Foreign briefing: State Department issues new warning against travel to North Korea

Just in case you were thinking of visiting North Korea, the State Department on May 16 issued a new travel warning that “strongly urges U.S. citizens to avoid all travel to North Korea due to the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention under North Korea’s system of law enforcement.” The warning was last updated in November.

“At least 14 Americans have been detained … in the past 10 years,” the warning notes; some were independent travelers and others on an escorted trip. Tour operators, State notes, have been unsuccessful in freeing their clients.

If you ignore the warning, expect that your privacy won’t be honored, the State Department says. The warning also enumerates some of the ways you can run afoul of authorities, including “having unauthorized interaction with the local population” and “taking unauthorized photos.”.

Info: North Korea warning

Travel to the Philippines’ Sulu Archipelago discouraged

The State Department has reissued a warning on the Philippines, noting that U.S. citizens should not go, unless necessary, to the Sulu Archipelago. It cited violence and kidnappings in this update of an October warning.

The archipelago has a tumultuous history. In the 1400s the islanders were converted to Islam and were ruled by a sultan. Life revolves around the sea, from which fish, coral and other products are harvested. But there has also been illegal activity, including smuggling and piracy.

The warning also singles out western Mindinao, where, the State Department notes, “terrorist, insurgent, and criminal gangs regularly conduct kidnappings for ransom.”

Info: Philippines warning

Anthony Bourdain and President Obama do lunch in Hanoi

Travel and Food journalist Anthony Bourdain recently shared a meal with a special guest in Vietnam: President Obama.

Obama and Bourdain, host of CNN’s “Parts Unknown,” ate at Bun cha Huong Lien in Hanoi. Bourdain said he picked up the check, which came to $6. No word on whether he left a tip.

The event will be broadcast as part of the show in September.

Czech power plant: a tourist attraction

Here’s an electrifying attraction: a Czech Republic power plant.

By this summer, 1 million people will have visited the Dlouhe Strane Hydro Plant, which opened in 1996 and which the country counts as one of its seven wonders.

If seeing two turbines in an underground facility isn’t your idea of fun, you can return from your trek to the Jeseniky mountains in the northeastern part of the country by bike. The 10-mile trip is downhill.

To get to the plant, you can take a tour or you can hike up, where you’ll be rewarded with views of a 37-acre artificial lake. The tour costs about $9.50. To learn more, email info@k3-sport.cz.

Bug waste could be damaging the Taj Mahal

Bugs are doing their business on the walls of India’s Taj Mahal, and removing the insect waste could damage the mosaics and other stonework.

The pests have turned a nearby polluted river into a love nest, breeding untold numbers of mosquito-like insects that leave black and green waste on the walls. It’s removed daily, but the process is disfiguring the structure. Air pollution is discoloring the outside marble as well.

The monument, in Agra, dates to the 1600s. As many as 4 million people visit it each year.

Sources: U.S. State Department; Associated Press