A visit to the country of North Korea can be a precarious experience, a person can not go alone there, you have to go there with a group for which booking has to be done at least a week in advance. Trip cost mentioned here is Ex Dandong (China).
I took flight from Bangkok ( DMK ) to Shenyang on 16 Oct, Nok Scoot, and arrived Shenyang on 16 Oct morning around 8 am. Later in the evening i took a fast train G787 to Dandong which costed 73 RMB and took around 2 hours to reach Dandong. I Spent that night in Dandong In Jun Hotel . Room rent was 120 RMB without breakfast.
For going to DPRK Via Train ( Going and Come Back) one must have at least double entry or Multiple entry Chinese visa because you have to enter China and then exit from China and then again have to re enter China. Before moving further i would like to tell some facts about DPRK, Housing -Education & health services are provided free of cost to all its citizen.
Their citizens normally can not use internet. Their Citizens normally do not have access to international phone dialing also . Their citizens do not have much information about rest part of world. Press Freedom in North Korea is ZERO. Their Citizens dont have access to foreign Tv channels
They have their own Intranet which supports some 5000 Korean websites only. You can not talk or meet with any Local person except your tour guide or your hotel staff. You can not go anywhere alone you have to come with the group and go back with the group. Hotel staff & tour guides are very friendly. North Korean girls are very beautiful. You can not bring any pornographic material in DPRK or any religious material to DPRK. Crime rate in DPRK is 0% because of their very strict laws.
Following are the rumors about rules of DPRK:
1. Rumour- DPRK people must have some fixed kind of hair cuts. Reality- There is no as such rule 2. Rumour-Tourist are not allowed to Take photographs. Reality- They are free to take photograph everywhere except militarily and police area 3. Rumour-Tourist need to deposit your mobile at land border/Airport. Reality- Mobile are just checked at Border/Airport and they are returned back at same time. 4. Rumour- Very hard to Get DPRK Visa. Reality- Its one of the easiest Visa to ever get. 5 . Rumour-Tourist Can not wear Blue Jeans. Reality- Tourist are free to wear Blue jeans. 6. Its unsafe to Visit DPRK. Reality- Its one of the safest nation to visit. ( Just follow their rules)
As you can not enter DPRK solo and you have to go and come back in a group tour only so on 17 Oct morning around 8 i was supposed to reach at Dandong train station and the agency from where i took the package their representative came and later we joined the group . there were 32 peoples in that group all were Chinese except me. after clearing the immigration we boarded the train at around 9:45 to Pyongyang. Train left on time and just after crossing the Yalu river we entered the DPRK.
The first station was Sinuiju, where the train stopped for around 2 hours and we have to get down from the train for the immigration and security check. Our guide took our mobile , laptop and passport. later our luggage was fully scanned by the DPRK security, it was a lengthy process and a bit scary too. they even randomly check the content on mobile and pictures.
After clearing the immigration we boarded the train again and now the North korean tour guide was there. As i was the only English speaking person in the whole group so there was a personal English speaking guide for me. Her Name was a very lengthy name but in short i used to call her Miss Song. she was a very good girl and a guide. it took around 5 hours to reach Pyongyang . i reached there in evening around 6 and later were transferred to the Yanggkaado hotel which is situated on a island in the Pyongyang . It was a Five Star hotel with around 50 floors. The tour guide takes your passport and they gave it back on the departure day only .it was really a great experience there. We directly went for dinner in the hotel and after dinner they our room keys and told us to be ready by 7 am next morning .
Day Two: 18 Oct After having breakfast i boarded the bus and the journey to Kaesong city started. it was around 168 km from the city. the total journey time one wasy is around 3 hours including 20 minutes of rest stop. at around 9 am we took our rest stop in midway and later went to Kaesong. After reaching the Kaesong there was security check again and i went to DMZ which is the border of north and south Korea. In july this year i was there at the south Korean side. i spent around 2 hour there in the DMZ area ;the meeting hall where truce negotiation was hold and armistice was signed on the 27th,July,1953. after that we went for a traditional Korean lunch traditional food with bronze container. Since i am a vegetarian person so they have arranged veg items for me.
after one hour at around 13:30 we drove back to Pyongyang. the second stop was Mansudae Fountain Park, Far view Mansudae Grand Monument (Long live Monument. after that went to Pyongyang metro ride. Pyongyang metro is the deepest metro in the world with a depth of 100 meters. it was a very great experience there. their metro makes a lots of noice. i traveled in that for just one station. every station there has a different interior. My personal tour guide was there with me since morning and she was telling in details about all the places. Pyongyang city is one of the cleanest city of the world. No pollution very less vehicles no dust and nothing. later we went to a Korean restaurant where we had our dinner and later we were transferred to our hotel. Pickup time for next morning was 9Am.
Day Three 19 Oct. After having breakfast, we went to Tower of Juche Idea, Juche tower is 150 meters tall statue which was built in just three months period. One can go to the top of tower and have a great look of the pyogyang city but for that one need to pay 40RMB, i paid 40 rmb and went to the top of tower. It was a worth view from top. The city is divided in to two parts East and west. after this we went to Monument of Founding of Korea Workers Party.
After that we had lunch and after lunch we went to Mangyongdae,native house of great leader Kim Il Sung. its located slightly out of the town. Green views and a well maintained place . they showed the native house of their great leader. After that we went to Liberation War Museum, it was a very big museum and just built in a record time of one year, in the open area on left side they have shown the vehicles and ammunition which dprk recovered from USA and on right side was the ammunation and military vehicles which they recovered from Japan. later we went inside to US Pueblo ship.
It was a US navy ship which entered in DPRK without permission with around 63 crew on board. Only 3 dprk soldiers managed to get hold over it and after that they never returned this ship to USA, the crew members were later released on humanity grounds after singing a treaty with US. after that we went inside the museum where they have shown all the old records about DPRK their fights and their leaders and ammunition used. it was a worth place to visit. a very well maintained and well built museum. After this we went to The Pyongyang Children's School where for half an hour we saw the music and dance performance of the DPRK middle level students. after that we went to a Korean restaurant to have our Dinner and later we were transferred to the hotel.
In the basement of Hotel there is Casino, named Casino Pyongyang, Its the only place in DPRK where a foreigner can have access to Wifi. for using Wifi the casino normally tells to buy Casino chips worth 10 USD. once you purchase the casino chips then they share the Wifi password. This casino is basically run by the Chinese people and they have took a special permission from DPRK govt for Wifi .
Day 4, 20 Oct, After having breakfast at around 7:30 we all checked out from hotel and put our luggage back in the bus and we headed for the national Library where after spending just around 20 minutes we were told to get back to bus as we will be going to Pyongyang train station. we reached station at around 9am and all formed a group and later we were transferred to the train whose scheduled departure time was 10:20. and back To China, Pyongyang to China border journey takes around 5 hours. speed of train is slow in DPRK as there tracks are outdated.
After reaching Sinuiju again we have to follow the same tiring custom process, . Every Korean person has to put a badge of their leader and their flag on their clothes. You remain out of contact from rest part of world as tourist are not allowed to have access to mobile internet. You can not go out of hotel alone. the trips end as we reached Dandong at around 5pm.
If you want to see something different or want to experience a Country which is unique in itself then at least once you should visit DPRK. A 100% safe place to go, Just follow their rules an you are safe. Trip cost mentioned here is Ex Dandong If anyone wants to book trip to DPRK or want to know more about my trip or have any questions then they can contact me on ankit17km@gmail.com/+919868346168