MUD FESTIVAL 2015 – prepare to get muddy!

Las traducciones al español las pongo en verde, justo detrás del párrafo en versión original (inglés)

What a blast! Last Saturday I finally went to the Mud Festival with Hippie Korea. Both Victor and I had wanted to go since long ago, but ended up not going for a reason or another. This time, as part of the Hippie Committee, I didn’t really have any excuse to not go! We were both excited to check the festival out, and a bit scared, because we had heard stories from friends who got mud all over their ears and eyes and had a bad time.

El sábado pasado fui al “Mud Festival” (festival del barro) con la organización Hippie Korea, y ¡nos lo pasamos genial! Victor y yo habíamos querido ir desde hace tiempo, pero no habíamos ido hasta ahora por una razón u otra. Este año, como formo parte del comité de Hippie Korea, ya no tenía ninguna excusa para no ir (por ejemplo: no encuentro suficiente gente para ir juntos, no sé cómo llegar en transporte público, etc.). Estábamos a la vez emocionados y asustados, pues pasar un día en el barro no es exactamente mi definición de diversión, y habíamos escuchado historias de gente sufriendo porque les entraba barro en las orejas o en los ojos.

The day started at 8AM, meeting at Yeongtong Station for the Hippie Korea bus. The bus came well on time and I gladly saw some known faces, like Jo from the Spanish Speakers in Suwon club, and new faces. We got on the bus and went towards Boryeong after a small stop at Dongtan. The trip was quite fast, around 2h20min from Dongtan with a stop to rest and get some snacks like the local Barley rice cake. For this trip there were people from India, Germany, Ecuador, the US, Russia, Korea, Spain, Ukrania…

El día empezó a las 8 de la mañana, en la estación de Yeongtong para coger el bus charter de Hippie Korea. Ahí nos encontramos con los otros participantes, y me alegré de ver algunas caras conocidas. El bus tardó unas 2h 20min con una parada de 20 minutos en una estación, donde aprovechamos para comprar y comer algunos snacks. Éramos un bus de lo más internacional, con gente de India, Alemania, Ecuador, EEUU, Rusia, Corea, España, Ucrania, etc.

Barley Rice Cakes have an interesting taste. I won’t say I loved it, but I ate it all and thought it was good to try (Pastel de arroz y cebada)

They day wasn’t sunny and beautiful, but it was still quite warm, which was good because a whole day outside in the sun can be too hot. Actually, with the rush and the weather I forgot to apply sun cream! Good thing it was cloudy, I still got a bit red but didn’t get burn. DO wear sun cream when you go!

El día estaba un poco nublado, no muy bonito, pero aún así hacía calorcito y no llovía, así que en verdad tuvimos suerte. Victor y yo nos olvidamos de la crema solar y aún nos pusimos rojitos, así que menos mal que no hacía “solajero”. ¡Nunca olviden la crema solar!

We saw this on the way. I wonder if all the mud comes from here (De camino a la playa, quizás sacan el barro de aquí?)

The Mud Festival takes place at Daecheon Beach, at Boryeong-si. This year was the 18th edition of this popular festival that started as a way to promote the cosmetic mud from the area. Nowadays it is just known for the party ambiance and excitement among us foreigners. There are many tours that cover this festival, from the more foreign-partyer oriented 2D1N with pension and free alcohol, to the more I’m-just-curious 1D bus tours like the one HIppie Korea makes. As you arrive to the Beach, you will inevitably see the Mud zone with several slides and fair-like games. The entrance to this area is W10,000 and you can enter as many times as you want during the day, as long as you keep your paper bracelet.

El festival del barro se celebra en la playa Daecheon, en la ciudad de Boryeong. Este año fue la 18 edición del popular festival que comenzó como una forma de promover los cosméticos a base de barro del área. Hoy en día, se le conoce simplemente por el ambiente fiestero y la original oferta de tirarte en el barro. Se puede disfrutar desde fuera, en la playita y disfrutando de un par de actividades gratuitas, o desde dentro, pagando W10,000 (8 euros) para entrar en la zona de colchonetas y barro.

Let’s go! (Pulseras para entrar a la zona privada de barro)

We rented some parasols, inflated some floating devices and set up a tent where we would throw all our bags. Korea is a pretty safe country, and generally speaking, you would be OK just leaving all your belongings inside the tent. I hope this keeps being the case in the long run!

Hippie Korea alquiló un par de sombrillas y flotadores, y además trajo una caseta de campaña para guardar nuestras bolsas dentro. Hubo muchos ratos en los que no había nadie vigilando las cosas, pues en general Corea es muy segura y hay pocos ladrones. Es diferente en las Canteras o en cualquier playa española, donde como te descuides, te roban hasta las “cholas”.

Many (senior) engineers and marketers working together to set up a simple tent x) (Cuantos ingenieros creen que hizo falta para montar esta caseta? Jajaj)

The line to buy the ticket becomes really long at some points of the day, so your best beat is to arrive early (around 9:30, opening time). Once you are in, go to the most popular attractions first, as lines will just get longer and longer through the day. My group of friends wanted to try the mud super slide, but we opted to line for a shorter attraction as we were eager to start getting muddy fast. When we wanted to line for the longer one, we were told that they were closing the line for the lunch break (1230~1330), and after lunchtime the line was 4 times longer, and we just decided to skip it (not willing to wait more than 1h for the slide).

Para entrar en la zona privada con colchonetas y barro hace falta comprar la pulsera. La cola a veces se hace más larga, así que es recomendable llegar pronto (abren a las 9:30) y entrar pronto, antes de que las masas lleguen. Nosotros queríamos probar el Súper Tobogán de barro, pero cometimos el error de no hacer la cola (porque ya era larguita) e ir a otra más corta. Estábamos impacientes por empezar ya con el barro, pero la cola del Súper Tobogán no se hizo sino más y más larga y acabamos pasando de él. A la hora de comer (entre las 12:30 y la 1:30) cierran la zona temporalmente para limpiar y comer.

On their official website they have pictures and descriptions of each attraction. We started by using the mud self-massage areas, where they have some mud and brushes for you to paint yourself. We headed for the mud-couple head slide, which is a racing game where the winner gets to dump a bucket of mud on the loser. When it is a male-female couple racing against each other, they make the guy turn around himself for 3~5 times to make them dizzy and give the woman some advantage. This was pretty fun, as we were a group of 9 people. Afterwards, we went to the mud pool to get everyone equally muddy.

En la web oficial hay fotos y descripciones de cada atracción. La que probamos nosotros se llama Tobogán de barro en pareja, que consiste en una carrera de ida y vuelta. El ganador puede tirarle un cubo de barro al perdedor. Como los chicos suelen tener ventaja, les hacen dar de 3 a 5 vueltas sobre sí mismos para marearles un poco. Aún así, Victor me sacó ventaja, pues a mí me costo un poco más subirme de un salto a la colchoneta. Después de esto, como los perdedores íbamos con más barro, nos metimos todos en una “piscina de barro” para ponernos al mismo nivel de barro todos.

Get some mud!

Lines are long, so we spent the 1h in the morning time queuing and playing and had to leave for the lunch break. We cleaned ourselves at the Sea and went to eat some food. For the event, there will be lots of tents near the main mud-area where you can buy food and drinks (cash only). Most of the food you will find are corn-dogs, fried chicken, pizza, and skewers. If you’re vegetarian, like some of our Indian friends, you’d do good bringing some snacks, as there won’t be much option for you.

Después del barro, fuimos a limpiarnos un poco al mar (que no debe estar muy limpio) y después fuimos a comer. Para los días del evento, hay muchos puestos con comida y bebida, como perritos calientes asiáticos (en vez de pan, fritos por fuera), pinchos de pollo, y cocktails. Hay que llevar dinero en efectivo para esto.

That’s a corn-dog with fries on the corn… found it fun, it was OK but not that great

After lunch and a bit of rest, we went back for more fun. We wanted to do the mud super slide, but the line threw Victor and me back. We decided to do other things instead, and since we were pretty clean, we voluntarily gave in ourselves in the jail. The purpose of this jail is just to stand there while staff throws you some mud. It is a “punishment” for being too clean.

Después de comer volvimos a por más, pero las colas para todo eran largas… Victor y yo decidimos separarnos del grupo e ir a la “Cárcel”, que es una atracción donde te metes dentro y los voluntarios te tiran una buena cantidad de barro. Es el “castigo” por ir demasiado limpios.

Ready to get dirty again!

Since it was really really crowded at 2PM and we hate to wait in line, we lost interest in the mud area and decided to enjoy the day at the beach. On the way back to our “Hippie-base” we saw a promotion from Hite beer that was one of the highlights of our day. Try it!

Así pues, salimos de la zona reservada para el barro y vimos una promoción de la cerveza Hite, en la que posas para una foto y te sacan la foto desde todos los ángulos. Esto acabó siendo una de nuestras actividades favoritas, ¡es muy chulo!

Masks, hats and waterguns to make your shoot funnier. And their Henna tattoo~

They had brought many cameras that were displayed one next to each other, and that would shoot pictures all at the same time while you jump (or do something else). The point is to capture a short video and a picture of you in 360 degrees. It was really cool! We tried it and this was the result:

Para hacer la foto a 360º, traen muchas cámaras y las colocan estratégicamente. Tú saltas (o haces lo que quieras) para la foto, y ellos te enseñan un mini video con el resultado. Miren el nuestro!:

Pretty cool, right? :p Coooool!

One advice though! We made a 1st jumping picture and they told us to post it on FB from their PC. We did, but for some reason (probably connection or privacy issues) I couldn’t find it anywhere on my wall. We went back and asked to send it through e-mail instead, and we got it correctly. Ask them to do e-mail, or at least both e-mail and FB!!

Un consejito, nosotros hicimos esta foto (y la larga cola) 2 veces, porque la primera vez nos pidieron que nos metiéramos en Facebook para compartir el vídeo, pero nos dimos cuenta de que no estaba en ningún lado del Facebook, así que repetimos y esta vez les pedimos que nos mandaran el vídeo por correo.

Floating devices and parasols available for rent all over the beach.

After this I was ready to get a good shower and clean myself, since the mud gets dry and makes your skin feel dry. Victor didn’t mind it so he kept it until we got home. I first tried in the sea water, but it didn’t really clean me well so I went to the public shower, where you pay W2,000 and get in. Beware, there’s no towels, no gel or shampoo… just water. Cold water. There were a lot of women (more than shower heads), most of them screaming a bit because of the cold water, and children crying when being forced to get in the water by their mothers. I’d say it was OK, the water is cold but since it was quite warm outside, just breathe deeply while showering and you will endure it OK. I didn’t bring anything with me… so I had to awkwardly ask other naked women if I could use some of their shampoo. I didn’t have a towel neither! But luckily I brought a clean bikini to change after the mud so I just wore it and went out in bikini. Bring your towel and toiletries!

Después de la foto decidí que ya era hora de quitarme todo el barro de encima, así que fui a las duchas de la playa. Pagas W2,000 (1,50 euros) y atención y cuidadín, porque no te dan ni champú, ni gel, ni toalla. Menos mal que llevaba un bikini limpio en la bolsa, porque sino me toca salir mojada o esperarme dentro una hora hasta secarme!

There is plenty going on during the day, like for example the concerts at the main scenario. They play music and have people dancing, and I heard they also invite K-pop artists. I didn’t spend time there so I’m not sure, but it looked like they were having a lot of fun, and there was a very intense cheerleader/MC animating people.

Aparte de las atracciones también pueden simplemente disfrutar de los conciertos y bailes que hay en el escenario principal. Por la noche vienen grupos famosos de K-pop, dependiendo del año.

We also saw at 4pm a flight show, with a small fleet of planes flying around in formation and sometimes leaving blue&red traces on the sky. It was quite amazing and a bit loud.

A las 4 vimos un espectáculo de vuelo con aviones que soltaban colores y hacían un ruido tremendo, bebés llorando por doquier.

Another interesting animation was the 3-people Peru-native music band, who are apparently from Ecuador, and who have to wear big and hot costumes under the warm summer weather.

Curioso y digno de nombrar, había también un grupo de 3 peruanos nativos tocando música típica (aunque aparentemente eran de Ecuador). Imaginense la gente paseando en bikini, y estos 3 con el disfraz! Me da calor solo de verlos!

And even when there’s nothing left to do (we felt we had a bit too much time since we decided to skip the mud festival after 3pm), you can always take silly pictures at the many touristy-decoration.

Y como en muchos sitios de Corea, el lugar estaba muy decorado y perfecto para hacerse fotos.

Another nice activity is the color mud painting. Due to long lines, we had also given up on this, and around 5pm we saw they put up a rope saying that the activity was over. However we saw some foreigners were still allowed in, so we tried and they let us in. We waited maybe 10 minutes only and then got some paint on our faces! I wasn’t sure what design I wanted, but I knew I didn’t want too much.

La otra actividad protagonista (y esta es gratis también) es el Body Painting con barro de colores. La cola es bastante larga, y nos habíamos dado por vencidos cuando vimos que cerraban la línea. Sin embargo, como íbamos con extranjeros, nos llamaron y nos dejaron pasar de todas formas. Así quedaron nuestras caras:

I ended up getting a Spanish flag on a cheek and a green heart around my eye. The flag was OK but I soon regretted the heart as it solidified and started to feel weird and tense around my eye. Victor got a tri-color from the eyes to the neck, and even his t-shirt got a bit painted. The color mud is cool for a picture, but then it dries up really fast and starts falling off little by little. Get some wet tissues (a lot of booths distribute them for free) and wipe it off x)

Lo de la mejilla es una bandera española, y el ojo… un corazón. No sé por qué elegí el verde, queda fatal. Jaja. La pintura se seca y solidifica muy rápido, y se hace algo incómoda, sobretodo alrededor de los ojos. Así pues, procedimos a limpiar nuestras caras pronto.

Less than an hour later, trying to clean our faces from color-mud

And this was basically our super day at the Boryeong mud festival! Had a lot of fun, talked to many new people, got real dirty, showered in a room full of naked women like it was nothing (I’m getting used to it thanks to the gym)… if you’re living in Korea and haven’t been to the Mud Festival yet, I’d recommend you to check it up with friends or with a tour like Hippie Korea! It is worth the experience, even if you hate dirt (like me), don’t enjoy the beach (like me) or are too lazy to travel 2h to a “party” (like me), get yourself together and give it a chance! Nobody is asking you to go again, but at least once is good to know what a mud festival is and have some special and different time with other people!

Y así se pasó un sábado más, lleno de diversión en el festival del barro de Boryeong! Si están en Corea y aún no han ido, les aconsejo que superen su miedo a la suciedad y lo prueben. El barro es limpio (se usa en cosmética) y además es muy líquido y ligero, no pesado y maloliente como me lo imaginaba. ¡Anímense el año que viene!

Happy Hippie!~