· Our annual Korean Architecture, Art, and Design Tour finished a week-long tour of Kaesong and Pyongyang, To get a more in-depth look at Korean architecture, art, and design from traditional times to the present day, the tour took a full tour of the Pyongyang Metro accompanied by an artist from the Mansudae Art Studio; a Q & A meeting with an architects from the Paekdusan Architectural Institute; and a visit to an apartment on Changjon Street. The tour also visited a number of rarely visited locations in Kaesong, such as the ruins of the Koryo Dynasty palace and the former home of Koryo minister Jong Mong Ju.

· Meanwhile a Pyongyang Home Companion looked at the miracle root ginseng and some of its more interesting properties recorded in the literature. Speaking of both ginseng and design (see below), Koryo founder Nicholas Bonner launched his new book Made in North Korea.

· The end of the year is set to see the release of two more visually captivating books on North Korea: Eddo Hartmann’s Setting the Stage: North Korea in November and Magnum photographer Carl De Keyzer’s DPR Korea Grand Tour in December. We’ve had the chance to preview both and they come highly recommended!

· We have a new DPRK tour online! Ride the local rails in North Korea and travel from Pyongyang to Vladivostok with Koryo Tours’ Simon Cockerell (February 27-March 7, 2017; from 1990 EUR). This new opportunity gives the chances to see both Pyongyang, capital of the DPRK, and the Rason Special Economic Zone in one trip, and finishing in Vladivostok – ‘Ruler of the East’ – with an introduction to the city and visits to some of its more obscure abandoned and underground locations! Earlier in the week, we interviewed Simon about travelling by local train across Korea.

Looking down the tube to next week, we have a whole new destination waiting in the wings and a few new tours to come online. Stay tuned!

Halloween is in the air here in Beijing.