After traveling all over South-East Asia with visits to Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam lying already behind me I decided it’s time to move on. Until recently this whole travel except from Myanmar was based on vague ideas and the wish to travel as much without a fixed schedule as possible.
But now things changed. I have created an Itinerary for myself which includes one of my biggest dream destinations: North Korea!
But here are all the details:
24/05/2017 Bangkok – Phuket
I am flying to Phuket in a few hours. I hope to be able to catch up with my scuba diver certification which I successfully completed back in Nha Trang, Vietnam. I know it’s rainy season and the weather can be nasty this time of the year. But whale sharks don’t mind rain, don’t they?
01/06/2017 Phuket – Beijing
As you can guess from the picture in this post I was able to get a double entry visa for China in Bangkok. A few days of uncertainty and a mere 3.200 Baht (80 EUR) later, I was able to pick up my passport this morning in the Chinese Visa Service Center. This allows me to stay for a few nights in China before and After my travel to the DPRK.
05/06/2017 Beijing – Pyongyang
Taking a 24 hour overnight sleeper train to the capitol of North Korea was one of my biggest dreams until now. I do hope we don’t see any major changes in the current situation concerning Korea until then and I’ll be a happy visitor to the miracle that DPRK remains to me…
14/06/2017 Pyongyang – Beijing
I will come back from the DPRK taking a stopover in Sinuiju on the North Korean / Chinese border. From there the train should take me back to Beijing a second time. I can’t tell you how much I am looking forward to the pictures and memories that will leave this country with me.
19/06/2017 Beijing – Seoul
My original dream contained the Idea of standing on both sides of the DMZ border that splits the Korean peninsula. And it’s going to be real. I wonder how it feels like to be in the same nation. But with such diametral positions and situations. I have met a bunch of South Korean people recently and from what I can tell until now this country (or precisely the other half of this country) will hold as many insights, memories and pictures as the DPRK.
25/06/2017 Seoul – Honolulu
From South Korea my journey will leave Asia and focus on a different continent. To make sure the transition has the right energy a stopover in Hawaii is currently scheduled. I was thinking Van life and Camping but perhaps this will change while the date approaches. Nonetheless I will be looking forward to be at a place that has 21 out of 22 climate zones of the world on a single island.
I didn’t make any plans after Hawaii yet. And I am happy I don’t have to. Let’s see where this adventure leads me. For now I’m grateful for each day of this trip. And there are still so many left.