Young Pioneer Tours
Blog
Welcome to the Young Pioneer Tours Blog, the place where we we keep you informed about everything YPT, from current tours, to future tours and a whole lot of eclectic stuff in between.
YPT first started blogging in 2008 and are considered the best North Korean Travel blog that there is.
But, as Young Pioneer Tours have expanded our locations, so have we expanded our blog. Now we have one of the best travel blogs in the world!
And while most of our content is about the numerous destinations we go, including travel guides and what to pack, we also delve into more serious subjects such as the safety of certain destinations, as well as how LGTBQ+ friendly the places we visit are.
While the vast majority of our content is produced in-house, we are always on the look-out for guest bloggers and writers. Want to write for us? Then simply get in touch.
You can also check out our sister publication YPT Life.
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How to Cook Your Turkmen Truffles
3 November 2016 / by Caitlin Graham
Having left the relative cool of the Kopet Dag mountain range where we’d spend the previous night with a local family in a village, we drove along the one road heading from Ashgabat to the west of Turkmenistan. Gradually it got hotter and drier as we v …
YPT’s 5 Best Tours… That Hardly Anyone Books
7 October 2016 / by Gareth Johnson
Over our 10 years at YPT pioneering travel to “destinations your mother would rather you stayed away from” it is fair to say that we have always tried to push the envelope with new tour locations. Some of our favourites such as Iran, Central Asia, and …
In Pictures: The Humans of Eritrea
3 October 2016 / by Gareth Johnson
Eritrea: a place many of us know so little about. The country is ruled by an authoritarian government, and the control on its citizens is staggering. It has even earned the lowest freedom of press index ranking in the entire world. In the last three ye …
Chinese Name Fails
27 September 2016 / by Gareth Johnson
“Hello, you can call me Octopus”, says the friendly Chinese English student proudly, as I struggle to manage my facial expression. Octopus is not alone; choosing an English name is an important practice for Chinese students of English and those wishing …
How I Became a Tour Guide in North Korea
26 September 2016 / by Gareth Johnson
One of the first questions I’m always asked by customers is how on earth I managed to get this job. Most people only get the short version of the story: “Well, I travelled with YPT, hit it off well with the guides, and was lucky enough to get a ‘yes’ w …
North Korean Borderlands: A Stone’s Throw Away
8 September 2016 / by Gareth Johnson
Stocking up on Taedonggang beer and soju from North Korea, we set off on a trip like no other. For a week we’d be driving along the China-North Korea border exploring the borderlands. This on the Chinese side of the river, but with great views into the …
Samarkand Recipes – Bring Your Adventure Home – Tajik Bread Salad
7 September 2016 / by Gareth Johnson
Welcome to Samarkand, one of Central Asia’s oldest inhabited cities. Located in modern day Uzbekistan, a large number of ethnic groups still call Samarkand home. Thus, it is a city of preserved history and culture of not one group, but many groups – an …
In Pictures – Taedonggang Beer Festival
2 September 2016 / by Gareth Johnson
The Pyongyang Taedonggang beer festival was a long time coming, expectations were high and I can gladly report that it did not disappoint. Pyongyang’s relationship with mass produced beer is a very recent one. In 2000, the government acquired the close …
At the Crux of a Culture: An Adventure in Iraqi Kurdistan
30 August 2016 / by Gareth Johnson
I’m sure we’ve all daydreamed about owning a time machine, and wondering where we’d go if we had Dr Who’s Tardis for a week. Obviously, first off would be a quick jaunt to the Jurassic age to bother some dinosaurs, followed by a trip to the year 3000 t …
