Mudfest

This last weekend I went to the most insanely fun party I have ever been to.  Korea wanted to increase tourism and capitalize on the fact that they can market the mud as a beauty product and decided to import a bunch of it from Boryeong to Daechon Beach and have a humongous party.  In 2006, it was rated the worlds best festival by some tourism board, and it attracts people from different Asian countries as well as many Westerners.  I signed up for it a month in advance, so I was excited about this vacation after the end of the regular school year.

I left with a group of foreigners around 11:30 PM on Friday night, and didn't get there until 2:00AM.  But Kyu, the owner of one of the foreigner bars in Bucheon, decided that he would fire up the BBQ and he cooked some pork and scallops for us.

I didn't make any plans to come down with anyone, but I ended up going to the beach with these four people on the first night.

The next day, I got some coffee at Lotteria, which is a Korean fast food chain like McDonalds, and there were tons of foreigners eating that junk.  It was silly because they could have had some decent Korean food, given that they were at a beach with many foreigner friendly restaurants.

                                                                Some even serve fresh shark.

Then it was time to get muddy.  

                                                                       Mud Wrestling

    The DJ played some house music after a concert at the stage nearby, while the staff sprayed water into the   dancing crowd

                                                         Usually she wears a lot of makeup

                                                                          Mudfested

                                                                                 

  There were also three slides, a giant kiddie pool, and mud jail where the staff throws mud on you while you're inside the jail cell.  I'm really impressed with how well it is put together especially for a free festival.  I believe that it is intended to promote tourism in Korea.

                                                           

I'm really glad I brought my ukulele too.  Even though I just started playing last week, I am still able to have some fun.  

Graham is the first person I met outside of work over here. He teaches at the Gyeonggi Arts School for 

the gifted.

♫"TV party tonight!"♫

Tim plays for one of the favorite local English teacher bands, The Noise.  The previous day they rocked the festival so much that they were banned from playing.  I can't wait to find out the details.  He liked

my ukulele so much, that he said he should buy one.  Score! Ukes are popular in Japan but not so much in Korea.

It's Jessicat!

Some of Jessica Kim's friends came from France for a vacation.

Chinese couple

Asia's bathrooms sure are different.