I was really looking forward to the weekend because it would be a new experience and also because many of my friends were going, so I knew it would be enjoyable.
Originally, the festival was intended to publicize the healing qualities of the Boryeong mud, which was the basis in many cosmetics. However over the past few years, it has become more of a tourist hot spot and a chance to let loose. Apparently in 2007, there were 2.2 million tourists that came in the two week period of the festival, so it draws a lot of tourism to the little town.
When the bus finally arrived, we were hugely disappointed to see large clouds in the sky. Just as we stepped onto the pavement there was a huge downpour that caught everyone by surprise, because the forecast said that it would be sunny all weekend. As we made it to our accommodation, everyone’s backpacks were soaking and the mood was slightly depressed.
Our accommodation was a pension—which is a common thing in Korea: it’s basically a room that gives you pillows and blankets and you sleep on the floor. I didn’t know what I expected when I signed up for this, but looking at the room, I was not overly impressed. The room was about the size of my family room back home and eleven people were supposed to cram into it. On top of that, there were only 8 blankets (which were supposed to be used as a bottom sheet and a top cover…. figure that math out!).
Nevertheless, after about 20 minutes of getting settled, we headed back outside to go to the beach. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the sun was beaming and it had turned into a beautiful day! Eric, Dorrial, Amy, Diana, Mariana and I headed to the beach where we were bombarded with mud plastered people.
The day was just starting but people were all into the festivities. The first thing we did was go to this station where you can cover yourself with mud… it was more liquid than I expected. It had the consistency of heavy whipping cream and actually felt nice on the skin.
Next we went to the local 7-eleven and bought some drinks and headed into the park where there were numerous mud slides, mud races, mud wrestling, mud prisons etc. My favourite experience of the weekend was the mud wrestling. There was a large inflatable pool filled about 3 inches deep with mud. People just went in and splashed around and got COVERED. It was great and I thororoughly enjoyed it (it reminded me a lot of the play fighting in my childhood). The fun stopped, when I got a mouthful of the stuff, but it was good while it lasted.
Walking around, a bit later we noticed that the lines were slightly long, so Amy and I decided to go to the beach after a while… we sipped some soju and drifted in water tubes.
On the beach was a large stage where they had performers and live music all day…. it created a very strong ‘spring break’ feel. This was probably the first time I’ve seen so many foreigners in Korea. Everywhere you looked there were people speaking English… it was very surreal and felt like I was out of Asia for the weekend.
Later that evening after we went back and showered and cleaned up (much more difficult than I would have expected, with all of that mud) we went out for dinner. The area was packed with people so it was slightly difficult to navigate around and find somewhere to eat… it ended up being bibimbap, a regular favourite.
After dinner, we took a stroll on the beach which was very nice. The crowds had moved to the main stage area and the beach was much less populated. The tide had gone way out and you could see many sea creatures crawling around in the sand.
At around 11:30, there was an amazing fireworks show. it was so beautiful to watch it on the beach because it was also reflected in the ocean. Amy told me that Gwangan (where I live) has an extraordinary fireworks show in October, so I’m excited for that.
A little while later Amy, Mariana and I decided to head back to our pension to try to get some sleep… this was not easily achieved on a floor that felt like concrete. The night was pretty rough…. the only way I was comfortable was sleeping on my back with my knees bent in the air. I was up pretty much every hour, on the hour, waiting for an appropriate time to start my day.
By 7am, I got up (with a very sore body) and left all of my friends still sleeping. I went for a long walk and got to observe how different the area looked without all of the people in it. The main attractions area was pretty creepy that early in the morning. All of the inflatable slides etc had been deflated and it looked very abandoned. By the time I made my way back around 9am, things were beginning to go up again, and life was returning.
Sunday was spent mainly on the beach. It was a beautiful day and the water was so nice (minus a bit of garbage floating around from all of the visitors… yum!). Some people decided to go back to the mud, but I didn’t want to be on a bus for 5 hours with mud crustys on my body.
As some of my friends went to soak up some mud, I stayed with our stuff on the beach and overheard people talking German… random! I started talking with them (testing out my Deutsch) and found that they were here from Austria on a 5 week learning exchange. It was great to meet new people and hear a foreign language that I actually could understand (unlike all of the Korean I’m surrounded by).
By 3pm we were back on the bus and arrived back in Busan by about 8:45… I was so ready to get off the bus! As I got back into my apartment, I knew I had a lot of dirty laundry to do, but the weekend was well worth it!
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