What3words? I hear you ask; and if I don't, I've just informed you about the perfect phone app for travel! We at Absolute Nomads don't usually do product reviews, but after living in Mongolia, we've discovered a great app, not…
You may wonder, as you read through our tour itineraries, what is UNESCO? You will no doubt have heard it mentioned on tour, in a few documentaries or even the evening news now and then. But what's the history? What…
At the centre of North Korean society is a political and social philosophy that governs the everyday life of the entire nation. This philosophy is the Juche Ideology. The Juche Ideology (주체사상) is difficult to define and, in fact, Koreans…
Korean cuisine is eaten throughout the world and the food generally eaten in the North is almost identical to the traditional cuisine in the South; it’s food that has been eaten in Korea for centuries, although some dishes are particularly…
The majority of traditional Mongolian food is meat-based since meat is traditionally considered the perfect source of protein during the long, harsh winter months. Vegetables and other crops are also challenging to grow throughout much of the country, especially on…
The Tupolev ANT-20 was a mammoth eight engine flying marvel, the largest aeroplane of its day, it was built as a flying propaganda machine. The ‘Tupolev ANT-20 Maxim Gorky’ was constructed to spread the communist message to the furthest reaches…
Red October (Krasny Oktyabr) may well be associated with the October Revolution of 1917 or the fictional movie starring Sean Connery as a Russian submarine commander; however, for countless children and adults growing up in the Soviet Union, it was…
As part of our ‘Soviet Icons’ series, we attempt to explain a little bit about the lesser-known Soviet legend Mikhail Koshkin. The tank that would one day make Koshkin famous; the T-35 If the Bolshevik revolution was centred around the…
If you've watched the Grand Hotel Budapest and are looking for a hotel with that feel of yesteryear, then the Hotel Venets is for you. Built for a Soviet leader and visited by various soviet heads of state, the Hotel…
The Tupolev Tu-144 was the world’s first supersonic passenger jet. Despite this, the Tu-144 is much less well know that its western European cousin, the Concorde. The Tu-144 was plagued by questionable design choices, noise issues and economic inefficiency. Tupolev…
