Cheorwon - Day 2.

Cheorwon is the closest southern district to North Korea. It has a population of about fifty-five thousand souls, which is more than ten million less than the capital. The air smells cleaner, less poluted than what we are used to in the city, but the dust particles in the air makes it just as hard to breathe. Most shops in town are real estate offices, barbers and butchers. 

We leave the place before noon and try to find a coffee shop with tables. After breakfast we decide to go for a walk and we try to avoid the main street. On a map we find a river that looks fun to push along. We navigate our boards through badly paved alleyways that remind me of my grandmother's charming wrinkles. And it's things like that I am yearning for.

Together we walk through the streets of a town that most people will never visit in their entire lives. Why would they, there's nothing here. And yet the two of us find everything we need. There's a school, its yard a sandy mess with huge soccer goals mended to each side. A small playground provides shelter as it starts to rain. Holding hands we talk about forgotten times.