Hanging out in Hyehwa

On the bus over there in search of coffee and a movie, I leaned over to Lauren and commented in an audible whisper, "The guy next to me is reading the Bible". The elderly man promptly made a large gesture of placing the yellow ribbon on his marked page before embarking on a lengthy conversation with me. Perhaps this was in order to prove to me that he spoke near-perfect English - at least for someone who has never studied in an English-speaking country - or less cynically, perhaps he was genuinely after a chance to practice his language skills.

Either way, somehow or other he swiftly managed to steer from the usual small talk to deep political discussion regarding the North/South Korean divide (rather apt since we only just visited the DMZ the other day). He replied negative when I asked whether he had any relatives in North Korea, but proceeded to tell me about his sister who had fled there 57 years ago to save her communist husband.

With the new possibilities of reuniting families that were separated during the Korean war under controlled circumstances, his sister was able to ask him whether Korea had electricity - back in the days of the war outside of the capital the luxury was apparently scarce - and he was able to learn that the North Korean government feed up those going to meet their Southern counterparts a few months in advance to give them the appearance of being well-fed.

Being only an hour from the border it is somewhat food for thought the lack of knowledge that passes over that 155 miles of demilitarized zone.

Despite drooping eyes, we headed for the Hyehwa cinema. It seems like it's a pretty cool area with many bars, coffee shops and street sellers, though I am yet to explore in the daytime. Opting for an English film, we went for The Other Boleyn Girl. Whether it was totally historically accurate or not, it certainly made for a gripping film. It was also good to hear some good British accents filling the room for a couple of hours, despite the leads originating from America.