I’ll be the first to admit that driving a few hours to roll around in mud doesn’t sound like the best plan ever. Mud? Really? The Boryeong Mud Festival is located in Boryeong, about 200 km south of Seoul. It has been a traditional meeting place for foreigners and Koreans alike since 1998, and it now attracts over 2 million visitors. The mud is touted as being an extremely beneficial skin treatment, and the festival was originally used to market cosmetics containing the stuff. I’m not sure that the mud is all that it claims to be, but the festival itself… it happened 12 days ago, and I’m still not over it. I went with a group of members from a social networking site called Come Together English Cafe I only knew three people by the time I boarded the train, but by the end of the trip, I’d made some amazing new friends.
On Saturday, July 16th, we all dragged ourselves out of bed early to meet at Yongsan Station by 9am. After driving about 3 hours, we arrived at Daecheon Station and got to the motel, to find ourselves out in the rain with no ready motel rooms to wait it out. While we waited on the staff to finish cleaning our rooms, we got lunch at a restaurant near the beach. Just as we were heading back to the motel, the rain let up, and the sun came out. And it stayed out. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. The group got separated, naturally. Christy and I met up with James, and we all got in the spirit of the event and painted ourselves with mud. It’s cooler than it sounds- trust me. We found a few more in our group (gonna miss you, Papa!) and swam in the ocean. After a few hours, everyone got hungry, and we made our way back to the motel to change. Collin You went out and bought back some samgyupsal, and we had a barbecue on the roof.
Even now, the oversimplification of the concept of the mud festival makes me smile. Driving a few hours to paint myself with mud? Totally worth it.
Victoria Teacher's Adventures in ESL 