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Month: September 2012

Good times at Stanford

Hi folks! Long time no hear, sorry about that! However I have a very good reason for my radio silence. That is to say I just got back from the U.S. where I spent two weeks with Mikko Rantanen. Interesting weeks, lots of great stuff happened and I can honestly say we are more than…

Feeling Like a Michelin Man Again – Fall Season

As the headline says it is the time of the year when I feel like a Michelin Man again! And it isn’t because the holiday weight I still might be carrying a little after the cold summer, it’s that autumn has started and we all have to face it here in Finland that shorts are…

In the Middle of the Dictatorship, part 5

This story is a continuation of the previous blog post “In the Middle of the Dictatorship, part 4“… Confused and shocked So tourists are seeing everything that the North Korean government want to show, and nothing more. “This hotel is our country’s best, that’s second best, there’s our Dear Leader’s University, this Triumphal Arch is…

In the Middle of the Dictatorship, part 4

This story is a continuation of the previous blog post “In the Middle of the Dictatorship, part 3“… The Juche Idea The Kim Il-sung’s greatest “achievement” is The Juche Idea which still is controlling North Koreans everyday life. The Juche Idea is based on Kim Il-sung’s teachings and to Marxism-Leninism. In a nutshell the Idea…

In the Middle of the Dictatorship, part 3

This story is a continuation of the previous blog post “In the Middle of the Dictatorship, part 2“… Give me your phone and go to the line An independent trip to North Korea is impossible. The only chance is to join a group that travels together 24/7 in North Korea. You are absolutely not allowed…

In the Middle of the Dictatorship, part 2

This story is a continuation of the previous blog post “In the Middle of the Dictatorship, part 1“… The North Korean Amateur Open was organized by British travel agency Lupine Travel. The idea was originally from company’s head, Wigan-based Dylan Harris who had organized tourist trips to North Korea since 2007. Lupine Travel is not…

In the Middle of the Dictatorship, part 1

I got feedback from one of our British reader (thank you for your email Paul) that he would like to hear more about my trip to North Korea, which I wrote shortly in my first blog post. You can imagine that Paul isn’t the first person to ask how it was. It was so different…