New app opens North Korea to armchair travel

The North Korea Travel App covers more than 350 points of interest, including natural wonders like Mount Paekdu.

• New app features more than 350 geo-tagged North Korean attractions and history/culture info


• App project manager says he's been banned from North Korea


• North Korea Travel App cost $20,000, thousands of hours to develop

(CNN) -- Ten years ago, the number of Western visitors to North Korea was well below a thousand a year, with Americans permitted by Pyongyang to visit only during the summer Mass Games.

The number of Western visitors has since risen to 5,000 to 6,000 a year, and Americans, who now make up 25% of Western visitors, are allowed to enter year round.

In response to the surge of interest, London-based website Uniquely Travel has recently launched a comprehensive North Korea app.

Part travel guide, part travel booking advisory, it features more than 350 places of interest.

All destinations on the North Korea Travel App are open to visitors and have been geo-tagged by Curtis Melvin, a North Korea satellite imagery expert who the company says was banned from the country after widespread news coverage of his work.

The app includes sections detailing the country's history, culture and the ethics of traveling to North Korea, as well as a Tour Guide Tips section offering insights by Koryo Tours manager Simon Cockerell, who has been leading groups into the country for more than 10 years.

"The app appeals to that curiosity a lot of people have about what on Earth it's like to go to a country like North Korea and is designed for armchair travelers as well as people who are actively interested in visiting," says project manager Chad O'Carroll.

The North Korea Travel App includes sections on the country's history and culture.

A longtime North Korea watcher and founder and managing editor of NK News, O'Carroll got involved with the project last year when friends set up Uniquely Travel, a site dedicated to easing travel to countries with difficult relationships with Western governments.

The North Korea app, developed by Magora Systems, is the first to launch.

Guides to Iran and Libya are expected to follow.

What can tourists expect when visiting North Korea?

More than just monuments

"Users can compare prices through the app in a similar way to Kayak.com or they can use the unique platform to put together their own itinerary and get companies to compete against each other for a custom (trip)," says O'Carroll.

He's most excited about the work done by Melvin, who's been studying Google Earth images for more than five years to piece together a detailed map of North Korea.

"People think you can only go to Pyongyang and see a bunch of monuments, but that's not the case," says O'Carroll.

"It's interesting that they are opening places like Hoeryong, which is near a prison camp.

"With the increase in new destinations, it increases the chance that people will see more of the real North Korea."

All destinations on the North Korea Travel App are open to visitors and have been geo-tagged.

The 99-cent app has an offline mode so it can be used in North Korea, where Internet connectivity is difficult and expensive.

Though tourists were once forced to hand over their mobile phones for storage when entering the country, widespread reports in early 2013 noted that government officials appear to have relaxed the rules.

For O'Carroll, the app is strictly for armchair use -- he too is banned from North Korea, most likely for his work with NK News, a "privately owned specialist site focused on North Korea."

Based in London, O'Carroll founded NK News in 2010.

The greatest interest for the app is expected to come from the United States -- which is why it's been produced in American English.

If successful, the app may be translated into Chinese, Japanese and Korean, the other markets with strong interest in North Korea.

The project, which started as an idea over a drink in a pub and wasn't expected to cost much money or time, has wound up taking much longer and costing far more than expected, says O'Carroll, noting that the group has spent $20,000 to develop the engine, along with hundreds of hours of writing and editing.

"We just hope a nuclear test -- which is looking increasingly possible at the moment -- doesn't happen to eclipse the launch," he says.

The North Korea Travel App is now available on iTunes and Google Play stores.

O'Carroll says the app's main competition is Bradt, a travel guidebook publishing company that covers non-mainstream destinations such as Sudan, Kazakhstan and Iran.

According to Bradt's website, the company will be publishing a guide to North Korea this year.

More: World's most exotic luxury ski resort? Hitting the slopes at Masik, North Korea

Kate Whitehead is a Hong Kong-based writer who recently visited North Korea. Her CNN reports on North Korea can be found here.

Stop judging Monica Lewinsky

Monica Lewinsky embraces U.S. President Bill Clinton at a Democratic fundraiser in Washington in October 1996. Lewinsky, the White House intern who had a sexual relationship with Clinton during his time in office, has finally broken her silence on the affair in a Vanity Fair article.

Lewinsky sits in a car after meeting with her lawyers in 1998.

Lewinsky is escorted by police officers, federal investigators and attorney William Ginsburg, second right, as she leaves the Federal Building in Westwood, California, in 1998. She was there submitting evidence on her relationship with Clinton, who was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. He was later acquitted.

Lewinsky's father, Bernard, hugs her in front of his home in Brentwood, California, in 1998.

In 1998, Lewinsky arrives at her attorney's office in Washington, where her immunity agreement with independent counsel Kenneth Starr was announced.

Lewinsky poses for a photo with President Clinton in this image submitted as evidence by Starr's investigation and released by the House Judiciary Committee in September 1998.

Another image submitted as evidence in September 1998 shows Lewinsky meeting President Clinton at a White House function.

Another photograph submitted as evidence shows Lewinsky working in the White House office as President Clinton looks on.

Lewinsky, far left, is seen with President Clinton at the White House.

Lewinsky is pushed in a crowd of reporters after meetings with her attorneys in Washington in 1999.

Lewinsky speaks with young fans as she signs copies of her autobiography, "Monica's Story," in 1999.

Lewinsky gestures during her deposition in a video shown during Clinton's impeachment trial in 1999.

Lewinsky appears in a "Ladies Man" skit with Tim Meadows on "Saturday Night Live" in 1999.

Lewinsky laughs with actor Ian McKellen at the 2002 GQ Men of the Year Awards in New York City.

Lewinsky watches a collection presentation during the 2002 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City.

Lewinsky poses for a photo with rapper Cam'ron, left, and businessman Damon Dash in 2002.

Lewinsky and literary agent Luke Janklow attend a benefit for the American Cancer Society in 2011.

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• Mel Robbins: Monica Lewinsky writes in upcoming Vanity Fair about affair with Bill Clinton


• She says aftermath of affair left Lewinsky humiliated, almost suicidal. She was brave to go on


• She says media exploited news of consensual affair; cashed in. Story put Drudge on map


• Robbins: Real story here is Lewinsky taking back narrative, helping others bullied on Internet

Editor's note: Mel Robbins is a CNN commentator and legal analyst. Mel is the Founder of Inspire52.com, a positive news website and author of "Stop Saying You're Fine," about managing change. She speaks on leadership around the world and in 2014 was named Outstanding News Talk Radio Host by the Gracie Awards. Follow her on Twitter @melrobbins.

(CNN) -- We could all learn a few things from Monica Lewinsky, and when you read the essay she penned for Vanity Fair, "Shame and Survival," you undoubtedly will—maybe even about yourself. That is, judging by the excerpts of her article, which the magazine released Tuesday, ahead of publication.

Most of the world will be looking for the salacious details of her "consensual relationship" with President Clinton. As many will recall, that affair began in 1995 and when news of it broke in 1998, it became a global story. It almost took down the President—he was impeached-- and sent Lewinsky into such an isolated state of hell, she writes, that she had suicidal thoughts at times and a "fear that I would be literally humiliated to death."

Frankly, when you consider just how intense, relentless and abusive the Lewinsky bullying has been for the past 16 years--by the media, the politicians, the public and trolls on the Internet, it's a wonder she had the psychological stamina to resist those suicidal thoughts. And thank God she did.

You can't underplay how huge the news of the Lewinsky-Clinton affair was at a time when the Internet wasn't only used for trolling celebrities; it had such an impact in the public arena that there are people who are still making money off it. The founder of the Drudge Report, Matt Drudge, broke the story of the affair on his then mostly unknown website in 1998; the story put him on the map. In 2014 the site averages more than a billion page views a month.

When Barbara Walters interviewed Lewinsky in 1999 on "20/20," a record-breaking 70 million viewers tuned in. While the media pointed fingers at "that woman," it was taking advantage of the hottest story in presidential scandal history and squeezing every dollar it could out of Lewinsky's demise.

Lewinsky writes about Clinton affair

Lewinsky: Time to bury the blue dress

Bill Maher on the return of "Monicagate"

Heck, when Beyoncé "dropped" her album in December 2013, she cashed in as well -- reducing Lewinsky to a line in "Partition" as a reference to ejaculation. Lewinsky replied in her essay: "Thanks, Beyoncé, but if we're verbing, I think you meant 'Bill Clintoned all on my gown.' "

Sexual affairs are happening all over the world at this very moment--with politicians, world leaders, famous actors and people you know personally. Yes, affairs and other indiscretions are disgusting and immoral, but you can hardly be surprised anymore when you hear about them (looking at you Vance McAllister, John Edwards, Anthony Weiner, Donald Sterling). After all, you don't publicly execute people for these everyday offenses between two consenting adults, and yet that's basically what the world did to Lewinsky.

Last year, President Clinton was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama. In 2014, perhaps the world will give Monica Lewinsky the freedom she finally deserves.

The powerful story here isn't the cigar and the blue dress with semen on it, it's that after 16 years of relentless bullying and a past that won't go away, Lewinsky has figured out a way to use the experience to help others by taking ownership of it.

Lewinsky writes that she may be the first person ever at the center of an Internet cyberbullying event, and that it was the case of another recent victim of similar bullying, Tyler Clementi, that made her own suffering "take on a different meaning".

"Perhaps by sharing my story, I reason, I might be able to help others in their darkest moments of humiliation." In the same way that a sitting President can sooth a community struck by a hurricane, mudslide or mass shooting, I have no doubt that Lewinsky could help a victim of cyberbullying get through the pain and humiliation -- and be instrumental in encouraging him or her to stay strong.

One of the most powerful tools you have in life is the truth, and here's the truth: Regardless of what she says, people will judge. Pundits will pontificate, project and wonder aloud about political motivations in the timing. We will wonder if this will hurt Hilary Clinton in 2016 or if Lewinsky was paid by the RNC to unburden herself like this. Go down that road and you miss something way more powerful than politics -- a lesson in humanity and personal power.

She writes that it's time to "stop tiptoeing around my past—and other people's futures. I am determined to have a different ending to my story. I've decided, finally, to stick my head above the parapet so that I can take back my narrative and give purpose to my past."

By telling her story, she's doing exactly that. It takes remarkable courage to confront your humiliating mistakes and painful past, and still hold your head high.

It's in our failures that we often find our strength. Good for you Monica Lewinsky, you found your strength. I for one will be cheering you on.

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Buda vs. Pest: One city, two personalities

Buda and Pest may be within spitting distance of each other across the Danube, but they developed quite independently. Hilly Buda offers the best panoramas of the city: Pest is flat as a prairie.

Pest's vitality shows in its elegant, talk-filled old cafés. In Buda you're more likely to find exclusive spas.

The Rudas Baths, in Buda, sometimes shows movies at night.

Pest has the open-air Széchenyi Baths, where you can still find old men playing chess, half-immersed in water.

Pest also has the dazzling neo-Gothic Parliament building -- even people who hate politics love it.

In the Buda hills you'll find the Children's Railway, staffed entirely by kids. (The adults still do the driving.)

Pest shows its bustle best in its top shopping strip, Váci utca.

Pest also boasts the Opera House -- where the architecture is as astounding as the arias.

• Separated by the Danube, Pest and Buda became one city in 1873


• Budapest was almost called "Pestbuda"


• Hilly Buda has great views; Pest is flat but buzzing


• Even the thermal spas on each side have a different vibe

(CNN) -- "Budapest" rolls off the tongue pretty easily, and the Hungarian capital itself feels as if it's been around for a long time.

But Budapest is a relatively recent construct -- the result of an 1873 merger between two distinct cities: Buda on the western bank of the Danube and Pest on the bank opposite.

The result, Budapest, sounds so much more natural than other twin cities -- Minneapolis/St. Paul or Dallas/Fort Worth -- it's difficult to imagine that the alternative "Pestbuda" was floated seriously at the time.

Although they've been populated for centuries, Pest and Buda have developed so separately that the first bridge spanning the Danube, the imposing Chain Bridge, wasn't built until 1849.

Their distinctiveness continues to this day.

Hilly Buda has the better views.

View from the hills

Built on a series of hills, Buda is the site of a grand Hapsburg palace and has a detached, imperial air of settled wealth.

In contrast, populous Pest -- as flat as a prairie -- is busy, buzzing and bourgeois, with an assortment of bars, cafés and gourmet restaurants.

Buda offers sweeping panoramas. Most visitors are content with the view across to Pest from the Fisherman's Bastion on Castle Hill and ignore the less accessible Gellért Hill just to the south.

More: 11 things to know before visiting Hungary

Yet here the ramparts of the old Citadella fortress (Citadella sétány 1; +36 1 279-1963; free entry) provide equally stunning vistas over the Danube.

It's in the hiking network of the Buda Hills, where city residents come to picnic and ramble through the woods.

During weekdays, you can walk for hours without seeing another human being.

At the Children's Railway, kids do everything but drive the trains.

Kids' railway

Hills hide the Children's Railway (Szechenyi-hegyi Gyermekvasut; +36 1 397 5394; $5.40 adult, $2.70 child; closed Monday) a narrow-gauge line operated entirely by 10-to-14 year olds as ticket sellers, announcers and conductors -- only the drivers are adults.

Check mates at laid-back Széchenyi Baths.

The line runs for 45 minutes through 11 kilometers of forest landscape with seven stops in-between.

When night falls, Buda goes to sleep and Pest wakes up.

Whether you prefer the opulence of the Opera House, one of Europe's finest, or the conviviality of the city's legendary ruin pubs, you want to be on the Pest side of the river after dark.

Read: Paprika -- Hungary's spicy obsession

Pest has been a hotbed of Hungarian national pride to counter the Austrian Hapsburg court reigning from Castle Hill.

Buda may have the palace, but Pest houses the Hungarian parliament (1-3 Kossuth tér; +36 1 441 4000; daily tours in English April-October, $7.80 EU citizens, $3.90 others), a dazzling neo-Gothic building whose superlative interior is more than a match for its exterior.

Spa wars

Pest is as practical and business-oriented as Buda is aloof and superior.

Buda has thermal spas, such as the Gellért or Rudas Baths, built by the old ruling elites.

Pest has an open-air people's pool: the neo-baroque Széchenyi Baths complex where you can still find old men playing chess, half immersed in the water. (See Spasbudapest.com for complete spa information.)

Pest's bustle is best reflected in its most well-known shopping artery: Váci utca. It suffered during the Communist era but the street has regained its ritzy reputation.

More: 8 must-see Budapest buildings

Fittingly, Buda has the Wolf's Meadow cemetery, where famous Hungarians such as classical composer Béla Bartók and conductor Georg Solti are buried in extravagant tombs.

Pest, on the other hand, has the vitality and life force associated with the fiery Magyar temperament -- nowhere more evident than in the former city's culinary culture.

Café Gerbeaud: the desserts are just as pretty.

Café cultured

In Vörösmarty square you can find one of Europe's monuments to confectionary brilliance: the café founded by Emil Gerbeaud (Café Gerbeaud , 7-8 Vörösmarty tér, +36 1 429 9000) in 1885, complete with over-elaborate ceilings and chandeliers.

Not far away, the renovated art nouveau decor of the Gerlóczy Café (Gerlóczy u. 1; +36 1 501 4000) gives traditional Hungarian dishes a modern makeover.

Read: Budapest's best 'ruin bars'

Further out, at the edges of the seventh district, the fin-de-siècle elegance of New York Café (part of the Hotel Boscolo Budapest; 9-11 Erzsébet körút, +36 1 886 6167) has to be seen to be believed.

Some tourists do just that -- constantly snapping diners from the gallery above.

"Visit Buda but stay in Pest" is the advice every Budapest visitor is given.

But in fact the once-separate cities have such distinct characters you should spend as much time exploring each.

It's the only way to do them justice.

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