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Q: China to North Korea. Have you done it?
Have you taken the train from Beijing to Pyongyang? Have you flown Air Koryo? Have you visited North Korea?
11 years 16 weeks ago in Transport & Travel - China
Yep. North Korea tops my list of places I absolutely must see! I have this thing about time travel, and I consider going back 30 years into a depressed, paranoid society purely the "cat's meow."
Of course, many of my students want to go to Korea...South Korea, that is.
I had a long long term deep desire to visit N Korea until I found out that if by some twist of fate they noticed I am a foreigner they might lock me in a jail cell forever or worse.
After I thought about that I realised there's probably nothing to see there.
No, I did not do the Beijing to Pyongyang train ride.
Indeed the situation is grim there -- nonetheless, I often wonder why some groups of Western tourist do make the trek. South Koreans can't go, I don't think, and it is difficult, if not impossible, for Americans to make the trip, but from what I hear, a certain number of Western Europeans and Canadians do make the trip. The twice-weekly train from Beijing-to-Pyongyang is usually booked and it's not cheaper than the plane but then again who would want to fly Air Koryo?
GuilinRaf:
I would guess that they go for the "thrill" of being in a "forbidden place. I toyed with the idea of going myself until I was dissuaded by a Chinese friend of mine. He is Chinese-ethnic- Korean, and his company requires him to go to North Korea two to three times a year and he absolutely hates it. Even though he is Chinese, he too is always accompanied by "guides" whenever he goes out, he rarely can leave the hotel at night and even when he can do so, it is "with company".
He has been to Pyongyang and a couple of other cities, but never to the countryside and the situation he has seen is quite grim.
i went on my french passport not the american one 20 years ago. i dont think anything has changed.
the embarrassment to america is a third world neighbor mexico
the embarrassment to china is third world neighbor north korea
peculiar how neighbors of western europe become a better society overall and it does not work for america and china.
dont know the answer just looking at the results.
Scandinavian:
maybe the answer lies in the fact that the EU has been working for decades supporting its neighbors in building modern societies that will become prosperous and therefore have no interest in resorting to armed conflict with the developed part of Europe.
The EU is peace through financial stability as well as strange laws on standardizing how curved a cucumber is allowed to be.
