MUD FEST Baby!!

Although I have no actual photographic proof I was at said MUD FEST, it will probably go down as one of the greatest events of my year here.
It all started 9am on Saturday with a party bus to Boryeong Mud fest. An annual event held on the eastern coast of Korea that brings thousands of people to this small beach town for two weeks of the year. The mud supposedly has many beneficial minerals and it good for your skin but mostly it’s just fun to play in.
It was fairly overcast that day but that didn’t stop us from charging straight into the sea within the first 30 minutes of our arrival. I am pretty sure every foreigner in Korea had found his or her way to Mud fest. The beach and sea was packed with people, we were running into friends every two minutes.
It wasn’t long before we found the mud or better yet, the mug found us. It was complete chaos! There was hug inflatable slides into mud pits, mud fighting rings, mud cages and just all around debauchery. Every single person was covered from head to toe in thick mud. I imagine it was similar to the joy a pig feels when rolling around in fresh wet mud. It was awesome!


Everyone was having a great time getting messy and rinsing off in the water. Eventually the lack of sun and slight rain caught up to us. You can only walk around soaking wet with mud for so many hours. We headed back to the hotel room for a memorable bath and prepared for evening. We had heard rumors that some of the biggest K-pop groups would be performing at the outdoor stage later that night.
Sure enough that slight rain had turned to torrential downpour causing everyone to abandon their campsite and find shelter in the nearest alcohol establishment. The rain wasn’t enough to stop us from taking advantage of the local amusement park and the 3 rides it had to offer. I couldn’t believe they would actually operate these janky carnival rides in such questionable weather but that’s why I love Korea.
It would be impossible to run a festival like this in America. First it would be way too overcrowded, they would charge a ridiculous amount to get in (in Korea it was of course free), they would defiantly regulate and overcharge for beers (ours were provided courtesy of 7-11), there would have been a million cops there (I think I saw 2 all weekend) and it would be a breeding ground for law-suits (seeing how almost everyone came home with some kind of injury. One girl cracked a rib, another friend broke a toe and I was double heel kicked in the head by a flying-flipping girl in the ocean) It would just never go down in the States.
On Sunday I was really looking forward to getting back out in the Mud madness because but the sky had other plans. It was raining so hard that barely anyone was out on the beach and even less people were covered in mud. This whole concept of the weather deciding how I will spend my day is still quite foreign to me. I’ve been told this is only beginning of monsoon season. It has stopped raining since Saturday and I already think I might drown, along with my school that is flooding at an alarming rate. I don’t see how it could get much worse but I hope I will be chilling on the beaches of Thailand when it does.