Mudfest.2013

Mud = water + dirt
Festival = party

Put the 2 together and you get a party in the mud, or in Korea - MUDFEST!!! That's right, Korea has a whole 10 (yes, TEN!!) days dedicated to mud. What does it involve? Well, take a seat and let me tell ya how my experience went down...

Friday night: I was thrown on a bus with 15 strangers. I would also be sharing a room with them for the night (as my friends weren't coming until Saturday). I should have remembered that "Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet" because after about 3.5 minute of being on the bus with them, I had opened my first beer (in over a month and a half), had a seat buddy (and we named ourselves "the Ambers"), learned who everyone on the bus was, and even found a fellow Redskins fan. Well, that didn't take long. We made the MAYBE 2 hour trip to the BEACH...ahhhh the beach...and unloaded into the rooms we were sharing. Then, we hit THE BEACH! It was across the street, so once we stopped for beers, and fireworks, we grabbed our seats on the beach wall and thoroughly enjoyed the sand, the salt water, the smell of fireworks, and the 소맥주 (soju+beer).

We were joined by other "strangers" that were walking past and wanted to hang out. Since the Festival didn't start until Satuday, it was low key and people were just getting their bearings for the next day. Eventually we started trickling back in pairs and small groups to the pension, I think I was one of the last ones left (big surprise).

Saturday: We all moved out bags to the new pension (where they were staying in a room fit for 15) and then headed to the beach for food and to wait for our Mudfest tickets to arrive (as they were on the same bus as my friends). Once we got pizza, our morning beers (orrrr Vitamin Water filled with Soju) we headed to meet my friends, and pick up our tickets. Once my group appeared (Tom, Vicky, Allie, and Grant) we headed straight to the beach. Yes...the beach. Korean style. 

Korean Style - no bikinis anywhere

The water was rough, but that didn't stop us! We made our way past the maze of mudfest-ers and got right in. Well, "got right in" isn't exactly what I did. If you've ever seen me get in a pool, or the ocean, you know it was a long process. 

Ok Ok, I know you're thinking "WHERE'S THE MUD??" But here....it's coming.

Before getting to the "mud area" we had to shower....with mud, duh! So we "mudded up" (aka, Vicky throwing mud on me) and headed into the arena.

Vicky's right hand is in the mud shower, getting ready to throw at me

Ok, we are muddy and ready!!!

Circle of Friends.

 What happens in the "Mud Area"?? Well, you can do an obstacle course (yup, we did), you can do a mud slide (line was too long), you can mud wrestle, go to jail (of course we did), take more "mud showers" (Vicky always started this!), and then end up in the Bathtub to clean off. Here's how our time went...(in pictures)

I'm sure Vicky was throwing mud at us.

The guard was NOT going to let us out!

This is how muddy you can get.

Giant bathtub to clean off.

There ya go...that's what it's all about.

Afterwards, we went back to our rooms for REAL showers and to get ready to meet up for dinner before fireworks and drinks on the beach again.

After I was showered off, I came downstairs and EVERYONE was there - my mud group, and the Jeonju kids. We had drinks on the porch and then once it started to get dark, we headed to the beach....where everyone lost everyone. Most of my night was wandering to find them, and running into a few people here and there. I ran into Tom and he was like "Oh! Everyone is over there!" and then I never saw HIM again. I was able to reunite with the Jeonju group, just in time for the fireworks.

My best pictures of the fireworks

After the fireworks, we stayed at the beach and watched the dance parties starting to happen, and then a few of us went to play the carnival games (I ended up with a blue penguin that I named Percy) and then we ended up at a club. There was 5 of us trying to get in, and the first guy went right in with no problem. Then we tried to go in, but they were charging us 20,000\. Negative, dudes. So back out we went....to the beach! And this is where we stayed while I waited for the sun to come up. BUT, as I started to pass out, I was told "April, you can't sleep here!" While I thought this was silly, as it was a beach, I went along and we headed back to the pension....or so we thought. I knew where the pension was, but apparently the guy I was with thought it was total wrong way. So we ended up at the town square, where the only 2 other people on the street, WERE PART OF OUR JEONJU GROUP! So, once we ate my ice cream and chocolates (yes, we stopped during our walk) we headed back in the direction I knew the pension was, and we made it home safe and sound around 5am-ish.

Sunday: Leaving day...how sad. Once we all woke up (I ended up staying with the Jeonju group since I had never put my bag in my friends room) we headed down to the porch to figure things out. Not sure what we had to figure out, except who wanted a beer.

Front Porch Sittin'

I shared a beer with one of the Jeonju guys, and then who comes strolling down the street but none other than Rachel from Seoul. So she ditches her friends, goes to grab a beer and then hangs with us for the rest of the day.

She - she got a beer and joined the fun.

We eventually made it to the beach to play and hang till our bus at 3pm arrived....

We've been in Korea too long - hanging on the beach, no bathing suits in site

 

Sexiest Korean Men on the beach

Unfortunately, after the volleyball, storytelling, and goofing off, it was time to get to the bus. While the weekend at the beach was over...the weekend was not! We still had a bus ride to Jeonju!!!

They had me sitting in the back of the bus like the cool kids....I've fooled them good :)

The ride was louder than the ride TO the beach, but it also seemed quicker. Probably because I didn't want the weekend to end.

Once we were back in Jeonju, a few of us decided to hit up hamburgers for dinner before I finally headed back to Jinan.

So there we go...I survived Mudfest. I made friends, got muddy, saw old friends, stayed up late, saw fireworks, and had a grand ol' time.

In fact - we had so much fun, that we are all getting together this Friday to have a night out in Jeonju!!

Ghamsamnidah,
Apes :)