strung out
💩 🤣 🍆 💦 🧐 👻 🐝 🐈⬛
i came across this blog earlier, detailing the journey of an austrian who decided to try and get into north korea via the trans-siberian railway across the russian/north korean border. he had to gain passage on a virtually unknown route from irkutsk to pyongyang which only travels twice a month, but allowed him 36 hours uncontrolled access to north korea before he was picked up in pyongyang by government 'guides' he'd arranged shortly before crossing the border (short enough notice that he couldn't be stopped from crossing the border by the authorities).
in it, he manages to talk to a few normal north korean citizens as well as visiting various small cities/towns between the border and the capital, though often only able to explore the immediate surroundings of train stations before his train set off again.
there are a plethora of photos that will interest railway buffs and those who are interested in north korea itself. as well as his unique journey, it also documents his movements once he gets to pyongyang and the more well known tourist destinations of north korea. i managed to lose four hours to this blog earlier, so it's worth setting aside some time to check it out. there's positively hours of reading and photo browsing here, and i managed to find out a lot of things which i hadn't seen before elsewhere.
http://vienna-pyongyang.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-everything-began.html
here's the bloke standing outside his north korean sleeper carriage which took him across russia and down to pyongyang
this is the guy's ticket showing his trip from irkutsk to pyongyang
having dinner with the north korean train conductors
a provincial north korean train station
passing through a small village where some kind of meeting is going on
apparently, their trip caused quite a stir and it's doubtful that any foreigners will be allowed to pass into north korea via this route anytime soon. still, i found it a great story, and as someone who has an interest in the country as well as intercontinental train journeys and trains generally, it kept me interest for hours.
in it, he manages to talk to a few normal north korean citizens as well as visiting various small cities/towns between the border and the capital, though often only able to explore the immediate surroundings of train stations before his train set off again.
there are a plethora of photos that will interest railway buffs and those who are interested in north korea itself. as well as his unique journey, it also documents his movements once he gets to pyongyang and the more well known tourist destinations of north korea. i managed to lose four hours to this blog earlier, so it's worth setting aside some time to check it out. there's positively hours of reading and photo browsing here, and i managed to find out a lot of things which i hadn't seen before elsewhere.
http://vienna-pyongyang.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-everything-began.html
here's the bloke standing outside his north korean sleeper carriage which took him across russia and down to pyongyang
this is the guy's ticket showing his trip from irkutsk to pyongyang
having dinner with the north korean train conductors
a provincial north korean train station
passing through a small village where some kind of meeting is going on
apparently, their trip caused quite a stir and it's doubtful that any foreigners will be allowed to pass into north korea via this route anytime soon. still, i found it a great story, and as someone who has an interest in the country as well as intercontinental train journeys and trains generally, it kept me interest for hours.
