Back into the flock.

Have returned to Beijing after a trip to North Korea.
What an experience that was. 
After years of news about bad, bad hostile people and inhumane dictatorship, I could see a bit of it myself.

And how was it?
Well, I do not want to live there myself. In Pyongyang or some of the other big cities? Maybe, for a short while, but on the country side? No.

What I was most interested in was meeting the people. Well, there were not so many opportunities to do that. Our tour was fully scheduled and we were mostly transported around in a big luxurious bus, the 17 of us, with our 3 minders, in a 55 person bus with nearly everyone of us on a double seat with a view, looking out on the masses 

standing in endless lines waiting for an overcrowded wreck of a trolleybus, that looked like ready to break down every minute. One time when we skated through the dark Capitol at night and the ques at the busstops we passed, was like never ending, I felt like asking our guides and minders if we couldn't do a stop and at least offer some of them a ride in the direction we were going. I knew what the answer would be though, so I let it be.