Travel
to North Korea to see the ARIRANG gymnastics show (30 Aug.-4 Sep.)
This year the Grand Mass Game and Artistic Performance “Arirang” will be staged from 1 Aug. until 30 Sep. every evening. In addition to “Arirang”, a new project - “Prosper the Motherland!” dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the DPRK - will be run every afternoon. Guests and visitors to the Beijing Olympics (8-24 Aug.) can extend their China tour by spending six days in North Korea.
Itinerary
30 August (Sat) - Flight Beijing-Pyongyang, 11:55 departure / 15:00 arrival.
Customs at Pyongyang airport, meeting with guides, Mansudae Grand Monument, Arch of Triumph, Fountain Park, transfer to Sosan Hotel. Check in hotel. After dinner - “Arirang” performance.
31 August (Sun) - Kumsusan Memorial Palace (Mausoleum of Kim Il Sung), Revolutionary Martyrs’ Cemetry, Buddhist Temple. After lunch - City tour of Pyongyang, including birthplace of President Kim Il Sung, Juche Tower, Monument to Party Foundation, Kim Il Sung Stadium, War Victory Monuments, Pyongyang Metro.
1 September (Mon) - Day tour by coach to Kaesong, Panmunjom/DMZ. After lunch - Kaesong Koryo Museum, return to Pyongyang. Mangyongdae Schoolchildren’s Palace (performance). Dinner.
2 September (Tue) - Coach drive to Mt. Myohyang. International Friendship Exhibition (Hall of gifts to DPRK leaders), Bohyon Buddhist Temple, Mountaineering in attractive Mt. Myohyang (one of top scenic spots), check in Hyangsan Hotel.
3 September (Wed) - Excursion to Ryongmun Cavern. Return to Pyongyang. After lunch - Commemorative Mass Game “Prosper the Motherland!’. Shopping. Check-in Sosan Hotel. Dinner in a local restaurant.
4 September (Thu) - Flight Pyongyang-Beijing, 10:30 departure / 11:30 arrival.
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Tour price: 5 nights / 6 days = 1,290 EUR per person.
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These prices include: Travel between Beijing and Pyongyang by airplane, shared twin room accommodation, three meals per day, all domestic transportation, interpretation, sightseeing, and entrance fees while in North Korea.
Single room supplement: 30 EUR per person per night.
The tour prices do NOT include: visa fee, other international flights, airport tax, and tickets for Mass Gymnastics Shows in Pyongyang.
Arirang Mass Gymnastics Show ticket prices: Special class seat - 300 USD; 1st class seat -150 USD; 2nd class seat - 100 USD; 3rd class seat - 50 USD.
Deadline for applications by e-mail: 30 July 2008.
Visas can be issued in Beijing or other cities where DPRK embassies are located.
Contacts for booking: L&J Development and Consultancy e-mail: LJinfo@narod.ru or phone in Australia +61-403076604.
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Travel to North Korea for Business and Pleasure
(6 Sep.-10/13 Sep.)
Leaders in tourism and hospitality are invited to visit North Korea to meet with colleagues, to discuss business, and to enjoy the Arirang Mass Gymnastics show. If you have time, explore the remote North Hamgyong and Ryanggang provinces of the DPRK.
The 60th anniversary of DPRK foundation will be celebrated by a brand-new 100,000-men special Gymnastics Art Show “Prosper the Motherland!”.
Itinerary and Program of Events:
6 Sep. (Sat) - Departure from Beijing at 11:55am by Air Koryo JS 152. Arrival in Pyongyang at 14:55. Introductory city tour, check-in at the Yanggakdo International Hotel. Meeting with hotel management team.
7 Sep. (Sun) - Kumsusang Memorail Palace, Pyongyang Film Studios. National Tourism Administration’s seminar on tourism to the DPRK , Q & A. Evening circus show (optional).
8 Sep. (Mon) - Day trip to Kaesong, P’anmunjeom, DMZ. Return to Pyongyang. After dinner “Arirang” Mass Gymnastics Show.
9 Sep. (Tue) - Pyongyang city tour, celebration and events dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the DPRK
10 Sep (Wen) - Morning departure by train to China via Sinuiju-Dandong (arrival in Beijing 8:33 on 11 September, Thursday)
Optional part:
10 Sep (Wen) - Morning departure by charter flight to Mt. Chilbo’s Orang airport. Excursion to Kaesim Buddhist Temple. Homestay in Korean families.
11 Sep. (Thu) - Excursion to the Eastern Sea. Departure by charter flight to Samjiyon in Mt. Paekdu, Excursion to Samjiyon Grand Monument
12 Sep. (Fri) - Excursion to Mt. Paekdu and Lake Cheon crater. Visit to the Korean guerilla secret camp and schoolchildren palace. Return to Pyongyang by charter flight. Check-in at the Yanggakdo International Hotel
13 Sep. (Sat) - Morning departure (8:55am) by Air Koryo flight JS 151 to China. Arrival in Beijing International Airport at 9:55am.
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Tour price: 4 nights / 5 days = 1,190 EUR per person (business trip only).
Tour price: 7 nights / 8 days = 1,890 EUR per person (business trip + northern provinces).
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These prices include: Travel between Beijing and Pyongyang by airplane and/or train, shared twin room accommodation, three meals per day, all domestic transportation, interpretation, sightseeing, and entrance fees while in North Korea.
Single room supplement: 20 EUR per person per night.
The tour prices do NOT include: visa fee, other international flights, airport tax, and tickets for Arirang Mass Gymnastics Show ticket in Pyongyang.
Arirang Mass Gymnastics Show ticket prices: Special class seat - 300 USD; 1st class seat -150 USD; 2nd class seat - 100 USD; 3rd class seat - 50 USD.
Deadline for applications by e-mail: 15 August 2008.
Visas can be issued in Beijing or other cities where DPRK embassies are located.
Contacts for booking: L&J Development and Consultancy e-mail: LJinfo@narod.ru or phone in Australia +61-403076604.
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North Korea: The Columbus complex
By Aidan Foster-Carter, Asia Times Online (2 Feb. 2008)
“To explore strange new worlds … To boldly go where no man has gone before.”
Stumbling on North Korea for the first time, not a few people - awestruck, disgusted, or just plain open-mouthed - seem fondly to imagine themselves as Star Trek’s Captain Kirk: piloting the Starship Enterprise to land in Pyongyang, surely this planet’s final frontier.
Or maybe Christopher Columbus is a better parallel. As we all learned in school, Columbus discovered America. That claim now comes heavily qualified: America already existed and was inhabited. Vikings got there before Columbus, who didn’t even know where he was; he thought he’d hit India. For all concerned, it was a fateful - for some, a fatal - encounter.
My own Columbus moment on North Korea was 40 years ago. A typical revolting student of 1968, head full of Marx and heart afire with anti-imperialism, I found my Nirvana. Here was a small ex-colony which defied the worst the West could throw at it (napalm included), to industrialize and lead its people out of poverty - as capitalism, I was cocksure, could not?
