Pyongyang Zoo

Rarely offered on standard tours, Pyongyang Zoo is worth a visit. It has a good aquarium and reptile house and a large array of animals, most of whom look pretty forlorn. Worst off are the big cats, nearly all gifts of long-dead communist big wigs around the world - the wonderful lions, tigers and leopards are kept in woefully inadequate compounds, and many have lost the plot as a result. The zoo's two elephants and its hippo all look exceptionally lacklustre as well.

There's more fun to be had with the baboons and a collection of lemurs, while the oddest exhibit is the huge collection of domestic cats. It's very relaxed and here; you'll find North Korean families on outings and this is one of the few environments where you can communicate with locals in a relatively carefree way.