Jeongeup - Day 2.

In 1392 Korea became Chosun. The Cofucian kindgom moved its capital to today's Seoul and reigned for over five hundred years, until 1897. A great number of historical events happened during that period of time. For instance, King Sejong the Great invented Hangul, the Korean alphabet, in 1443. There was a seven-year war and invasions by Japan and China. There was also peace. 

Peace is what Sumin and I found when we stepped into the village last night. Everything was quiet and the air was super clean, it tasted different to what we have in Seoul. We looked up and could actually see the stars. The dirt ground was frozen, the wooden planks that lead the way already tired. Most of the huts were sleeping with their thatched roofs and ondol heating techniques.

The walls were thin and the door made out of paper. Our room was completely empty except for a few blankets and two pillows. There was nothing else, but it was all we needed. The floor showed traces of fire that we only discovered in the morning when the coal underneath the hut was burned out. It's a funny experience, and much more comfortable than I had expected. 

We opened the door in the morning and couldn't believe our eyes. It must've happened over night, the whole village was coated in a chunky layer of snow. We were blinded, because literally everything was white. We made a little tour through the village and said hello to the chickens, the rabbits, the cow. To live like this was unthinkable. I kept trying, but it was really hard to believe. 

After lunch we made our way to the bus stop. The walk from the village to the main street was about a kilometer, honestly the coldest thousand meters I had to walk in my life. It was so freezing that it was funny, but it was too cold to laugh. Our lungs were struggling to find a rhythm and every car that drove by in the distance became our enemy. Finally, we made it to the bus stop. 

As we left the village a lady told us to be careful, because the bus stop was blown away by the typhoon a few weeks ago. She said there was no shelter, just a sign for the bus to stop at. The sign had a phone number on it. It was a stupid sign for a stupid bus. We waited forever, but it never came. Half-frozen we decided to dial the number, and ten minutes later a call taxi picked us up.

Back in the future of Jeongeup City we looked up the local attractions and found out about an old movie theatre. We came too early and the woman said: "Why don't you buy tickets for the next screening of Tower and I'll let you in for free now so that you can catch the end of Cell number seven." It was a nice offer, but we declined. Instead we took a walk around town. Together, at peace.