Young Pioneer Tours
Blog
Welcome to the Young Pioneer Tours blog about everything North Korea, and all of our other special off the beaten the track destinations.
Since starting in 2008 we have seen blogging about North Korea and our other great destinations as a great way to engage with our customers and to show the world a slice of life in the great destinations we visit.
Due to the mass amount of great content we create, as well as receive from our Pioneers we have since started our travel lifestyle magazine “The Young Pioneer”.
We’re always looking for contributors to our sites, so feel free to browse through our blogs, and , get in touch if you’d like to write for us.
Check out and subscribe to the YPT Blog and travel magazine
How to get a visa for Syria
16 March 2019 / by Ben Crowley
Since the war, getting a visa for Syria has been incredibly difficult, with lots of stories of people submitting applications and either being rejected, or waiting for an approval that never comes. However, since the crisis has stabilised and the almos …
When North Korea Hosted an International Event
14 March 2019 / by Gareth Johnson
Seeing Kim Jong Un centre-stage in both Singapore and Hanoi was without doubt a monumental event, but this was far from the first time North Korea had tried to be big on the international stage. Back in 1989 they hosted the 13th World Festival of Youth …
Top 7 East German jokes – newly declassified!
13 March 2019 / by Gareth Johnson
Every year the CIA goes through a declassifying period, which two years ago led us to write a great blog about the 7 best declassified Soviet jokes! As it seemed to give the masses their laughing jollies, we’ve decided to throw some jokes from the old …
Staying at the Yanggakdo International Hotel
12 March 2019 / by Rowan Beard
Introduction The Yanggakdo International Hotel (양각도국제호텔) is most famous for being known as “the hotel on the island” or regularly mistaken as the only hotel tourists can stay at in Pyongyang which isn’t true. The Yanggakdo International Hotel was first …
5 micronations that have claimed Bir Tawil
7 March 2019 / by Gareth Johnson
It ain’t easy for a piece of land to remain entirely unclaimed, due to our species’ rapacious tendency to snap up anything we might be able to frack, mine, harvest or build property on. This is why it is so surprising, perhaps, that the desert territor …
Countries in Europe Without an Official FIFA Football Team – Part 1
28 February 2019 / by Gareth Johnson
Lock a few football geeks, country counters, travel freaks and micronation nerds into a room and you end up with debates over whether or not the Faroe Islands is a country, why Antarctica don’t have a national football team and indeed why on earth the …
A look into the Mount Myohyang Region
27 February 2019 / by Nicolas Platt
Mount Myohyang which is nestled two hours northeast of Pyongyang may not be as famous as some of North Korea’s other mountains such as Mt. Paektu or Mt. Kumgang, it is a hidden gem and an incredibly popular place for domestic tourists to visit in the D …
11 things to know before you go to Tuvalu
26 February 2019 / by Gareth Johnson
Because Tuvalu is one of the least visited countries on earth (most people won’t have even heard of it) there’s fairly scant information online about visiting Tuvalu. Yet, like anywhere it’s always useful to have a bit of pre-tour information! Here’s o …
Transnistria’s most famous (and infamous) people
26 February 2019 / by Joel Vostok
Transnistria: a country I have grown to love after many years of travelling and guiding there. However, its status as a ‘country’ is debatable. Born in the wreckage of the USSR, the region burst into a viscous civil war due to Moldovan attempts to ‘Rom …
