Let's Get Dirty

Almost two years ago I was sitting on facebook looking though pictures and stumbled across my friend Kyle's pictures from Mudfest.  Curious as to what and where this event was I clicked on the album and looked through - umm that looks awesome. Maybe it was then that I decided I should come to Korea to teach, in all honestly i'm not sure what first made me want to come here, but this may have been a contributing factor.

So upon arriving in Korea four five months (five already?) ago, I knew that mid July I'd find myself on the beaches of Boreyong playing in the mud. There's been different tour groups advertising their trips and accommodation options for months now but I decided to go with WinK (When in Korea) after a random discussion with Savannah a few months ago.  The bus picked us up from Gumi bus terminal at 10am and we were on our way, a few rest stops and we arrived at Boryeong around 1:30.  I must say the organization of this group was pretty impressive, considering the hundreds of foreigners they had to coordinate.  We were shown to our room, changed and then headed out for lunch (cheeseburger or vegetarian chili) which was included with our ticket price.  On our way to lunch we passed a Magpie Brewing Co. tent, real beer!?  We, of course decided to stop and see what this was all about - guy from Canada started the company a few years ago and they're based in Seoul, and yes, they make delicious beer!

After lunch it was time to hit the mud!  We wanted to get a few pictures so we decided we'd slather up with mud and store our cameras before entering  "festival area" which included games, blow up slides, mud pits, a mud jail and various other activities.  There was a station set up where you could slather or paint yourself with mud and I must say everyone was more than willing to help you out.  The "you missed a spot" followed by a quick rub down was a common occurrence, I actually had to pull Savannah from the grips of her new found admirer. 

Once we felt sufficiently covered in mud we ditched our cameras and phones back at the pension so we could enjoy the rest of the festivities, but thankfully Analyn decided to brave the mud and keep hers with her for the rest of the day. We made our way through the festival area, got locked in the mud prison while they whipped buckets of mud at us but decided to forgo most of the rides as the lines were ridiculously long.  Instead we headed to the beach where there was pitiful flash mob going on, tons of music, dancing and of course more mud.  

Eventually we decided it was time to wash the mud off so we headed for the beach. Being the cold water baby that I am it took me a while to get in, but washing the mud off felt good. Although I was then left with the sticky salt water and sand combo - not my favorite.  Eventually we made our way back to the room to shower and get ready for the night. 

Clean - kind of 

Even after my shower my towel turned a nice shade of grey thanks to all the mud residue.  We all changed, got pretty and made our way to dinner, not really knowing where the night would lead. I should also mention we all decided it'd be a good idea to leave the umbrellas we had brought in the room - too lazy to carry them. I would definitely later regret that decision.

파전, 떡볶이, 막조 and new friends

Shortly after leaving our room and wandering the streets to find dinner the clouds decided to dump on us.  Now our goal was just to find a covered spot to escape the rain, and hopefully find some food and drink. We wound up at a tent/restaurant serving ddukbokki and pajeon - thankfully both of these are high on my "like" list so we stopped here, met some new friends and enjoyed some beers.  As the rain let up we decided to find out what else the nightlife of mudfest could offer. We headed towards the beach and just as we arrived the fireworks show got started.  Usually i'm not a fan of fireworks but when they're not expected and I don't have to wait 2 hours for the show to start they are much more enjoyable.  As the show came to a close we made our way down to the beach to hang out - not long after we were provided with yet more entertainment - this time in the form of naked people.  It started with one girl but soon there were hoards of boys stripping down and taking off into the water, the police tried to stop it but really there wasn't much you could do to stop them. 

!

A few more beers and a few more stops at random bar tents before we decided to call it a night.  Savannah and I were back in the room by 1am, usually what would be considered an early night, but seeing as we started drinking at 2 and it was pouring rain I was perfectly okay with being back in my comfy, warm bed hard, steaming hot piece of floor.  Despite the arrangements I slept surprisingly well, waking up around 8:30 (hey, that's sleeping in now!) before we changed and headed out for breakfast.  The tour group promised pancakes, muffins and coffee  to be ready by 9 but it was closer to 10 before anything was prepared.  Not that it mattered to me, we had no where to be that day - until our 3pm bus.  The weather wasn't ideal but we spent the rest of the day lounging on the beach. Before leaving we stopped for lunch (an hour an a half wait) for pizza - yeah only in Korea.

So, did mudfest live up to it's expectations? I'd say so.  I could've asked for better weather (especially on Sunday when I wasn't drunk and slathered in mud) but then again I should be happy it wasn't 100 degrees and humid.  The girls I went with were a blast and i'm sure we'll be seeing more of each other this fall in Gumi.