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
Korea Train Trips
May 28, 2020 / by John McGovern
You can travel by train around much of the Korean peninsula, there is an extensive network of train trips in South Korea and the most famous of Korea train trips is the Train to Busan. It is not, however, what we refer to when we want to talk about Kor …
Fidel Castro and Diego Maradona: the Strangest Father-Son Relationship
May 28, 2020 / by John McGovern
Today we’ll have a look at a relationship that rocked the Socialist world, Fidel Castro and Diego Maradona. Fidel Castro Fidel Castro was a Cuban lawyer cum revolutionary, becoming the leader of Cuba from the revolution in 1959 until his retirement in …
My first tour to North Korea
May 28, 2020 / by Gareth Johnson
YPT’s founder Gareth Johnson recounts his first tour to North Korea In 2008, I was lucky enough to lead my first of what to be many tours of North Korea. Preparation I was working as an English teacher at EF English first in Xi’an when I first dreamed …
Taekwondo: A sport divided
May 28, 2020 / by Gareth Johnson
Young students of Taekwondo are practicing in Rason, North Korea When it comes to East Asia martial arts are an integral part of the regions culture. China has Kung Fu, Japan has Karate, and Korea has Taekwondo. Of course, there are multitudes of other …
5 things to do in Pago Pago
May 28, 2020 / by Gareth Johnson
Pago Pago is the capital city of the American overseas territory of American Samoa. If you charter a flight with Talofa Airways then it is possible to stop here for two hours, before boarding again and flying onwards to Tonga. We fully appreciate that …
Christ the Saviour Orthodox Church in Shenyang
May 28, 2020 / by Gareth Johnson
Shenyang not only lies on the train ride from Beijing to Pyongyang, but is also the only Chinese city other than Beijing to have direct scheduled flights to Pyongyang. Its location and importance in North-East China (Dong-Bei) also means it has a big N …
The awe of Eritrea: A different side of Africa
May 27, 2020 / by YPT Team
All the ingredients were present: Cheap, cold beer. A repressive Regime. Beautiful women. An amazing landscape with an engaging history. And, as usual, difficult to visit. Clearly, this recipe was uniquely created for a Young Pioneer adventure. I was f …
What was the Bukharan People’s Soviet Republic
May 27, 2020 / by Ben Crowley
We love unusual, little-known countries that no longer exist. We also love a country with a great name. The Bukharan People’s Soviet Republic ticks both of those boxes. The Emir of Bukhara, who managed to score one of the earliest colour photographs Th …
How to get from Samoa to Tonga
May 27, 2020 / by Gareth Johnson
When you look at a map, Samoa and Tonga look quite close together, at least by Pacific standards anyway. Alas, there are no direct flights between Apia, the capital of Samoa and Nuku’alofa (easy for you to say) the capital of Tonga. The most popular wa …
