Now before it starts let me tell you five quick facts about traveling in North Korea.

First off, you are not allowed to travel on your own.

You must go on a pre-arranged tour that lasts anywhere from one to ten days.

Second, they take all your passport and your local guides monitor you for the whole trip.

They take you to various locations as specific times and they only show you what they want you to see.

And wandering on your own under any circumstances is not allowed.

Third, every time you want to take [a picture of anything you need to ask your guides for permission.

And taking pictures of Soldiers workers construction sites and many other things is forbidden.

Fourth, the leaders are considered as gods in North Korea and any sign of disrespect towards a statue an image or even a picture of them is a grave offense.

And fifth, the only place where you can behave more or less freely is the hotel where you're staying, which is situated on an Island.

However, you can still get into trouble even there.

For example, two weeks before my trip to North Korea, an American student was sentenced to 15 years in prison for trying to steal a poster from the hotel.

Now that being said, I feel like many documentaries and videos have been made about the politics of North Korea, whereas I simply wanted to make a video that would show you how your day-to-day life would look if you went there as a tourist.

So I didn't really want to offer my opinion about whether things were staged or honest or good or bad.

So please judge for yourself and take everything with a little pinch of salt.

I hope you enjoy it and... cheers!

I've always been very interested in North Korea, Because it seemed to be one of the most unique and mysterious countries in the whole world.

And for the past two-and-a-half years, I've spent most of my time traveler and had the chance to visit over 45 different countries around the world.

But the more I traveled, the more I wanted to visit North Korea and see it for myself.

So this year, I simply couldn't wait any longer and booked a seven-day tour across the country.

After a few months of waiting, I finally got on a flight to Beijing and went to the office of my tour agency for some briefing.

Then I came back to my hotel room and packed my bags.

The next morning, I woke up at 5 a.m. and went to the airport to take a flight that would change me forever.

Okay, we're finally leaving the airport (and) going towards the bus.

Once we landed in Pyongyang, we were met by two north Korean guides, who would accompany us for the whole trip.

And every single one of our actions had to be approved by them.

I just got off the bus, and I'm finally going to my hotel. This is the lobby. Oh man it looks pretty good.

This is it.

Two beds, a phone, (and) a TV.

I'm finally in North Korea. We'll see what happens in the coming few days, but I mean, it's definitely one of the most interesting trips I've done today, and I can't wait to see what was it next for me.

On our first day we went deep underground for a ride on the Pyongyang Metro, which is the deepest subway system in the world.

This was supposed to be a good chance to interact with the local people, but everyone seemed to be afraid to even look at us.

Every time I turned around, I'd see people quickly turning their heads away as if they were never looking at me.

After the Metro ride, we visited The Arc of Triumph, which was built in 1982 to commemorate Korean independence from Japan.

There were quite a lot of people busy with their daily lives.

Some kids were even playing football and the tourists were allowed to join in.

After dinner, I went to see North Korean movie at the local movie theater.

So I just came to see a movie at a cinema in Pyongyang about life in Pyongyang.

It's kind of like a comedy co-authored by a foreigner who's been working with North Korea for the past 22 years and obviously some studios in North Korea.

It'll be extremely exciting and yeah, I'm at a cinema North Korea, and that's something really cool on

The bus Ride back home we saw thousands of people practicing for a large North Korean Parade

The next day I took part in the pyongyang marathon which was begun in

1981 it was only the third year that the marathon has been open to amateur Runners and there were over a thousand tourists running ten

Twenty one or even forty two kilometers a week before my trip to North Korea

[I] fell off a motorbike in Vietnam and got my arm plastered for three weeks since I obviously couldn't run [full-speed]

I walked the whole ten kilometers and quite surprisingly. This was one of the best decisions

I ever made because I was [able] to really see the surroundings and interact with the people watching the Marathon

There's somebody's back daters wow

After the Marathon we're going to see the party foundation monument

Which was constructed to commemorate 50 years of workers party rule later in the evening. We went to the ducha [Tower]?

Which is the tallest stone tower in the world standing at 150 meters?

We were the last people allowed to go in for the day because it was [already] too late

But the view from the top was simply breathtaking

the next morning the real tour started we were taken to a [kindergarden] where the kids [performed] the dance for us and

Eventually invited all the tourists to dance along

Yeah

During our days in Korea. We'd be having our lunches and dinners in different locations

I've always wanted to find a dragon somewhere in the world, and I cannot believe that

I finally did find one in North Korea as you can see behind my back

But in every single one [of] them the waitresses would sing the same songs and invite the tourists to sing and dance with them

This was the first time we saw locals at a russian and some people thought they came there for a reason

we visit

[university] schools and other learning centers almost every day a lot of the students had to perform for us and some of them were

apparently really well practiced

At one particular Middle school one young student kicked my ass at table, tennis

However back in the hotel. I was the king of the table swing

One of the days we went on a tram ride around pyongyang

that was one of the highlights of the trip because we were finally able to see at [least] a little bit of

the local way of life

The funny thing was that in every carriage there were some colorful notes full of the leaders ideas thoughts and [vices] for the people

We also visited some ancient sites small Towns parks cafes, the

Demilitarized zone between the two Koreas and many other places, so we just came to a pizza restaurant in Pyongyang

And it looks like a nice pizza place

So apparently I just found a snickers bar at a hotel in Korea

Which is extremely interesting [then] the best thing I discovered this local rice drink

There was rice at the bottom of the bottle and need to mix it to I don't know have the drink ready

But it's really good. Thank you very much

[every] [time] I come yes, good bartender

Probably the most interesting day was the last day of my [trip] which was also [the] birthday of their eternal president Kim

Il sung in the morning we went to pay our respects and bow for the biggest dear leader statues in all of North Korea

The birthday [of] Kim Il-sung is a national holiday where people do not have to go to work?

But every North Korean has to go and show [the] respects to the leader statues close to their communities

Afterwards we went to see a hundreds of Korean women practicing beautiful dance wearing their national dress

oh

We're allowed to go into a theme park nearby where we took a real roller coaster

I'm at an amusement park in North Korea, and I'm going to go on a roller coaster all those

the Ride was very basic

But it was still a very interesting experience to be able to go on a rollercoaster ride in North Korea however after this one

We were not allowed [to] go on any other rights and had to leave the theme park

After an awesome lunch [our] guide said that we will be able to go to a park where [only] the local people hang out

So we're at a public park in a really a lot of local people just having run

I was very surprised to see literally thousands of people dancing

Throughout the whole trip. We didn't have any chance to talk with the local [people] except for [our] two North Korean guides

This was as close as we [ever] got to them, but even then there was no communication between us

After the park our guides wouldn't tell [us] where we were doing. They simply said it was a surprise

Went on a large yak from which we saw some spectacular fireworks

The seven days I spent in North Korea

Have been some of the most interesting and mind-opening days in my entire life

To be honest the country looked a lot better than I had imagined though obviously. [I] was only shown what they wanted me to see

My guides were wonderful and friendly people who seemed to truly love their country and especially the dear Leader's

But all the rules and limitations were way too much to handle. [I] remember four days after I left North Korea

[I] couldn't believe I could do whatever I wished even buying brochures or taking a cab seemed like great privileges

To me freedom is everything

Freedom to choose. What work what to read where to go and where to live?

It was sad to realize that millions of [people] did not share the same freedom

Simply because they were born in a different place