a little bit of black with a little bit of pink

Where the wild things are

Lisa wasn't sure what brought her to the zoo that day, but with nothing but time to waste until her business meeting that evening over dinner, and no desire to stay in her hotel room, she found herself on the baking sidewalks of Myeongdong, glowering behind her sunglasses as she walked through the concrete jungle.

Her regret was almost immediate as a wall of heat slammed into her, unbearable after the cooler climate of Seoul that she was used to, but Lisa was already a couple of blocks away from her hotel, and with nothing else to do, boredom propelled her onwards. Passing by barbershops and boutiques, coffee shops and pizza joints, bookshops and shoe stores, Lisa ignored everything with an air of indifference, the sound of the city fading into a general murmur surrounding her, cut through with the occasional blaring of a car horn.

The car fumes and odour of the city in the sweltering heat made for a fetid smell, and Lisa could envision it blanketing her clothes and clinging to her skin, already beading with sweat as the sun beat down on her. She stumbled upon the zoo almost by accident, seeing the glimpse of green in the distance, standing out amidst the grey skyscrapers and windows reflecting the blinding sunlight, and the thought of sitting in the shade of a tree in what looked like an ordinary park was welcome.

Crossing the street at the next intersection, Lisa made her way towards the park with an air of relief, her pace quickening slightly as she moved through the crowded street, before coming to the gate of what was apparently not a park. She took one look at the sign reading Myeongdong Zoo and breathed in the faint odour of manure and greasy food mingling with the dampness of the small forest packed into the middle of the city and thrust her credit card out to the young girl manning the ticket booth.

She was handed a paper ticket stub and a map of the zoo with all of the enclosures neatly labelled on one side, as well as a list of feeding times and tours on the back. Moving through the creaking turnstile, Lisa stepped into the confines of the zoo, a shaded canopy of tree branches reaching for each other overhead, the distant sounds of twittering birds mingling with the soft sighs of rustling leaves. The air smelled of rich, loamy earth and stagnant water, and it felt heavy with humidity as she made her way through the gloomy tunnel of trees.

As she emerged from the walkway of gnarled trees, Lisa spotted a low concrete building set off to the right had signs for food and drinks and Lisa wandered towards it, taking in the round tables and chairs beneath the blue and white striped awning. It was mostly empty, given the fact that it was a Tuesday, occupied by a mother and a small child, a couple that looked to be on a date, eating ice cream in the cool interior as an AC machine rattled on the wall.

The air was frigid inside, making Lisa's skin ripple with goosebumps as sweat dried, and she suppressed a shiver as she walked over to the fridge and picked out an overpriced bottle of water. Fishing out her credit card again, she paid for it and chose an empty table outside, sitting in the shade and twisting the cap off to take a sip of water. With almost no desire to see any of the animals, Lisa found herself unfurling the paper map and spreading it out on the table, out of interest more than anything.

She'd been to the zoo once before, as a child. Her father had taken her and her brother one Sunday afternoon, a rare day in December that he hadn't been working. Her mother had insisted that she'd had a headache and didn't accompany them, shutting herself in her dark bedroom instead. It had been a bitter winter's day, and all the animals at Seoul Zoo had been inside their shelters, sleeping off the snow day. It hadn't been a particularly fun outing, and the only ones who looked like they were truly enjoying the weather were the penguins. It had been a quick visit.

Eyeing the labelled enclosures on the map before her, Lisa slowly sipped her water and took in the selection of animals available to ogle at. Crocodiles and lions, giraffes and kangaroos. It had a wide selection, and she found herself considering taking a walk around on the off chance that there was something interesting to be seen. Taking another sip of water, she looked around, taking in the jungle of plant life contained behind low brick walls, branches and fronds reaching out over the concrete path disappearing further into the zoo. There was a gift shop across from the small café and she considered browsing the collections of stuffed animals and plastic figurines, passing the time in the cool, hushed store.