Big Beaver Diaries

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Category: North Korea 2017

Exiting North Korea

North Korea 2017

Exiting North Korea – Part 9

Exiting North Korea. Pyongyang, North Korea.  28 June 2017. * (For the previous part, click here: Travelling Pyongyang North Korea – Part 8) …I awoke this morning to realize that my Chinese roommate did not snore last night! How fortunate! I was in the shower in my room at the Yanggakdo International Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea, when the phone ran as a wake-up call from Kim, my guide. “Meester Beavers,” as he has taken to calling me lately, “It...

Travelling Pyongyang North Korea

North Korea 2017

Travelling Pyongyang North Korea – Part 8

Travelling Pyongyang North Korea – Part 8. Pyongyang, DPRK. 27 June 2017 (cont’d). * (For the previous part, click here: Life in North Korea – Part 7) As we are on our way back to the capital city, travelling Pyongyang North Korea, I was interested in local careers, so I asked my North Korean guide, Kim, about jobs.  He told me that all jobs pay nearly the same.  A dentist makes a similar amount of money as a bus driver.  I wanted...

Life in North Korea

North Korea 2017

Life in North Korea – Part 7

Life in North Korea. Kumgang, DPRK.  27 June 2017. * (For the previous part, click here: Mt. Kumgang North Korea – Part 6) The doorbell of my hotel room in Kumgang, North Korea, went off at 06:00. The front desk sent someone to my room door to wake me up because the telephones in the hotel do not work… Breakfast.  Bus.   Life in North Korea and off to Mt. Kumgang…my group of seven Chinese tourists and I… North Korea...

Mt. Kumgang North Korea

North Korea 2017

Mt. Kumgang North Korea – Part 6

Mt. Kumgang North Korea. Pyongyang, DPRK. 26 June 2017. * (For the previous part, click here: A Visit to the North Korea DMZ – Part 5) Kim, my North Korea guide, could not wait to see me this morning to ask me what happened with Jo, the Chinese girl, last night.  Nothing happened, but I enjoyed his effort to be nosy so much that I remained silent and decided not to tell him anything… “Good morning, Pyongyang!” After breakfast at...

North Korea DMZ.

North Korea 2017

A Visit to the North Korea DMZ – Part 5

North Korea DMZ Demilitarized Zone, DPRK. * (For the previous part, click here: (Barely) Backpacking North Korea – Part 4) [su_note note_color=”#b0b1bb” text_color=”#030303″ radius=”6″]Now, as I said in the first article on the day I arrived, I was just taking in everything from Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at face value of what I was told and shown.  I went to see how North Korea views the world.  And I went to look at the DPRK ‘presentation’ and decided to...

North Korea 2017

(Barely) Backpacking North Korea – Part 4

Backpacking North Korea.  Pyongyang.   June 25, 2017. (Perhaps that is a little misleading.  I am hardly backpacking North Korea right now, but I did show up in this country with a small backpack.  I would love to backpack North Korea, but regulations against that are the stickiest of any country in the world.) * (For the previous, click here: Travel North Korea – Pyongyang – Part 3) I received three wake-up calls this morning from 06:30 onwards.  No one wanted...

Travel North Korea - Pyongyang

North Korea 2017

Travel North Korea – Pyongyang – Part 3

Travel North Korea – Pyongyang. Pyongyang, North Korea. 24 June, 2017 (cont’d). * (For the previous part, click here: Crossing from China to North Korea – Part 2) After I met my North Korean guide Kim at the train station, the first thing he did was take my passport away from me.  Since I was the only English speaker on the trip, I would have my own personal guide while the Chinese would share theirs. My guide Kim would be by...

Crossing from China to North Korea

North Korea 2017

Crossing from China to North Korea – Part 2

Crossing from China to North Korea. [su_note note_color=”#b0b1bb” text_color=”#030303″ radius=”6″]Disclaimer: You probably want to read about how scary and frightening it was to cross from China into North Korea to spend some days in the Hermit Kingdom.  You probably want to hear how I dangerous it was and the terror I felt every minute that I was within the country. It was none of that. It was nothing like you would ever imagine. A trip to North Korea is a...

The North Korea Decision

North Korea 2017

The North Korea Decision – Part 1

The North Korea Decision.  China – June, 2017. Prologue: Now I know what you are thinking.  ‘Will I ever have flowing locks of hair as beautiful as Beaver?’  The answer is, ‘Possibly.’ And I know what else you are thinking.  ‘Is he nuts?  North Korea?’  The answer is ‘No.’  I know that many of you think I am crazy and I often do things that are dangerous.  The truth is that this is not really the case.  Every major decision I...