Nov 5th, 2009 at 2:00PM: "You're going where?!" my father asked when I told him of my plans to go to Colombia. The Colombia he knows of, the one from the 1980's, is filled with cocaine, street violence, and Pablo Escobar's thugs. The country's days as a dangerous destination are gone, but its stigma still remains.
Colombia isn't the only now-safe country still considered by the masses to be too dangerous to visit. ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
NorthKorea posts
Not-so Dangerous Destinations
Nov 5th, 2009 at 2:00PM: "You're going where?!" my father asked when I told him of my plans to go to Colombia. The Colombia he knows of, the one from the 1980's, is filled with cocaine, street violence, and Pablo Escobar's thugs. The country's days as a dangerous destination are gone, but its stigma still remains.
Colombia isn't the only now-safe country still considered by the masses to be too dangerous to visit. ...Pyongyang gets a "taste" of capitalism
Aug 6th, 2009 at 2:00PM: North Korea, the reclusive Communist state, is always reluctant to try something new. The government controls information tightly, as anyone who has read updates from the Korea Central News Agency can see. But, occasionally, a fissure forms in the barriers that separate the most remote country on Earth from the rest of the world. And now, the people who are slowly developing a taste for pizza and ...Pizza and Beer: North Korean health food
Jul 14th, 2009 at 8:00AM: If you visit Pyongyang, you can make a discovery that has been known in bowling alleys across the United States for decades: beer and pizza go together. This year, new approaches to both the food and the drink have been developed, and the only thing missing is the crash of pins in the background.
Back in March, North Korea celebrated its first pizzeria. It took nearly a decade, but the country ...North Korea vacation: can I take pictures?
Jul 13th, 2009 at 8:00AM:
With the latest deal from Koryo Tours on travel to Pyongyang for the amazing Arirang event, one commenter had a great question: "I'd love to go and take lots of pictures, but I wonder if they would allow that??"
Well, Kelso, you would definitely be allowed to take pictures.
Though there are "many restrictions on photography that have to be obeyed in the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of ...Amazing North Korea trip deal: Arirang for $1,000!
Jul 9th, 2009 at 12:00PM: Koryo Tours is offering the least expensive North Korea travel deal I've ever seen. Granted, there aren't many tours to this corner of the world, so there can't be too many discounts. But, even in this limited field, a $1,000 jaunt to the most isolated country in the world is an incredible find.
tweetmeme_url = ...A peek inside the North Korean courts
May 15th, 2009 at 3:00PM:
There's something chilling about journalists being detained and tried in a foreign country ... a prospect made all the more uncomfortable when you throw the "Dear Leader" into the mix. But, do we really know what's about to happen? Well, aside from the fact that they're going to be tried "according to the indictment of the competent organ"?
Frankly, there's little information about what Laura ...June 4 trial date for American journalists in North Korea
Arirang gets green light in DPRK!
Apr 10th, 2009 at 12:00PM: It is confirmed: the Arirang Mass Games will be held in Pyongyang, North Korea this summer. The event will run from August 10, 2009 through the end of September, highlighting the precision for which the DPRK performers have become famous. According to Koryo Tours, Americans are welcome to attend the festival this year. If you are considering a visit to the Hermit Kingdom late this summer, do be ...Foal Eagle protests divert air traffic around North Korea
Mar 8th, 2009 at 12:00PM: Korean Air and Asiana Airlines are followed by Air Canada and Singapore Airlines in routing flights around North Korean airspace. The change comes as a result of North Korean warnings that it "cannot guarantee the safety of South Korean passenger jets" if the United States and South Korea move forward with annual joint military maneuvers. This annual event yields an annual complaint.
The ...More details on American access to North Korea in 2009
Feb 11th, 2009 at 8:30AM: It may not be time to celebrate, but you can certainly be optimistic (with a dose of caution). Koryo Tours has received an update from its partners in North Korea about the upcoming Arirang (i.e., "Mass Games" event). The Mass Games are expected to be held in August and September – and could run into October (based on past experience). Koryo Tours is currently scheduling tours for westerners ...Destination on the edge: golf on the DMZ
Jan 13th, 2009 at 9:00AM: The small golf course in Panmunjom is often called the most dangerous in the world. Nestled between North and South Korea – which are technically still at war – sending a ball off the fairway means that it probably won't be retrieved. Welcome to the strangest place on earth. Panmunjom is the heavily militarized "truce" village straddling the Military Demarcation Line that cuts down the ...Forbidden travel: you're not the first
Jan 3rd, 2009 at 12:00PM: The world's hot spots have become hotter, according to MSNBC's Christopher Elliott. He lists Cuba, Iran and North Korea among the countries that are attracting American tourist interest and offers some smart advice for anyone interested in taking the plunge. These and other countries on the U.S. State Department's list of travel warnings dangerous destinations are fun, though, specifically because ...Korean shopping deal just what you need in a recession
Jan 1st, 2009 at 5:00PM: Here's proof that the left hand doesn't know what the right is doing. Imagine a left hand holding nail polish while the right is rotting. The Shilla Seoul hotel is offering a "Shopping at the Shilla" package for around $205 a night through October 31, 2009. The duty free shopping trip includes plenty of stuff, such as a deluxe room, breakfast for two and a VIP Gold Card for the Duty Free Shop, ...North Korea border disorder and other trivia
Dec 20th, 2008 at 9:00AM: It's surprising; I know. There are competing accounts of how open North Korea is to outside tourists right now. Koryo Tours, as usual, is cutting through the rumor and gossip to give travelers as real a sense of possible of how, where and when you can go to North Korea. Border Closings? Stories have circulated that at least parts of the borders that North Korea shares with China and South Korea ...North Korea Mass Games may happen in 2009
Dec 18th, 2008 at 12:00PM: Rumors earlier this year suggested that the North Korean Mass Games ("Arirang") were being pushed back to 2012. The magic in that number is that it's the 100th anniversary of the birth of the deceased but still-serving president, Kim Il Sung. Koryo Tours' recent newsletter, though, suggests that Arirang my run in 2009 after all. Likely months are August and October-though the specialists in taking ...Spy games: A look at North Korea's covert operations (part 1)
Nov 19th, 2008 at 8:30AM: In celebration of the latest James Bond flick (granted, it was Die Another Day that featured blatant stereotypes about North Korean goons) and a longish piece in this week's Harper's on North Korea's propaganda machine, I thought I'd give a history lesson into a period of time when North Korea was even crazier than it may seem today (for instance, did you know some 30 North Korean spies managed ...I stand corrected: Air Koryo planes are not made of bamboo
Oct 19th, 2008 at 11:00AM: So last month, fresh out of detention in North Korea and noticeably high from the experience, I went on NPR and claimed, among some other rather dumb stuff, that "Air Koryo [the official North Korean airline] was literally made out of bamboo." Yes bold claim, especially with that underscored "literally." And now an angry NPR listener has called me out on it. I just returned from a trip to North ...Pyongyang Journal: Misadventures in the Democratic People's Republic of Disneyland (part 2)
Oct 7th, 2008 at 9:30AM: Part 1 here. On Day 2, he focused on the "three frees" of Korean society: education, healthcare, and housing. Because we had a two-hour bus ride to Mt. Myohyang, home to a 400-room fortress where gifts to the DPRK are proudly displayed, he invited questions. "How much grain is allotted to each worker a month?" asked Wang Zhelu, a teacher from Dalian. "Twenty-seven kilograms," Mr. Ju replied, ...Pyongyang Journal: Misadventures in the Democratic People's Republic of Disneyland
Oct 6th, 2008 at 9:30AM: Ox-drawn carts squeak by towering marble monuments – with slogans like "Live forever our father" [Kim Il Sung]. Remnants of four-lane highways snake parallel to a single train track that handles all traffic through the northwestern corridor. Schoolchildren in tattered shorts play near stiff-faced sentries (the kids wield sticks; the soldiers, automatic rifles). Such dichotomies reflect the ...Where did the commies go?
Sep 23rd, 2008 at 10:00AM: With September came the near fall of another Communitst leader, as Kim Jong Il, dictator over North Korea vanished from the limelight, joining his Cuban counterpart Fidel Castro in the murky depths of unknown, fiercely hidden ailments. The realist in me knows that both leaders are gravely ill. Kim Jong Il is said to have suffered a stroke early this month and hasn't since been seen in public -- ...
