There has been a recent spate of travel writing about North Korea, once of the most secretive and brutally repressive countries in the world. I’ve found some of the stuff I have read unusually naive and glossy, but just ran across some welcomed developments casting always needed light, starting with the best piece of travel writing I have seen on it, by Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt’s daughter Sophie.

Undoubtedly, North Korea has one of the most reprehensible governments in the world and has to be on everyone’s bottom five “Countries I’d Like to Live in” list.

This is a country that occasionally just randomly bombs South Korea, has announced a plan to target the US with nuclear weapons, has run the economy into the ground to such an extent that hundreds of thousands have died of starvation, has cut its citizens off completely from the world with no access to the internet and with the least free press in the world, and has imprisoned some 150,000 to 200,000 of its citizens in prison camps, or gulags, that rival the worst the old Soviet Union had in its heyday.

And newly casting light onto North Korean misery comes Google, of all things.

Your North Korean prison camps

Until very recently, North Korea was one big blank area on Google Maps, but through a cooperation of volunteer spotters and satellite imagery, they have recently started mapping this country for the rest of the world to see.

It is going to be an interesting and informative ongoing project.

the shadow of the 105 story Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang

Aside from views of 105 story tall buildings that North Korea hasn’t finished yet (though they say they will complete, 25 years in the making), some of the most interesting details are the views of the North Korean prison camps.

What is interesting is that Google hasn’t shied away from labeling the gulags as gulags — no obscuring the truth that they are just plain and simple political prison camps, run by one of the worst dictatorships on the planet (little improvement since Kim Jong Il’s death graced my 2011 year end review).

your friendly neighborhood gulag offices

But all is not gloomy, depressing and dreary about this. Once these spots were put up on Google Maps, what did people start doing immediately??

Reviewing them. And some of the reviews are great. A sampling:

Gulag 16 Checkpoint
North Hamgyong North Korea‎

Garrick Butler reviewed in the last week – Quality Excellent

Probably the best checkpoint I’ve ever been frisked at, ever (and I’ve been to Juarez, Mexico, DR Congo and Syria in the past month alone). Definitely worth the wait to feel the supple hands of Private Park, the best frisker in the entire Korean People’s Army. Whether you’re headed for Hwasong or Chongjin, be sure to make Gulag 16 Checkpoint part of your trip to the DPRK! 

Paul Urfi reviewed in the last week – Quality Good

I wanted to give resort an “Excellent” rating but the checkout process was really difficult. This of course isn’t the fault of the Glorious Leader, in fact, it’s probably all my fault. Please forget I said anything…

Chongjin Gulag
North Hamgyong North Korea‎

Jean Philippe Da Costa reviewed in the last week –Quality Poor to fair

Not as good as the russian places that started the gulag chain, you can feel that they do not give attention to detail as the russians do. They need to do more cross training of facility employees to assure the same level of service.

Playlt Bogart reviewed in the last week – Quality Poor to fair

Very misleading! The travel brochure said it was the resort that James Bond spent 14 months in in Die Another Day, but it wasn’t! Furthermore, the pictures of the “fitness” room and the “pool” (really a sewage vat) were photographed from a very deceptive angle! None of the attendants spoke English, and my wife developed a terrible infection. We think someone died in the room next to ours, but the staff seemed not to care. In a positive, they had Wayne Newton as the gulag entertainment. One star.

Bukchang Gulag
South Pyongan North Korea‎

Pascal Sontag reviewed in the last week – Quality Excellent

“Congratulations – You Are Now The Mayor of Bukchang Gulag” I’ve never been more proud of a Foursquare badge.

Adam Clefe reviewed in the last week – Quality Very good

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“You best watch out for that car, missy. My friend broke her toes on this street yesterday!”

The woman’s voice was high pitched and nasal; an American tourist I would’ve spotted a mile off, despite the fresh-from-a-stall hippy pants and the Buddhist prayer beads hanging from her neck. The throng of static cars in front of us practically bulged out into the small sidestreet openings dotted along the road. Despite being the main thoroughfare of McLeod Ganj, the road was actually little bigger than the width of one car. Now two streams of rumbling traffic were locked in a face off that nobody was going to win. We flattened ourselves against a shop front with elegant mandalas hanging in the window, in an effort to allow the oncoming vehicle to get past. A tire came to a halt in the open gutter beside my feet. The driver honked his horn, somewhat pathetically. He wasn’t going anywhere.

Roads in India? Something of a legend.

From sweeping state highways to narrow lanes and suffocating alleys, and from congested city streets to the winding mountain passes of the Himalayas, the country’s extensive road network is further complicated by one major thing: Indian road rules simply do not exist. There’s a distinct lack of traffic lights, road signals and barely any traffic police. Then there’s incessant noise from car horns, constant speeding and a tendency for every vehicle to both undercut and overtake every other vehicle on any given journey. When you add a veritable smorgasbord of cars, scooters, pedal bikes, rickshaws, handcarts, trucks and mobile street stalls – not to mention the dogs, cows and elephants – to the mix, it’s a rite of passage to learn how to cross an Indian road as a pedestrian without incurring injury.

The roads of India have even achieved worldwide infamy. The Leh-Manali Highway is widely reported to be one of the most dangerous roads in the world due to extreme climate, an altitude of 2 to 3 miles above sea level and an ever present threat of landslides, while Delhi’s infamous Connaught Place roundabout is a hub for eight main roads and is the central point of the city’s business, economy, and one almighty traffic jam. But strangely enough, after a few months in the country, I can attest to the commonly used sentiment of ‘organised chaos’ among the Indian streets. Despite the maniacal tendencies of pretty much every driver, the kamikaze attitude adopted on the highways and the downright suicidal pedestrians, everything still manages to just…work.

There seem to be a few reasons for this. The first is undeniable: India is huge. Its population is massive. The amount of vehicles on any given road at any time of the day or night is flabbergasting. But, because of the sheer number of people itching to get from A to B, the high likelihood of stress at traffic issues is tempered by the acute awareness that everyone simply has to get along, or risk full scale road carnage. Thus there is no road rage, and no anger at fellow drivers. Crazy, but it works. Secondly, its a mutual respect for everyone’s right to use the road that makes the system work. And finally, the most unique aspect of Indian people is their willingness to share.Whether it’s possessions, food, comfort, or a free space in amongst the traffic, you’ll often find a total stranger happy to help you out, simply because it’s so deeply engrained into Indian sensibilities. It’s then up to the visiting travellers to adjust themselves accordingly.

The wide variety of Indian transport

In rickshaws, with their lack of doors and an over abundance of interior decor, I learned to fold myself and my bags into a small leather covered space, and firmly negotiate fares with the casually proud rickshaw drivers, who treat their vehicles with a kind of caring abuse and often multitask their driving with a loud phone conversation and a cigarette. In comparison, the taxis I rode in were strangely silent, in direct correlation to their cost – but the constant tapping of children’s dirty fingers on the window from outside was awful, and the noncommittal brush offs given to these beggars by the taxi drivers was even more upsetting.

My time spent on buses was sweaty, sticky, and cramped. Long periods in a bumping metal can, knees up against my chin with both feet planted firmly on my bruised backpack. Other journeys with five bodies jammed firmly into three seats, and the distinct realisation that it was getting hard to breathe.

Then there was the day in the mountains at a friend’s wedding, when we hitched a ride in the cabin of a coal truck and rode atop a mound of cardboard boxes filled with crisp packets. The boys in our party sat amongst the coal, clambering out of the truck later with wicked smiles and filthy trousers. And I’d prefer not to think about the blurred, exhilarating terror I felt on the back of a motorbike.

But the hours I spent on countless roads also gave me the opportunity to watch the ways in which India goes about its business. On numerous occasions I saw the excessive care shown by a succession of cars to slow down and skirt around a group of sleeping cows in the middle of a road. I saw whole families speed past on their dad’s motorbike, two or three children sandwiched between parents while often, unfathomably, asleep. Once I tried (and failed) to take hurried photos of a goat held across the middle of a motorbike, speeding down the highway with its two human companions. Luckily I did manage to capture the somewhat more stationary inhabitant of a parked rickshaw.

Road versus rail

Many travellers rave about the joys to be found on the Indian rail system. The romance of long journeys, the speed and exhilaration, the people you meet. And while it certainly has its advantages, it’s sometimes difficult to get more than a vague impression of the region you’re travelling through when whizzing past at 80 mph. Taking to the country’s roads is a different experience altogether.

It’s where you see the old India, of sedate cows and handlebar bicycles, coming head to head with the new, where rickshaws are rocking drum and bass beats that emanate from precariously hard-wired sub woofer speakers. Elderly women in saris perched sideways on the backs of mopeds, hands resting on the waists of their husbands, versus teenage girls in jeans and backpacks confidently swerving their scooters through the traffic.

And once I learned to ignore my rabbit-in-the-headlights mentality and stride out confidently into the metallic fray of traffic, jostling with the best of them, I really felt like I’d accomplished something in India. However small it may be, successfully managing to cross the street is worthy of self-congratulation – particularly in a country with absolutely no road rules to speak of, and where the most common driver’s mantra is “good horn, good brakes, good luck”!

Flora is a writer and travel blogger who chronicles her travelling adventures at Flora The Explorer. For more immediate updates you can find her on Twitter and Facebook, where she spends a large portion of her time discussing travel.

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Pretty rare shot. Got lucky and walked by Bayon as they were setting up for a night concert.

One of the unexpected things I have learned in my recent years of travel is how much I love tourist towns. A city like Venice, which exists purely for tourism these days — love it. The little beach town of Sihanoukville, Cambodia, which is basically 90% there for tourism — feels comfortable. Cuzco, Peru — fabulous. Dahab, Egypt — my version of a beach heaven.

The towns that a lot of people look down on, as they don’t provide any sort of “real experience” of the country you are in, well, they are some of my favorite towns in the world.

Partly, I think my love for some of these places is part of my contrarian personality. Generally, I am predisposed to like things that people say they don’t like and dislike things that are popular. Of course, this doesn’t always match up. For instance, of those towns I just listed off the top of my head, I know plenty of people that also love Venice and Dahab. And I also love a lot of cities that are pretty universally adored, like Cape Town or Istanbul.

So now that I think about it, maybe it isn’t just my contrarian personality.

What I do know is that I have been traveling now for about three solid years, with an occasional month or so back home. Basically, I am now a perpetual traveler and I haven’t slept in one bed for more than about 10 days straight in three years.

My life has pretty much been about change and movement. Constantly.

So, sometimes I like pulling into a town like Siem Reap and seeing a half dozen cheesy expat bars that I know will have reasonable Western food and sports on television that I like watching. Sometimes I want the voices I hear around me to be in a language I recognize and can eavesdrop on. Occasionally, I like to be able to ask for the bill at the end of dinner without doing the hand pantomime for it, so they understand what I want.

I think this is likely the case because I have been traveling constantly. This isn’t a two week vacation where I am trying to capture as much “true local flavor” as I can, all crammed into each day, experience on top of experience. One of the bonuses to traveling for a living is that I really don’t feel much pressure to see it all in any place… because there is a high chance I’ll be back a year or two down the road.

Sometimes I just want recognizable and easy.

And sometimes, like in Siem Reap, I just want my nightly $3, hour-long foot massage and my two $1 beers, one for when they work my left leg and foot and one when they work my right.

That’s $5 well spent in a little tourist joint that no local would ever be seen in, except the workers. And frankly, I don’t feel bad about it at all.

So one of the things I really loved about Siem Reap was the hotel that I stayed in, not just once, but on two separate occasions in the last month. I am not a big hotel snob. I have stayed in some excellent ones and some… really horrible ones.

Mother Home Guesthouse in Siem Reap holds the distinction of having the nicest and most friendly people working there that I have ever come across. It is amazing.

Mother Home Guest House

Just a few of the highlights of this affordable hotel (about $15-20 a night).

One of the must-do’s in the area is sunrise at Angkor Wat. The folks at Mother Home will not only set up the tuk-tuk driver for you and make the call to wake you up at 5 a.m., they will also make you a nice little breakfast to take with you.

If you aren’t doing sunrise, the breakfast buffet, included in the price of the room, is one of the best I have encountered. A great combination of Western and Eastern food and unlimited brewed coffee. Thank God.

The rooms all have air conditioning, comfortable beds, and a feature that I particularly loved, a good sized desk to work on (wifi is free and included also).

I have had a couple friends of mine stay there in the past month, on my recommendation and they all have commented on how incredibly nice, attentive and friendly the staff is. They all said the same thing after a day there: “every time we come back to the hotel from going to Angkor or town, they meet us at the door with a moist, cool towel to wipe off our hands and face — and with a smile and welcoming hello every time also.”

It is one of the friendliest places I have ever stayed.

room at Mother Home

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This time through China, I was in an even bigger rush than I was during my RTW trip back in 2009-10. Then, I managed to stay in Beijing, a city I surprisingly like, for almost a full week. This time, since we were in a bit of a rush to get to Saigon to finish the Ultimate Train Challenge, we only had the one full day to explore, after getting off the train at about 6 a.m.

Through the help of the wonderful folks at China Odyssey Tours, we managed to pack in a lot more in one day than I ever could have anticipated. They provided us a car, driver and guide for the day and we headed immediately, and sleepy eyed, from the train station up to the Great Wall of China. No time for the Forbidden Palace, this time, but I think I’ll be back yet again to enjoy their beauty and odd internal naming.

If you are going to do the Great Wall at any of the spots close to Beijing, you need to be prepared for the crush of tourists. Fortunately, our guide insisted that we head out there as quickly as possible and even better, directed us to a part of the wall where…. we were the only people around.

They sky in this area seems to be permanently shrouded by a haze of pollution, so I am not incredibly happy with my photographs, but when is the last time that you saw one of the main parts of the Great Wall empty of tourists??

even at one single location, the scope and immensity of the whole wall impresses

even the graffiti on the Great Wall seems almost timeless... well, at least the Chinese graffiti

the flag flies proudly for the hordes of Chinese tourists coming to see one of their greatest tourist sites

After the Great Wall, we headed to Ming’s Tombs, which is a pretty massive complex of… you guessed it. Tombs. Thirteen of the sixteen Ming Emperors are buried there (I dare you to name one without goggling it). The Sacred Way has a long series of pretty cool statues. All in all, not a bad spot. I wouldn’t recommend a whole separate trip there, but if you are hitting the Great Wall at the closest point to Beijing, it is on your way going or coming and well worth an hour’s stop.

Some people complain I am never in any of my photos.... so... here's me.

loads and loads of statues

Emperor, statue, big building, you get the picture

After a long day, and many trains, but some great sightseeing, we all wanted just a few things.  A nice, non-moving bed to sleep in — thanks to our UTC sponsor Hostelbookers we got that at Happy Dragon Courtyard, which is in the cool, old part of Beijing that I like. And some dumplings…. which I proceeded to eat for the next three or four meals in a row.

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Pretty much the best McDonald's location you could imagine, heh?

One of the things that I love about China is the slightly off English that you see in signs and hear from people. “Clinglish” or “Changlish” or whatever one calls it (similar to Spanglish, which was supposedly an actually good Adam Sandler movie, though I’ll never know),

China was one of the last stops on our crazy 30-day Ultimate Train Challenge. The folks at China Odyssey Tours we kind enough to sponsor us on this part of the journey and they were really invaluable, considering on how tight a schedule we were on. They scheduled up some tours for us on the few off travel days we had (Bejing and Guilen), but one of the big things they did was provide drivers and guides at each arrival and departure we had. 

China is not the easiest country to get around in. While I had been there before, during my round-the-world trip, it still is not the easiest county to get around in. Off the sixty or so countries I have been in during the last three years, China is right up at the top of “least use of English from the locals.”

While China is currently embarking in a massive effort, like most effects on any topic they embark on, to teach their citizens English, it has seemed to me that there are few people over 30 that speak any English at all.

Most cabbies are over 30. Ergo some of the difficulty of traveling there.

My Chinese visa is good for an unlimited number of entries for a 12 month period. I really enjoy China a lot, so expect to see me back there before that visa runs out in 2012. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy a few amusing signs that I saw while I was there.

Loved this sign on the high-speed train

Perhaps success in life in the next few decades is learning Mandarin

don't be going and getting and rich people glasses for me

because when I am in Beijing, I want... California food

Striding apparently is inconsistent with respect. Remember it. Live it.

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this is Little Oddities in China on #UTC11 from Overland Travel Adventures from Go, See, Write - overland travel, RTW travel, adventure travel

Get ready for time lapse movies coming soon from Angkor Wat, and then many more places. Good ones, I hope.

In the meantime, here are a few photos from the shooting so far.

And a couple of my earlier efforts there, which still don’t look too bad, in my opinion: Bayon Faces and Monks as Tourists.

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this is Angkor Wat: A Photographic Taster from Overland Travel Adventures from Go, See, Write - overland travel, RTW travel, adventure travel

I wanted to post this first on the Ultimate Train Challenge website, so I did — on this video post of the Trans-Manchurian — but I figured I would put it up over here also.

It is my first video effort. More of the story on the link through… and a link there to the charity we were doing this bit of craziness for, but I will embed it here also.

And for those of you following along — many thanks — we made it!  Exhausted and slightly beat down, we pulled into Saigon yesterday morning at 5 a.m. After about 15,000 miles on trains in 30 days, from Lisbon to Saigon, we are now officially going to take a little bit of a break.

Thanks for following along. Please contribute to our charity efforts and I hope you enjoy my first video.

Hope you enjoy. And lest you forget which company made this part of the trip possible, let me remind you about how great Real Russia, U.K. has been to us. They are the premier company to work with for all your Russian travel needs.

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this is Trans-Manchurian Video for the Ultimate Train Challenge from Overland Travel Adventures from Go, See, Write - overland travel, RTW travel, adventure travel

Six days and about 150 or so hours on trains tends to give you enough time to get bored to do some good thinking about the meaning of life. Or enough time to delve into your spare hard drive’s video collection and become a vegetable.

I did a little more of the latter than the former on this particular trip.

In 2009, during my round-the-world (RTW) trip, I did the Moscow to Beijing train route via the Trans-Mongolian railway, and I stopped twice. One stop for a day in Irktusk and one in Ulan Bator, Mongolia. This time, the Ultimate Train Challenge crew did the route that goes over the top of Mongolia through Manchuria, ergo, the Trans-Manchurian, and we did it straight through in six full days.

Right up front, I want to extend my special thanks to the sponsor of this part of our journey, Real Russia U.K. They have been truly amazingly helpful and knowledgeable in the number of times I have had to deal with them, from train information to visas to how to get around Moscow. I could not recommend any company more highly if you are thinking about traveling in this part of the world.

As I write this, the train is less than 12 hours away from Beijing and I am frankly just flat wore out. I think I was in a lot better shape back in 2009-10 when I did this last. I had been traveling for about eight months straight at that point and was used to the whole grind of constant movement a lot more than I am now.

Yes, I am up for as many “you are getting old” jokes as you are willing to tell at this point, just make sure they are actually funny.

The scenery was similar to what I remember from last time, since I took that Trans-Mongolian in September also. This has to be the best time of the year to do this trip, as the leaves on the trees are in their full fall splendor. The food was considerably worse, or perhaps I just blocked that particular memory out from last time. I seem to recall a lot more women selling fresh food at the train stops last time. On this trip, those women were few and far between and we did not do very well on the eating front.

the dominant color of this trip

What was considerably better than last time was the company and my skill with a camera. Jeannie and Nora were (and are – we still have a week to go together on trains to get to Saigon and the finish line) really wonderful friends to have on this trip. They put up with my snoring and occasional bouts of grumpy anti-socialness with nary a word.

Then again, I haven’t read their posts they are scheduling up for this week yet, so perhaps I speak too soon.

As to the camera skills, I will never confuse myself with any of the truly excellent travel photographers out there, but I look back on the photos I took in 2009 and cringe. Between my knowledge now of some basic editing and a bit more knowledge about the mechanics of my camera, I am much happier with the shots today than then.

And Nora and Jeannie added a new addiction to my already-full backpack of time killers – video. My new Nikon D7000 has video capability, but I really haven’t taken the time to mess with it too much. I pulled out the manual on this trip (yes, a male reading the actual manual) and did some fooling around with it. I think I have the basics down on how to make sure most of my videos are going to be in focus and such now, after trashing a couple dozen trial efforts.

More importantly, they stepped my through the basics on iMovie. All I can say is…. be ready for a good number of videos from me in the future. I have had so much fun fooling around with that program and the various options available in it in the last few days.

My first video effort will be up on the Ultimate Train Challenge blog this week — assuming . Nora’s really great “movie trailer” for the train challenge is up over there now. We’d love to hear your feedback, and as usual, I am always up for constructive criticism, of which I am sure there will be a good bit to educate me on.

__________________________________

if you wish to contribute, click here -- PayPal button in on their site, on the left side

I posted this up a few days ago on the Ultimate Train Challenge site, but we need to get the word out to as many people as we can… so here goes here:

Side note on the charity topic. Nora and Jeannie talked me into a bit of insanity. Our charity fundraising goal is $10,000.

If we reach our fundraising goal,we will be doing a poll on this site to determine my next hair style.

Shaved? Mohawk? Pink? Green? UTC carved on the side?

All options will be open for you, the readers and followers, to decide on…. so if you really, really want some good and embarrasing photos of me in a few weeks… you know what to do.

Give and give generously. Thanks, guys.

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