North Korea travel blog, c. 1999-2000

August 25, 2023 11:23 AM

I remember reading a journal/blog by a male writer (possibly British) about his travels in North Korea in the late '90s or possibly early 2000s. There were a lot of photos of the various museums and cultural sites that were part of his tour itinerary. I recall that the tone was quite detailed and informative, but also rather dryly humorous. It was one of the first things I recall reading about North Korea and I've always wanted to check it out again. Ring any bells?
posted by paper scissors sock to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

there's a "Wandering Earl" website that has details of a tour circa 2013. that sounds later than you are describing though.
posted by adekllny at 12:42 PM on August 25, 2023

Best answer: 2000 is very early, particularly to be called "a blog" (the term was coined in late 1997). But maybe Byron Schmuland's pages are what you're thinking of? Canadian, and they date 1991-2005: his visit was in 1999.

My bookmark archive also has this 2008 post about North Korean arcades and this travelog that I noticed in 2010.

This 2011 Metafilter post is the first thing I thought about; photos and dryly humorous. At least the photos were, I can't recall the text. I think these are the same photos online today. Worth looking through MeFi archives, for that matter, there may be others.
posted by Nelson at 2:24 PM on August 25, 2023 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks, Nelson! It looks like I was thinking of Simon Bone's travelogue from 1998, which is one of Byron Schmuland's links.
posted by paper scissors sock at 3:14 PM on August 25, 2023

Glad you found it. For future reference: Simon Bone's travelogue from 1998 titled "Happy Birthday, North Korea".
posted by Nelson at 4:24 PM on August 25, 2023 [2 favorites]