One of the things I somehow managed to leave out of my blog
was Sean and I’s adventure to Daecheon Beach for the 2012 Boryeong Mud Festival
(Mudfest). Mudfest is very similar to an American college student’s spring
break. There are tons of people in bathing suits indulging in copious amounts
of alcoholic beverages participating in questionable activities while
justifying their entire experience with the idea “It’s vacation, so why not?
Mudfest has a twist. It has the aforementioned qualities of
Spring Break but it adds a ridiculous amount of MUD to the equation.
What happens is thousands of gallons of special mud are
brought in from nearby mudflats and people flock to this little beach town to immerse
themselves in it. We joined the crowds and partook in this odd occurrence.
When you first arrive at the Daechon beach bus stop, you get
off the bus and immediately jump in line to buy your bus tickets back home. So
many people are coming and going that you don’t want to miss out on a seat.
I’d like to take a moment to point out that you could buy a
ticket to get on a bus that does not include a seat number. This ticket will
get you on the bus… Your “seat” is the aisle. You can stand or sit in the aisle
during the duration of the bus ride. I am glad we got seats because an hour and
a half is a long time to just be chilling in the aisle.
Then you walk a bit towards the ocean and stand in yet
another line to buy a locker to put your change of clothes/ any other items you
don’t want coated in mud. While in line you begin to bake in the sweltering
heat and you quickly douse yourself in sunscreen.
When we got off the bus from Jeonju it was shocking to see how
many foreign people we saw. English was flowing from people’s mouths and our
ability to communicate increased a hundred fold in a matter of minutes.
We acquired some sweet hats, got our token for the locker,
and began to sort out what belongings did not need to come with us. We figured
we needed some cash, the camera (the old one), and the sunscreen. The lockers
here work the same as the lockers in the States. You give the locker a quarter
and it gives you the key, if you want to open and lock it again then you owe
the locker another quarter for its key. For whatever reason it took Sean and I
a couple 500 won pieces (Korean equivalent of quarters) to figure out how to
take the key and leave the locker locked… Not a proud moment.
Moving along. We made our way over to the ocean and as
always the sight, smell, and feel of the ocean reminded me of how much I’ve
missed it. We stood looking out over the water for a little bit before we went
over to the mud area. The water was at low tide leaving the beach a football
field and a half long. The sand was covered in tents and people; the water was
filled with colorful tubes and rafts. There were tons of floatation devices
because apparently there are a large number of Korean people who cannot swim.
The water had numerous people in it but none further than twenty feet out.
After admiring the ocean we turned back around and faced the
masses. We knew we had reached the right place because not only had we found
the highest concentration of westerns in weeks but also there were inflatable
slides, buckets of mud, and more lines!
We waited in another line to buy tickets to get into where
the slides were. We wanted tickets for the whole day and surprisingly the total
was only 10,000 won or about $9.25. I guess I say we weren’t really surprised
because the express bus we had taken here had only cost us 10,000 won a person
too!
We were banded, the ocean had been viewed, and it was time
for some mud! Walking up to the mud barrels you feel so clean and prim. I tied
my over-shirt around my waist and prepared to get dirty!
My summer at Sea Base with the Out Island program prepared
me for “painting up”. Sean and I were quickly drawing with mud all over one
another. As we were applying tiger stripes and hand designs we quickly became
the focus of over ten photographers all with giant cameras who couldn’t get
enough of it. These camera guys were all Korean and they were all trying to get
the best pictures of the foreigners.
We didn’t really mind. It was a bit strange to have them so
intrigued by us but in all honesty, being the focus of a group of Koreans
simply because you happen to be existing near them is something we’ve become
used to (personally I blame Sean, he’s tall and has red hair… definitely his
fault!)
By the time we finished painting up we had tiger stripes, handprints,
and Sean was sporting an outrageous mustache. Afterwards, looking all spiffy,
we went and played on the inflatable slides. The lines for everything were
absolutely horrendous! So we chose which slides we wanted to do with care. We
had to leave our shoes to be able to go on the slide, which sounded reasonable,
but abandoning my shoes was definitely a strange feeling. But, as usual, the
Koreans running the attractions didn’t seem overly cautious about safety
precautions. We were being sprayed in the face as we climbed up the ramp and
you could go down the slide any way you pleased.
IT WAS AWESOME! Every time we went down the slide I jumped
off the top and halfway flew down the inflated ramp. Getting on the slide was
up to our discretion as well so we “superman-ed” it belly first onto the slide.
The whole thing was really a lot of fun.
The lines were long for pretty much everything. They had
inflatable tug of war areas, obstacle courses, and bungee cord races. The
slides looked like the most fun so we opted to wait in line and try them all
out! They also offered a “ride” that didn’t seem like much fun except for the
festival workers. People would run inside of this overhang that was closed off
with bungee cords. Once you were “trapped” inside an obnoxious carnival worker
would start slinging a ton of mud right at you. People were getting it in their
ears, eyes, and noses. Yet more people still crowded in line to get into this
thing… Needless to say, we stayed away from this particular attraction.
The foreigners at this festival ranged from army boys to
schoolteachers to random world travelers. We saw people of all races, shapes,
and sizes. It really felt like home.
In between riding the slides, we took visits down to the
water to rinse off, cool down, and just in general enjoy the ocean. The water
was colder than Florida’s but it didn’t feel as cold as California’s. It was really
murky and had protruding rock formations that proved to be quite sharp (Sean
ended up stepping on rock and slicing his foot up a little). We found pretty shells, a starfish (that we saved), and an anemone!
As I previously made mention, the beach was easily 150 yards
long and the tide was coming in. Throughout the course of the day the water’s
edge rapidly approached the sea wall marking the beginning of the beach. The
beach went from 150 yards down to an EXTREMELY crowded 20 yards. It was
incredible to watch the transformation.
The second time we painted up we decided to go “black out”
and cover ourselves entirely in mud. We coated everything in a thick layer of mud,
which is probably what we should have done from the beginning. The mud was a
natural coolant for our bodies as well as acted as sunscreen. The design
painted on my shoulders from our first go around at the mud tubs had been
temporarily etched into my skin by the sun’s powerful rays. It stayed that way
for a few weeks… Oops.
We ate delicious street food for lunch. They were serving
spicy chicken on a stick and a potato covered hotdog. The weird hotdog was
overrated while the chicken on a stick was great! It was outrageously spicy but
so good. We also partook in what appeared to be the popular lunch choice for
the masses, Lotteria (the Korean Burger King).
One of the other memorable things we did was got a
caricature of us done by an old Korean man. He took close to a million years to
complete the drawing but when he did it was pretty good. Sean and I both look
pretty Asian in this picture but I really like it!
Mudfest was awesome for the experience. I am not sure if I’d
do it again but I’m glad we did it the one time. Sorry this blog is not about
something current but I didn’t want to not share our experience here.
Typhoon Update: Sean and I made it through Typhoon Bolaven
alive. From our apartment window not a whole lot happened. We had Tuesday off
and had the chance to do some serious sleeping. I took at least three naps, had
two lunches, and played three rounds of Carcassonne (all of which I lost -_- I
was NOT happy about this). Our day off was great and nothing at our apartment
was damaged or at our school. Some damage was done in the city; I believe a few
people across the country were killed by the storm.
Typhoon Tembin came and went with not much ado. Typhoon
Sanba also was quite a let down. They had introduced Sanba as a “Super” typhoon
but when we experienced it nothing but a light rain occurred all day.
While I am on the subject of typhoons and Korea, I would
like to let you know that the information available on the storms approaching
us are severely limited and, it is kept nowhere near as up-to-date as in the
U.S. Being from Florida, this wasn’t our first rodeo and we didn’t sweat the
storms coming our way. I just wanted to be able to follow the storm’s progress!
It was unbelievable how difficult it was to find any radar of the storms or a tracking
map that had been updated within the last three hours! (This has been a pet
peeve of mine. What I really need to understand is that I am from a country
where this information is so easily accessible and I should be grateful for it,
not take it for granted)
Sean and I have begun our Korean class, we are one week in…
It’s rough. 19 vowels. Enough said.
My next blog will go into further detail about my classes
and all the personalities that have started to emerge and develop. I also would
like to take some time to point out some of the differences I find to be most
interesting, most difficult to adjust to, or least expected. (no personal space/ personal bubble, no lined paper, magnetic shopping cart wheels, watching TV while you drive, etc.)
Thanks for reading! That’s all-ll-ll-ll for now folks!
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