The Road Less Travelled (3): North Korea

I have been lucky enough to visit a few countries that not a lot of people visit, mainly for my work. I thought it would be a good idea to share these experiences with you guys. After Eritrea and Somalia, now a little write-up on North Korea; some other countries that are on my list to be included in this series are: Papua New Guinea, South Sudan, Iraq, Bhutan and perhaps a few others.

Obviously North Korea is in the news a lot these days - in case you missed it: two guys, both with funny hair, recently met and agreed that nothing will change much in the short-term. So that means no shortage of opinions on politics and I will not bore you with that.

A monument in Pyongyang: the hammer, sickle and brush symbolize the workers, farmers and intellectuals
source: my own photo

North Korea is officially called DPR Korea, or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. It borders South Korea to the South (you might have guessed that), China to the North and a tiny bit of Russia to the East. The southern border with South Korea is where you’ll find the heavily guarded Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

Pyongyang
source: my own photo

Pyongyang is the capital and by far the biggest city in the country.

A unification monument, showing '1 Korea'
source: my own photo

So here I was, in Pyongyang for two weeks. It’s a very clean and organized city, with lots of people moving around on bicycles. When you visit DPR Korea as a foreigner, you will be assigned two guides, that will be with you all the time. If I say 'all the time', this translates to 'literally all the time'. You are free to walk around inside your hotel / room, but that is about it. My guides were extremely friendly and one spoke very good English. Obviously, it was difficult to get some serious #cycling done, but I decided to resort to running instead. At first, they told me I could run around the little garden in front of the hotel. After 58 laps I realized this would not work and had to find another solution.

I managed to persuade my guides to come to the river in Pyongyang, and we agreed that as long as they could still see me in the distance, that it would be OK. This allowed me to run for a kilometre or so before turning back, so that was great, I could get some decent training done. In the early morning there are lots of people exercising there, some running, walking and some playing badminton. For some reason, people believe that walking backwards is very beneficial, and you see lots of people doing that, as well as shouting out loud. I never got the hang of both, but I’m sure somewhere out there, there is a reason or benefit that makes people do this. Please share if you have more info….

I was running along this river
source: my own photo

I managed to travel the country a little and visited some farming communities. These are mainly old-school cooperative-style farms, and they are mixed farms with a range of different livestock species and crops. They can keep part of the produce and sell the rest to the Government. The Government sees self-sufficiency in food production as very important, as they want to prevent any food shortages in the near future. It is part of the “Juche” concept that Kim Il-sung introduced, which includes self-sufficiency in almost every aspect of the economy.

Ducks and greenhouses on one of the farms
source: my own photo

The farms have specific groups that take care of livestock, while others do the specific crops. At every farm they will provide you details on when the “Supreme Leader” visited and provided advice on what to do on the farm.

source: my own photo

Food in DPR Korea is actually very tasty and of course similar to what we know as being Korean food, including dishes like Bi Bim Bap, Kimchi, and other dishes.

@Ultrabiker

photos: myself-ie-ish

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Click here for my other posts

Travel
Road less Travelled: Eritrea –-- Somalia

Cycling
MTB back garden ride
The toughest MTB race on earth
Crocodile providing MTB support
Top 10 MTB stage races in the World
I beat the Magalies Monster!
What to carry on your bike
Bhutan - Tour of the Dragon - 268 km MTB race

Winecraft - Wine Barrel Projects
Bench --- Lounger --- Table --- Wine glass holder

Language
Language affects our thinking --- Words change the colours we see