Last weekend Boryeong underwent its annual transformation from sleepy Korean seaside town to a magnet for Korean and foreign tourists alike. Hundreds of thousands of people flocked to the opening weekend from all over Korea to wallow in the mud and experience the many delights the festival has to offer. Not only can you soak up its purported therapeutic benefits, but you can also unleash your inner brat and indulge in some literal mud slinging which, as I discovered, has its own mental therapeutic benefits!
The festival began back in 1998 and was the brainchild of a local cosmetics company seeking publicity and promotion for it's range of mud-based mineral-rich skincare products. In the 13 years that have followed, the festival has attracted millions of tourists to sleepy Boryeong, placing it firmly on events calendars both in Korea and around the world. The attraction to the event lies not only in the mud, but in the adjacent 3.5 kilometre stretch of beach which offers a place to relax, unwind and wash away the stresses of city life and, of course, the mud!
Setting off from Daegu early on Saturday morning, we made the four-hour journey north together with 2 busloads of foreigners and a large amount of beer. Two hours into our trip our peace was shattered by the introduction of the 노래방 (noraebang) machine, which and provided some ... interesting entertainment. On arrival in Boryeong we deposited our bags at our pension, changed and headed straight for the center of the action - Daecheon Beach.
The festival offers a huge range of activities, including a mudfall (think waterfall, just with mud!), inflatable obstacle courses and slides, mud wrestling pools, coloured mud body painting, a 'mud prison', 'self-mud-massage' stations and mud-flat skiing to name a few. A list of all the activities can be found on the official website which, in true Korean style offers some wonderful flowery language and some fabulous Engrish.
After arriving at the beach and finding the weather rather cold and windy, we decided to warm up from the inside out. Stripping down to our bikinis and dumping our gear in one of the free lockers, we headed to Family Mart where we purchased some drinks and headed down to the mud pit. We walked straight into an all-out mud war which proved to be a fun, albeit somewhat painful experience! The mud had been dumped in a car park and contained not only sand (great for exfoliation purposes!) but also gravel and small rocks. A number of brave (stupid?) people had parked very close to the area and in some cases the cars were so coated in mud you couldn't tell what colour the car was meant to be. I'm sure the mud itself wouldn't harm the paintwork, however the rocks and sand wouldn't have done it any good, particularly when hurled with the same vigor as what were pelted with!
Mud slinging
Classy ladies (L-R): me, Jo and Michelle
(photos thanks to Megan Preece Photography)
Saturday evening was spent lounging down by the beach with friends - we briefly saw some fireworks and a few short performances on the main stage. I use the term 'performances' loosely, as the majority of what we saw consisted of randomly selected drunk foreigners showcasing their dubious dancing talents and apparent lack of dignity to a small, bemused crowd of Koreans. We also encountered a seemingly underfed and voracious mosquito population - I became a human pincushion that evening and even now, 4 days later, I have all the outward appearances of carrying some sort of strange disease. I am crimson from my sunburn and my feet and legs are covered with bites that no amount of antihistamines and cooling cream will relieve! Ah, Korea.
Saturday night I had a great sleep, although unfortunately the same can't be said for Kristin and Bosun. I've always been aware I'm a heavy sleeper, but that night I slept through multiple noisy attempts by drunks to access our room and bathroom and a further attempt at window entry by a drunk foreigner. Being a heavy sleeper definitely has its perks, however I do worry what would happen if my house ever caught fire!
Sunday was spent lounging on the beach, with our return to Daegu around 3.30pm. I elected to return on another bus with friends, as the one I booked for the tour departed at 1pm and I wasn't keen to leave the sand and sea that early! I have to say in hindsight that I would never book with Daegu Pockets on any tour ever again - this is the second one I've been on that has been poorly organised and totally unprofessional. This year they planned six buses and three houses, however managed only two buses and what I can only assume was one house because nobody would or could tell us where the other one was. It was (in my opinion) absolutely not worth the price they charged and it has to be said that certain members of their staff could benefit from a little remedial training in basic customer relations.
Overall it was a brilliant weekend and one I will remember for a long time to come. Unfortunately I can't say the same for another friend of mine who was involved in a freak accident shortly after his arrival to mudfest. A deliberately ugly slide tackle in a friendly ball game left him with a broken tibia and fibula (front and back shin bones in laymans terms). He had to return to Incheon by bus with NO painkillers and has since undergone surgery to insert a large metal rod the length of his shin. This incident has left me dumbfounded on three separate counts - firstly, the guy who tackled him knew the damage he did and apparently offered no apology or assistance; secondly, the surgery was done under local rather than general anaesthetic (Kevin was awake to hear every little thing) and thirdly, the hospital has offered him no appropriate pain relief medication such as morphine at any stage during this ordeal. He told me the pain has been excruciating and beyond anything he could imagine, however the Korean doctors maintain they don't provide pain relief because they don't believe in drugs. This is coming from a national health system notorious for over-medicating its citizens - visit the doctor for relief from flu symptoms and you will be prescribed a minimum of fifteen pills a day (and I speak from personal experience with three separate doctors). I can only hope Kevin gets through this ordeal safely and with his sanity intact. Having spent time in hospital last year for the same thing, I know exactly how hard it is to be away from family at times like this. That said, I can't even begin to imagine the same situation with cultural and language barriers thrown into the mix. Get well soon Kevin, we're all thinking of you!
High point: Buying soju in a plastic bottle from the local convenience store in my underpants
Low point: Being the main course in the mosquito feeding frenzy
Kristin (centre) and I (right) making a beeline for the water after being pelted in the mud fight
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