Let's get muddy!

Boryeong Mudfest is an annual event that took place this year July 17-25, 2010 on Daecheon Beach. Because it worked better with our summer vacation schedules, we decided to go the closing weekend, July 24-25, 2010. Our bus ride, hotel and entrance fee were booked with Adventure Korea. We met at Hongdae station early Saturday morning and rode for about 3 hours before arriving to a giant field of mud. Every year mud is shipped to the festival from this area. To our surprise we were told to grab a number for the 5k we were about to race! After the 5k we were given medals and snacks and played some games in the mud. After a rinse off, we were on our way to the actual festival.

When we arrived, we were taken straight to our accommodations. Since there were 6 in our group, we stayed in a "Min Bak" which is just a room with lots of floor space (no bed) and 6 blankets and pillows. There was also a kitchenette with a small fridge, 2 propane stoves, and a rice cooker (although we used none of these). After dropping our stuff off, we had lunch and headed out to see what the mudfest was all about. We found mud and paintbrushes and it was quite clear we needed to cover our bodies at that point. We waited in line for an inflatable slide, watched people mud wrestle, and explored the area. We decided to head back to our room to shower off before dinner and discovered our shower had no hot water. We tried to get the staff to turn it on but they kept giving us the run around. First, they said something along the lines of 'foreigners use too much hot water' then they tell us that there is a 'no hot water policy until 9pm'... It just didn't make sense. Since we were so muddy, were forced to suffer through the icy pain! Anyway, after the torture, we got dinner and played on the beach for a while. We found a big frog with a tail!

The next day was even muddier. We slid on more inflatable rides, mud wrestled, swam in the ocean, and relaxed on the beach before heading home.

I would definitely recommend mudfest to anyone who happens to be in Korea when it happens... and although it is nice to have everything all planned out for you, I think it would be a lot cheaper to book transportation and accommodation yourself.

What I learned: mud + beach + cool people = happiness, even if you've only had one (icy cold) shower all weekend.