Does the rest of your group share your opinions on the experience?
I can't guarantee it, but I think the general emotion is the same.
Latest answers from Darko Zelić
What are the hotels like?
Apart for the water issues (see the first question) I would say: decent.
They were always clean, beds were mostly cosy (sometimes a bit stiff), rooms even had heated floors, hotel restaurants were always serving decent food, and in all hotels you'd have a place to grab a beer at the end of the day (in some even a micro-brew!). The better hotels had karaoke bars (the best 2 also had English songs), pool tables were not uncommon, and the hotel in Pyongyang even had a bowling alley and a swimming pool (on top of everything previously mentioned).
They were always clean, beds were mostly cosy (sometimes a bit stiff), rooms even had heated floors, hotel restaurants were always serving decent food, and in all hotels you'd have a place to grab a beer at the end of the day (in some even a micro-brew!). The better hotels had karaoke bars (the best 2 also had English songs), pool tables were not uncommon, and the hotel in Pyongyang even had a bowling alley and a swimming pool (on top of everything previously mentioned).
Electrical plugs and voltage?
All hotels had that combo outlet that can take both the US fork and the two-pin European plug. I think that the voltage is European (220-230V) but I can't guarantee it.
I hope this isn't too much of downer but how did it feel being in a country that so obviously kicks human rights with both feet?
I apologise for giving an unpopular answer but: it felt great.
Yes, there are people starving somewhere in the country (they are in my homeland as well), yes it is a military state, but people are people, and people will always find the best in everything. I know that Pyongyang can look like it's all fake and full of puppet actors, but we've spent a lot of time in the countryside to have seen a different face of DPRK. There's one common thing: that face has a smile.
People are poor, but they handle it with dignity. And I don't remember the last time I've seen people as genuinely happy as the tipsy locals having the BBQ, minding their own business, singing and dancing for the national holiday.
The whole experience was way less shocking than I expected, but that could go with the fact that I lived through something similar in the messed up socialist Yugoslavia of the 90's. Yes, our thing didn't go on for 60 years, but still. Also on that note, I don't find the difference between Pyongyang and other cities surprising - it is the same case in Serbia: a lot of money is invested in the capital, while the other cities get what they get.
So, as I keep repeating: it's just ordinary people, doing ordinary things under extraordinary conditions.
Yes, there are people starving somewhere in the country (they are in my homeland as well), yes it is a military state, but people are people, and people will always find the best in everything. I know that Pyongyang can look like it's all fake and full of puppet actors, but we've spent a lot of time in the countryside to have seen a different face of DPRK. There's one common thing: that face has a smile.
People are poor, but they handle it with dignity. And I don't remember the last time I've seen people as genuinely happy as the tipsy locals having the BBQ, minding their own business, singing and dancing for the national holiday.
The whole experience was way less shocking than I expected, but that could go with the fact that I lived through something similar in the messed up socialist Yugoslavia of the 90's. Yes, our thing didn't go on for 60 years, but still. Also on that note, I don't find the difference between Pyongyang and other cities surprising - it is the same case in Serbia: a lot of money is invested in the capital, while the other cities get what they get.
So, as I keep repeating: it's just ordinary people, doing ordinary things under extraordinary conditions.
Was there anything you found surprising, disappointing or cool?
I think you have probably gotten the impression of my emotions by reading the other, more elaborate, answers, but to put it shortly: I was surprised by how normal the country feels, disappointed not to see any unicorns and I found the friendliness of the people really cool.
Did you have to bow to the statue of the great leader?
Yes. Almost on daily basis.
Namely, almost all of the destinations we visited had huge bronze statues of the President (Kim Il Sung) and the General (Kim Jong Il); and every time you'd have to "show respect". The first time, in Pyongyang, we even had to lay flowers at pedestal of the statue (one bouquet for the whole group). But it didn't end at bronze statues: we also had to show respect to the wax figures of the President, General and the Mother (Kim Jong Suk); as well as to the embalmed bodies of the President and the General. The last part was, by far, the weirdest.
Anyway, our group didn't make much of it - we were not bothered by doing it as the gesture meant nothing to us. Especially after a couple of times, it just becomes a routine. However, the gesture means a lot to them, so if you're not prepared to do it - please don't go to DPRK.
Namely, almost all of the destinations we visited had huge bronze statues of the President (Kim Il Sung) and the General (Kim Jong Il); and every time you'd have to "show respect". The first time, in Pyongyang, we even had to lay flowers at pedestal of the statue (one bouquet for the whole group). But it didn't end at bronze statues: we also had to show respect to the wax figures of the President, General and the Mother (Kim Jong Suk); as well as to the embalmed bodies of the President and the General. The last part was, by far, the weirdest.
Anyway, our group didn't make much of it - we were not bothered by doing it as the gesture meant nothing to us. Especially after a couple of times, it just becomes a routine. However, the gesture means a lot to them, so if you're not prepared to do it - please don't go to DPRK.
in your previous answer you've mentioned that your guides were drunk....so, there is no any kind of alcohol prohibition? Where and how can you find alcohol? Night life?
There is no alcohol prohibition whatsoever and people of DPRK like their beer (not sure how big they are on Soju). Like I mentioned previously, we've been told that it is very common to go to a beer bar after work. For national holidays (and there was quite a few while we were there), city people make picnics in parks where they drink beer, listen to music and dance. We saw them being all jolly and informal on Moran Hill for Kim Il Sung's birthday - and no, those were no actors, but just ordinary people having good old fun. The beer is commonly sold on entrance to big parks, alongside soft drinks and ice creams. Also, all stores carry beer (both the tourist-only stores and the regular ones). Beer was also served to us with every lunch and dinner, and whenever we'd pass a family having a picnic lunch somewhere outside, they would also have a bottle or two of beer between them.
As a tourist, you'll get your alcohol mostly in the hotel restaurant, hotel bar, hotel karaoke bar, hotel bowling alley, hotel billiards room, ... See the pattern? Other than that, every resting stop&shop had beer and spirits in addition to snacks and soft drinks. The closest we got to how locals buy beer was on two occasions: once when we were taken to a shopping mall in Pyongyang and once when we bought the beer from a kiosk in front of our hotel in Hamhung. I don't know how many locals visit that mall in Pyongyang, but we sure did see a number of locals buying from that same kiosk in Hamhung.
Night life for tourists is limited to what your hotel can offer, which is quite a lot in Pyongyang, but next to nothing in other cities. In better hotels outside Pyongyang there were karaoke bars, which was always fun - bar ladies can always sing very good, and by the end of the trip we were singing along with them for the two most famous local songs. In the poorer hotels, you would just grab a few beers after dinner and go to bed. But even that turned to be fun on one occasion where we drank a considerable amount of beers, where the bar lady got to love us and our a bit reserved male guide (officially reserved due to his poor English) got finally full-friendly with us and talked about everything. As we were getting more friendly with our guides, they would drink more with us, and finally we were singing together, bowling together and feeling like a real group of friends.
As a tourist, you'll get your alcohol mostly in the hotel restaurant, hotel bar, hotel karaoke bar, hotel bowling alley, hotel billiards room, ... See the pattern? Other than that, every resting stop&shop had beer and spirits in addition to snacks and soft drinks. The closest we got to how locals buy beer was on two occasions: once when we were taken to a shopping mall in Pyongyang and once when we bought the beer from a kiosk in front of our hotel in Hamhung. I don't know how many locals visit that mall in Pyongyang, but we sure did see a number of locals buying from that same kiosk in Hamhung.
Night life for tourists is limited to what your hotel can offer, which is quite a lot in Pyongyang, but next to nothing in other cities. In better hotels outside Pyongyang there were karaoke bars, which was always fun - bar ladies can always sing very good, and by the end of the trip we were singing along with them for the two most famous local songs. In the poorer hotels, you would just grab a few beers after dinner and go to bed. But even that turned to be fun on one occasion where we drank a considerable amount of beers, where the bar lady got to love us and our a bit reserved male guide (officially reserved due to his poor English) got finally full-friendly with us and talked about everything. As we were getting more friendly with our guides, they would drink more with us, and finally we were singing together, bowling together and feeling like a real group of friends.
What is the nature like in the demilitarized zone? Is it a lot different from the surrounding area? I have heard it is quite preserved.
Actually, the nature in the whole of DPRK is pretty beautiful. I'm not saying it's batshit jaw-droppingly insane like in Iceland, but it's not polluted or abused, as you might expect from a "third world country". Close to the famous part of the DMZ (Panmunjom) there is nothing very special nature-wise. On the other hand, a bit further along the DMZ there is Mt. Kumgang and around Kumgangsan there's really amazing scenery (Samil lagoon, Guryong waterfall, etc.)
Is their beer good?
It is no-frills but it is not bad. We were mostly fed Daedonggang, the "best beer of DPRK", which is just a plain ol' pilsner. Other than generic pilsners, they are quite big on unfiltered brews. And finally, I bought a bottle of something calling itself a "dark beer" which had a nice bread-like aroma, but was nothing anyone would call dark.
How does North Korea compare to some of the other Asian countries you have been to?
So far, I've only been to Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and a couple of streets of Beijing. Compared to all of them, the country is way cleaner. People seem to be way way nicer (that might not be by choice, but still it is noticeable). By far less chaotic, because there's no heavy traffic (I'm looking at you Ho Chi Minh City!). It is also incomparably safer - there is no way something is going to happen to a tourist, ever. I even got the impression that if you disobey the rules and disrespect The Great Leaders you're just kicked out of the country and then your guide has to suffer. In many ways, the experience of DPRK is conservative - having that you are not allowed to do a lot of things. But still, I think you can stretch the confinement zone to a fair extent to still have a really good time. As you might have noticed, I used the word "civil" a lot in my previous replies, because that was the most present feeling that I got - compared to the usual begging and selling and nagging and all the craziness of the busy streets of, say, Bangkok.
Does the tourist experience give you insights on how ordinary people live?
To a big extent: no, but you can at least see something from the bus. As I mentioned previously, conversations with people other than guides were very limited, so you have to do a lot of interpretation of what you see.
What I could see was a way lot more smiles than I anticipated. Civility and dignity even when in poverty (we were, of course, not shown the lowest edge of existence in their country, but most of the places were not as rich as Pyongyang). Just normal people doing normal things under abnormal circumstances. Pyongyang life looks pretty Western to me - "a lot" of cars, overcrowded public transportation (including metro), people grabbing beer after work in the beer bars... When I say "a lot" of cars - it is still nothing compared to what we have here, but compared to the rest of the country where are next to no cars, Pyongyang has really a lot. So many that we were stuck in traffic more than once, but still a few that it's safe to run to the middle of the street to take photos.
The one part that really sticks out is that children have no free time at all. I know this is becoming more common in the West as well, but there it is over the top. Until the age of 17 every kid goes to one of many massive extracurricular activities centres after school where they spend hours on end. We saw a performance by the kids of one of the best extracurricular activities centre in Pyongyang and that was beyond amazing - many professionals could learn a lot from those kids. The show included singing, dancing, playing all sorts of instruments and gymnastics; and in our collective opinion it surpassed by far the show we saw in the circus a couple of days before (performed by the international artists as part of April Spring Friendship Art Festival).
Outside the city, children's life is even harder. On the cooperative farms, they have kindergartens where children spend 10 days in kindergarten and then 1 day at home. On some private farms, we would occasionally see a child working alongside the parents, and the kid would be anywhere from 4 to 15.
Another thing that is painfully obvious is that there is an incredible amount of military and they basically do everything. From construction work to scientific research - most (if not all) buildings are made by military; and on the other hand, if you finish a university, your dream is to actually work for the military because that's the best you can do in DPRK.
What I could see was a way lot more smiles than I anticipated. Civility and dignity even when in poverty (we were, of course, not shown the lowest edge of existence in their country, but most of the places were not as rich as Pyongyang). Just normal people doing normal things under abnormal circumstances. Pyongyang life looks pretty Western to me - "a lot" of cars, overcrowded public transportation (including metro), people grabbing beer after work in the beer bars... When I say "a lot" of cars - it is still nothing compared to what we have here, but compared to the rest of the country where are next to no cars, Pyongyang has really a lot. So many that we were stuck in traffic more than once, but still a few that it's safe to run to the middle of the street to take photos.
The one part that really sticks out is that children have no free time at all. I know this is becoming more common in the West as well, but there it is over the top. Until the age of 17 every kid goes to one of many massive extracurricular activities centres after school where they spend hours on end. We saw a performance by the kids of one of the best extracurricular activities centre in Pyongyang and that was beyond amazing - many professionals could learn a lot from those kids. The show included singing, dancing, playing all sorts of instruments and gymnastics; and in our collective opinion it surpassed by far the show we saw in the circus a couple of days before (performed by the international artists as part of April Spring Friendship Art Festival).
Outside the city, children's life is even harder. On the cooperative farms, they have kindergartens where children spend 10 days in kindergarten and then 1 day at home. On some private farms, we would occasionally see a child working alongside the parents, and the kid would be anywhere from 4 to 15.
Another thing that is painfully obvious is that there is an incredible amount of military and they basically do everything. From construction work to scientific research - most (if not all) buildings are made by military; and on the other hand, if you finish a university, your dream is to actually work for the military because that's the best you can do in DPRK.