd time.

I'd be tempted with a well organised trip to NK. Whats the schedule and prices please?
 
EddScott said:
Your NK trips sound a lot like the trips I've been on to Ukraine. As many as you can get on the bus, guides for Chernobyl and Pripyat and the organisers. I'm going in a fortnight for the 3rd time.

I'd be tempted with a well organised trip to NK. Whats the schedule and prices please?
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Haha we don't try and squeeze too many on the bus usually, 26 is actually our absolute limit before we start splitting groups in half in North Korea.

We actually organise tours to Chernobyl too, we arranged the Top Gear episode if you saw that?

I had a post deleted by a mod before for mentioning the agency I work with so won't say the name.

The standard tour is 3 full days in NK with two half days travelling in and out. £699 from Beijing or £619 from Dandong (£100 cheaper in Winter for either option).
 
MickeyFinns said:
[...]

I know Brits living and working in Pyongyang who have visited the beer festival on days with no tourists and it was still rammed with locals.
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Cool, I didn't realise any foreign nationals really worked/lived in North Korea!

What do they do? If you don't mind my asking!
 
Dunks said:
Cool, I didn't realise any foreign nationals really worked/lived in North Korea!

What do they do? If you don't mind my asking!
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The Brits I know are diplomats at the embassy but there are numerous westerners over there. The head coach of their football team is Norwegian.

There is a great book called a Capitalist in North Korea by a swiss businessman who tells of his time living in Pyongyang if you are interested :).
 
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