First of all, and the question that many people ask me when I tell them about a trip I did in 2005: Why the hell did you go to North Korea ?! The answer is simple: I like to do things a little differently. Most people think that a good vacation is sitting on a beach in Thailand for a week, getting burned and beaten every night, waking up around noon, etc. I'd rather see places and do things when I get back from vacation. I have a sense of accomplishment. I wasn't really looking at holiday destinations when I was browsing the BBC news website and a story about the DPRK's nuclear ambitions when I saw a link titled North Korean Holidays. In that article I read about a company called Koryo Tours and since then my interest has increased enormously. This company, run from an office in Beijing by two Brits, processed visas and made regular visits to the DPRK throughout the year, during which they had the opportunity to visit and see things that most of the world will never see. This was on my same street, and I exchanged a bunch of emails with one of the guys, getting more information about the trips and what was possible (diving was not allowed unfortunately, I asked and they asked). In the end, I settled for a 6-day tour of the May Day Stadium across the country, flying to Pyongyang and returning by train to Beijing. Not only would this tour include seeing some spectacular and rare sights, but there was also the prospect of going to see the World Cup qualifying match between the DPRK and Japan, which will be played at the country's May Day Stadium. This is the largest stadium in the world, with capacity for more than 150,000 people. To put it in perspective, it is more than twice the size of the Olympic Stadium in Seoul, South Korea.

I did some research about the country and although the information is quite limited, I managed to get an excellent travel guide and DVD documentary about the country. First of all, the Bradt North Korea Travel Guide was an excellent resource, both before my trip and during my trips to the DPRK. It includes a lot of practical travel information and covers almost every area in the DPRK that you might want to visit. If you ever manage to go there, this book would be highly recommended. Through Koryo Tours, I also managed to get my hands on a copy of a BBC documentary called A State Of Mind. This is a fascinating documentary and it is one of the best DVDs I have ever bought. It revolves around 2 girls who are preparing for the Mass Games in the DPRK. More on this later, but in short, the Mass Games is a huge choreographed gymnastics show involving thousands of gymnasts. In simple terms, it makes the Olympic opening ceremony look like an elementary school festival. I'll talk about this a bit later, but I leave you a photo of the event itself (unfortunately not mine, I did not get a chance to see it on my visit as it usually takes place in April / May and August / September.) https://www.freenc.net