A friend of mine sent me
this link from the
LA Times to a terrific story about “extreme travelers”. These are not folks who are out to summit the world’s
tallest mountains or explore the Amazon, these are people, generally regular folk, who venture to the most difficult,
most often politically speaking, destinations in the world. In this case it seems there is high demand for one country
in particular. You know the place…axis of evil, doughy dictator in a jump suit with a love for American films (in fact
he fancies himself something of an auteur, I’ve read), although I’m quite sure he is NOT a fan of
Team America, the relatively recent opus from Matt Stone and Trey Parker of
Southpark fame which lambasted him mercilessly.
I’m talking about North Korea, of course. One of the travelers who claims to have been to 172 of the 193 member
countries of the United Nations says she found North Koreans to be somewhat “casual” and “well dressed and healthy.”
It’s a fascinating notion…these extreme travelers, though just given the information we’ve been fed over the years
about North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-il,
whether there was an orchestrated effort to influence traveler’s opinions. But who knows. Fact is, I’d go in a
heartbeat if I had the chance.