Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Looking For A Travel Adventure Off The Beaten Path? Consider North Korea's Hotel Of Doom

From Atlas Obscura:

North Korea’s ‘Hotel of Doom’ Just Opened (a Little)
Some ground-level walls came down, and there’s a sign.

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The 1,082-foot-tall Ryugyong Hotel, perhaps better known as the “Hotel of Doom”, is the largest unoccupied building in the world, rising 105 stories above Pyongyang, North Korea. Construction on the pyramidal building began in 1987, was halted in 1992, resumed in 2008, and was halted again in 2013—leaving, at the end, nearly four million empty square feet of space, and a sulking, embarrassing colossus looming over the capital.

On the ground level, walls to keep people from entering the construction site have long stood, but last week those walls came down, just in time for the July 27 anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War. What was behind them? Two new walkways leading to the building and a sign that read “Rocket Power Nation,” an apparent reference to recent missile tests, according to the Associated Press....MORE
If you go for the winter holidays bring your mittens.
For five straight weeks over the 2010-2011 New Year the temperature didn't get above freezing and lows hit-20 to -25°C (-4 to -13°F).