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I visited with Koryo Tours in August 2011.The tour company held a mandatory briefing for tourists prior to our departure which covered safety, logistics and what to expect. There were 18 people in our tour, about half of whom were Americans, including American expats living in China. The rest were Australians, Swiss-Germans and UK citizens.Both Air Koryo and Air China fly to Pyongyang, but Air Koryo is definitely the more interesting flight to take. It is banned from European airspace because of safety concerns, but they kept telling us that Air Koryo has never had a crash. Their fleet consists mostly of older refurbished Soviet aircraft and these planes retain many of their old Soviet quirks, like open overhead storage spaces. (Thank God we didn't encounter turbulence!)I was seated in the rear of the aircraft with several North Koreans returning home from Beijing. They could be identified because they had already put on the Kim Il-Sung pins every North Korean is required to wear in public. After takeoff I pulled out my mini-laptop to backup some photographs I’d taken of Beijing and quickly noticed a lot of eyes gathered around me, watching. Evidently, computer technology is very interesting. About halfway through the flight, revolutionary music started blazing over the loudspeakers. A woman said (in English!) that we had entered the glorious paradise of Kim Il-Sung and about 45 minutes later, we landed in Pyongyang.In 2011 when I visited, cellphones, GPS devices, cameras with GPS, lenses longer than 300mm and radios were banned (though the lens rule wasn't enforced), so once we landed, customs officials went through our luggage with a fine-toothed comb and pulled out prohibited materials. They were kept at the airport and given back when we left. You were allowed to keep computers, tablets and mp3 players, but there was no internet to connect to then.Once we got through customs, our bus and the guides were waiting. They asked us for our passports, which they said were needed to process our visas. We didn’t get them back until we left. On the ride to our hotel (the Yanggakdo Hotel, aka “Tourist Alcatraz” because it is on an island in the middle of the Taedong River that you can't leave without permission), we were introduced to our guides. The thing that struck me on the ride into Pyongyang was how dark it was for a city of 3 million people. Our plane had been delayed so we arrived at dusk and could see a lot of people walking around,presumably going home from work in the dark. The great monuments and buildings are brightly lit, but the rest of the city was very dark.The Yanggakdo Hotel is huge, with lots of shops, restaurants, bars and entertainment venues, staffed by Chinese. The accommodation itself was 3 stars - not luxurious but fine. It’s an immense place. The main lobby had a restaurant, souvenir shop, food store and a bar. Downstairs from the main lobby was a karaoke lounge, another bar, meeting rooms and a recreational area. Despite what some may think, I never got the feeling we were bugged because: 1) It's extremely expensive, as well as time and labour consuming to do so; and 2) They don't really care what foreigners think, unless you're a visiting official.The views of Pyongyang from the hotel were breathtaking, but I had to massively overexpose my photos to get much detail at night because the city was so dark.You can see how long I had to keep the shutter open to get a photo: it was the amount of time it took a car to drive several blocks.Foggy morning on the next day.In Pyongyang, we spent most of our time visiting the landmark buildings and monuments. Pyongyang is much more affluent than the rest of the country and presents itself as a clean, attractive city, though I would imagine very dull to live in, especially if you're a foreign expat. There wasn’t much traffic or many people on the street and there is no advertising. The billboards are all propaganda.We visited the U.S.S. Pueblo which was captured by the North Koreans in 1968 and is docked in the Pot’ong River where it is used for tourist propaganda. The crew of 83 was held until the U.S. signed a statement saying that we were guilty of spying on the North Koreans.After that, we walked to Kim Il Sung Square and visited the Grand People's Study Hall (the DPRK's national library) where we dropped in on an English language course. While the Study Hall is presented as a place open to all Koreans, it was obvious from the look of the patrons that it was a place for the elite.Here, students are working on computers hooked up to the North Korean intranet called “Kwangmyong”. This is walled off from the larger World Wide Web and hosts only ideologically acceptable content.We saw the Arch of Triumph (modeled on the Paris monument, only bigger because everything has to be bigger in North Korea!); took a ride to the top of the Juche Tower; visited the Great Fatherland Liberation War (Korean War) Museum, which presents the Korean War from their side and took a ride on the Pyongyang Subway, the world’s deepest.Below is a wedding party. The Bride and Groom are posing in front of their nearest Kim Il Sung statue for photographs, after their wedding ceremony.One of the oddest museum visits we had was to the Transit Museum.One would think it would be a museum dedicated to transit (subways, trains, boats, etc.), but it’s actually a museum dedicated to all the times Kim Il Sung got on a train and went somewhere, or said something about a train, or pointed at a train.But it was at this museum we were exposed to one thing North Koreans do very, very well - creating dioramas. Part of the display below is painted and part of it is a model, but the line between one and the other is almost impossible to see from where you stood.Below is a diorama from the Great Fatherland Liberation Museum. The gun turret is a model, the men are painted. While it is a bit easier to see where the line is in the photograph, it was impossible to see in person. In their own way, they represented what visiting North Korea itself was like.One of the highlights of the trip was going to the heart of the Kim-cult. The Kumsusan Palace of the Sun is where Kim Il Sung (and now Kim Jong Il) lie in state, under glass. You have to dress up for the occasion. Nice slacks and ties were required for men and a nice dress (no pants!) for women. (The tour company told us to be bring appropriate clothes ahead of time.) No cameras allowed inside.After walking through several long hallways past well-dressed North Koreans (whom I presume got a day off from work to tour the Palace because of good work, or connections), we arrived in a room with marble walls and brass relief pictures showing North Koreans crying and convulsing in pain at the news of Kim Il Sung’s death. The local guides handed us small mp3 players which you held up to your ears that described the day that he died on how his death affected everyone.Then we came to a large statue of Kim Il Sung where we all took turns and bowed. The tour company warned us that this was going to be expected, and told us that those who couldn’t do it had to notify them in advance. All of us took turns bowing and then we moved on to a room that had a display of his accomplishments. Finally we got to the room where he lay. He is under glass, bathed in red lighting with the “Kim Il Sung Song” (North Korea’s unofficial national anthem) playing softly in the background. Here, we had to walk around him and bow once on each side. Despite myself, I was very moved by the whole thing. I had to remind myself that this was a man who ran a whole country like a religious cult and started a war that killed millions.After bowing to Kim, we went to a room where more trinkets and honours were displayed. I always tried to find anything from the U.S. or Canada and I did! Kim Il Sung received a Doctorate from Kensington University in Glendale California for Political Science. (Kensington University was a notorious diploma mill that was shut down by the State of California years ago.)Knowing that our cellphones were going to be confiscated, I had brought an iPod Touch so I had music to listen to while on some of the longer bus rides. Also on it were a couple TV shows downloaded from iTunes. While showing it to my guide I inadvertently played part of a show which showed a couple making out which (strangely enough) embarrassed me. But the guide asked if he could borrow the player for the evening. Reluctantly, I said yes - I didn’t want to get him or me into trouble. When I got it back the next day the battery had been totally drained. He must have watched everything on it.We visited the Martyr's Cemetery; Kim Il Sung's birthplace, the "Three Revolutions" Museums and several bookstores and restaurants (mostly catering to foreigners). We visited a Pyongyang park on their day off, when the locals often picnicked and played music and games. While walking along, a family was playing DPRK pop music on a cassette player, and asked us to dance with them. That felt a bit staged, as until then no one had just come up to us and asked us to participate in anything, so after we’d left the country I got onto YouTube and found numerous examples of this impromptu event from other tourists.Finally we got to the main course, for me at least! I came to North Korea primarily to see the Arirang Mass Games. A year earlier I’d watched a BBC documentary called “A State of Mind” which followed two schoolgirls who performed in the Games and had decided that I wanted to see it in person. The Games are a big propaganda show for the regime. About 100,000 people participate in each performance, including 20,000 school children that use books with coloured pages to form mosaics in the background. It is an hour and a half performance which tells the propagandized story of North Korea and its many accomplishments.Here is a clip I recorded of one from the scenes. This one celebrates Children. The background changes are signaled by a man with a flag behind us:It was spectacular, beyond anything I expected.We went rollercoaster riding at the Mangyongde Fun Fair, which was packed because of the Youth Day holiday. I tested how good North Korean safety standards were and somehow lived to tell you about it. (Please don’t tell me whether it was ballsy or stupid. I’m leaning toward the latter, but my number wasn’t up yet.)At the last minute, we were told that Pyongyang was going to stage a Youth Day Mass Dance, so we got on the bus and headed there. It’s a choreographed dance to the regime-praising pop music tunes we had all become familiar with by then.We drove about 100km north to Mt. Myohyang to visit the International Friendship Exhibition (which is a massive building cut into the side of a mountain to protect it in case the Americans bomb again) which houses all the gifts foreign leaders gave to Kim Il Sung, (where I found that Jimmy Carter had given Kim Il Sung a small pewter plate with the Presidential Seal on it.) This site was also considered holy. You had to take off your shoes and wear special slippers so you don’t scuff the floor. It was strange to see the names of so many dead dictators from countries that no longer exist (e.g., Ceausescu, Saddam, East Germany, Yugoslavia). While walking through the Exhibition, one of the guides and I had a discussion about the differences between how voting and elections work in the DPRK and how they work in Canada and the U.S. He had trouble grasping the idea of different political parties with different and often contradictory policies competing for our votes and thought it must all be really chaotic. It was a fascinating exchange.We also went south and saw Kaesong (the only major city that wasn't heavily bombed during the Korean War) and the DMZ. Kaesong has some interesting historical (pre-DPRK) paintings, statues and burial monuments. This part of the trip, which delved into more ancient Korean history, provided a nice break from the Kim cult.Here we are at the DMZ looking across to the Americans and South Koreans.Finally we visited a collective farm outside of Pyongyang.Where we were supposed to have met a typical farmer and see how they lived (ahem!)What's it like to visit North Korea? Well, you'll be under the watchful eye and control of the guides. The guides we had were very nice, albeit distant people. Being a guide is a dream job in the DPRK because the money they make from hard currency tips from tourists gives them access to items most North Koreans can't buy. They seemed to truly enjoy our company and, within limits, were curious about our lives. However, it's important to know that when the guides are done for the day, you are taken to your hotel and you aren’t allowed to leave. You will never be able to wander around on your own. The tour was very busy all the time, so the only downtime we got during the day was on the bus rides. Many people napped but I didn't want to miss anything so I was really exhausted once we left the country.The accommodations were comfortable but not luxurious. The food is bland but edible. One of my friends on the trip is vegan, which really puzzled them, but they always tried to accommodate him. You could find sweets, soda and other western food items at the gift shops throughout the country. The local beer is very good. When I was there we were totally cut off from the world - no internet, cell phones, etc. and the TV channel broadcasts the Kim Il Sung show all the time. And of course, there are no ATMs, and credit and debit cards can't be used.The North Koreans will do their best not to let you see poverty, deprivation or malnutrition, though it isn't always possible to completely hide it and we did see glimpses of it, particularly outside Pyongyang. You'll be exposed to the DPRK's view on things, which will probably be at odds to your own. You're not going to hear anything about labour camps or human rights abuses. You will be expected to always show respect and occasionally bow to the Great Leader and Dear Leader's statues, images and their bodies at rest in the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun.The North Koreans themselves are very lovely people. They aren't the militaristic robots that are often shown on TV. We often got treated to impromptu musical performances, which didn’t always strike me as staged. Everyone seems to know how to play the accordion (the People’s Instrument!) and it never seemed to take much encouragement to convince them to perform.However for the most part, they are shy around foreigners, particularly in smaller towns and rural areas where foreigners are rare, and there is the language barrier. But the children are very friendly. You'll never hear a North Korean speak critically about their situation, even "off the record" like you do in Cuba or China, and if you’re an American, you won't be able to visit anyone's private home. But when the guides and others we encountered let their hair down (usually after a few drinks at the end of the day), we had a good time with them. However, it's hard not to feel a sense of tragedy. They have been cut off from the world in a way that the Soviets, East Germans and Cubans haven't been and for a much longer period of time. If/when the regime disappears, it will be far, far more difficult for them to interact and integrate into the international community. They are woefully unprepared to become highly skilled, productive people who can deal with outsiders in a globalized world.The country itself is verdant, green and rugged; extremely beautiful to look at. But it’s understandable why they have so much trouble feeding themselves. Even if their farming practices were efficient, there simply isn't much farmland and, being adjacent to Siberia, the growing season is very short.More of my photos are here: North Korea 2011It was a very memorable trip.

The Los Angeles metropolitan area is the largest by area of any US city. The biggest difference you'll see in LA versus say New York or Chicago is the vast sprawl of suburban communities. There are some high density, urban areas like DTLA and Santa Monica. But the vast majority of LA consists of individual neigborhoods.What visitors consider LA to be and what locals consider “LA" to be are two different ideas. I live in the far northern part of LA county, a 70 mile drive from downtown. LA County is about 100 miles wide and 90 miles long. I live in LA, but in that I live in a part if the vast Los Angeles metro area. If an Angeleno tells me they live in LA, its understood that they live in proper Los Angeles….the area encompassed by Glendale and Pasadena to the northeast, Griffith Park to the north, the 105 freeway to the south, the 405 to the west, and the 60 freeway to the east. In that area alone, there are about 30 varied neighborhoods.Like any city, LA has it's nice and it's not so nice. Downtown IS a dump. It's one of the oldest sections of city, and has serious problems with vagrancy and failing infrastructure. But in current LA, the shitty parts of town are slowly going away. Much of the criminal activity that 90s LA was known for has decreased with the suppression of the gang violence by local police. South LA is no vacation spot, but less and less residents becAme victims of gang-related criminal activity since the early 2000s. And with the housing demand at its peak in California, seedy neighborhoods are being refurbished to accommodate affordable housing.The thing about LA is the juxtaposition of wealth. Some of the most expensive real estate in the states is in the coastal towns between Malibu and Long Beach. Houses worth hundreds of millions, if not billions. Go 10 miles inland and you often find yourself in the heart of a working class neighborhood with homes dating to the 50s. I've traveled a fair amount, and there's no town quite like it

Phoenix was the first town formed in the Salt River Valley. Some of the other towns formed later named a road that took people from Phoenix to the town center. Glendale Rd, Buckeye Rd, and Peoria Ave are examples. This does not apply to ALL of the suburbs of Phoenix. Scottsdale Rd does not head towards Phoenix, nor does Mesa Dr. Several suburbs do not have self named roads at all. Phoenix always was, and always will be the big dog of The Valley. We all know what city Central marks the heart of.