Bend writer’s novel ski trip — to North Korea

Eight days and seven nights — that’s how long Bend freelance travel writer Tim Neville spent in North Korea — a tightly controlled country few Americans get to experience, much less to hit the slopes in.

Tuesday evening, he spoke in front of a packed house at the Deschutes Library about his experience.

“As odd as it sounds, North Korea is actually one of the safer places I’ve ever been,” Neville said.

Did he just say safer places he’s been? Yep, he did.

Neville, who has traveled to over 70 countries in the world, said he felt the safest in North Korea, even though it’s a place like no other.

“When you touch down in Pyongyang, and as soon as you touch the tarmac and you’re walking to the airport, you immediately feel this is something, very very different,” Neville said.

Neville said he’s always been fascinated by the country, and wanted to tell its story. So he did it the best way he knew how: skiing.

“To me, it just seems as a really interesting idea, of the most un-free place on the planet trying to open up a ski area,” Neville said.

A luxurious ski resort at that. but when Neville arrived, he knew gathering information about North Korea wouldn’t be the same as his other stories.

“You’ve got to be very guarded with how you speak with people, and what you ask them,” Neville said. “I couldn’t just whip out my notebook and start taking notes. Every time I would whip out my notebook, you’d see North Koreans tense up a little bit.”

Neville and other tourists weren’t allowed to bring newspapers, material from South Korea — and especially, no bibles.

“Whatever your personal feelings are, they’re not theirs, and if you do that, and you leave it behind in a hotel room, you’re going to get arrested,” Neville said. “It’s A to B. It’s very clear.”

He told the Bend audience that even in the city streets, you could hear messages over the loud speakers reinforcing propaganda.

“You could tell that they wanted you to see certain things,” Neville said. “They wanted you to walk away with a certain impression, when in the back of your mind you know that this is the worst country on earth, and that these people are not happy.”

But there was a change part-way through the trip. Neville said his group felt a wave of relief as soon as they left the city.

“For the first time that since we were there, we were like, ‘Wow, nobody is watching us. This is really kind of exceptional,'” Neville said. “And then a couple days later, we learned that there’s a camera in the trees.”

Even with everything he experienced, Neville left with the feeling that it won’t last forever.

“The human spirit is a very powerful thing, and you could see that in people there just want to do the same things that we all want,” Neville said. “They want to feed their families, they want to have a meaningful existence and they want to have fun — and on that level, there’s really no difference between us here in Bend, Oregon, and them.”

Neville said since he’s been back, people often ask him if he’d recommend going to North Korea. His response: It’s not for everyone, but tourism is the only way for people in North Korea to see that we’re not all bad.