Boryeong Mud Festival!!!!

Yesterday we went to the Boryeong Mud Festival at Daecheon Beach. Overall it was a fun day but very long and tiring. We started our day by getting up at 5:30am. We had to be on post and waiting for the bus by 7:15am. It was about a 3 hour bus ride to get to the festival. It was actually a nice ride. It was fun to get out of the city and see what else Korea looks like. It is actually very rural and the mountains are amazing! As soon as we were outside the city we started to see a lot of fields and much smaller homes and towns. I took some pictures but keep in mind that we were on a moving bus, they are not the best.

I think all that green in front may be rice fields. We saw this everywhere!

The day started out quite rainy and grey but by the time we got to the festival it cleared up nicely and the sun came out.

These are the Mud Festival Mascots. They are even on the storm drains.

Before we got muddy we stopped and colored a keychain and made some soap.

 

Our mud mermaid all finished!

What a cool Dude!!!

Ok time to bring on the mud! Wait.... one more picture of all of us clean!

This photo was taken by Mike's friend Doug. Doug came and spent the day with us so there will be pictures of him here as well. Just didn't want anyone wondering who this random guy was.

Now it's time for the "dirty pictures"!!!!!

Daddy getting some mud on Giulianna.

Getting muddy. There were paint brushes and a mirror so you could get it everywhere!

Mike and Doug getting their mud on!

Yep mud on the baby!

Happy Mud Face!!!!

This is the muddy Doug monster.

Me and the kids. Mike managed to get this shot among the paparazzi.

Yes, I said paparazzi. I mean that quite literally too. Now I know what it would be like to be famous. All day long we had people taking our pictures, mostly the kids, but us too. Mike and I are pretty convinced there is a good change our kids will be on next years Mud Festival poster. There were constantly cameras in our faces. Some people had "press" badges but most were just walking around with huge expensive cameras, or phones, or anything that they could take a picture with. Sometimes people would stop and ask to take pictures, but mostly they would just swarm us, or use a camera with a huge lens to take them long range. We would turn around and there would be cameras surrounding us! When it stated to get really crowded we couldn't even walk though the crowd with out being separated because so many people would stop to look at the kids and take their pictures. It was insane! Here is a picture of an early, fairly small group of paparazzi!

Enough of that! Time for more mud!!!!

Lady painted with colored mud holding Rhyon for yet another picture.

                                                     Really great picture of Mike and I that Giulianna took!!!!                                                                     (Never would have imangined this is where we would be the day after our 5 year anniversary.)

The following pictures are proof that the Army is truly a "small world". When Mike was first commissioned and went to Ft. Stewart he was in a unit with CPT. Rodrigiez. Funny thing is we ran into him at the festival. Nothing like being on the other side of the world and running into someone you know! Always nice to see a familiar face!!

 Doug decided he wasn't muddy enough so he went over and got him self doused with a bucket of mud.

We took some time and went down onto the beach. This was Rhyon's first real beach experience.

Suddenly the sky got dark and the wind picked up. Then it started to sprinkle and before we knew it it was raining pretty heavy. We got off the beach and got the kids coats on. And by we I mean I took them out of the bag and this group of 3 Korean women came over and put them on the kids for us. The one lady was holding Giulianna because she was upset by the rain. They stood with us for a good while and then came back two times after that. I keep saying it but its very strange to get used to!

 

Then I was standing there waiting for Giulianna to come down the mud slide and some kid comes over and throws a bucket of mud on me. It totally took me by surprise and was really funny except he creamed my camera! His mother came by and started to yell at him. I said "Its okay, its okay." Thankfully she had a towel so I could wipe off my camera lens and still capture the picture of Giulianna on the slide. Then Giulianna and I grabbed a bucket of mud to go throw on Daddy since the rain was making him fairly clean! I then got to really douse Mike with some mud!!! He made a funny face because I got it in his mouth too!!!! HAHAHAHA! That was the highlight of my day!

Since my poor camera had gotten wet from mud and rain every time I would put the lens cap on the would fog up. I tried taking a picture of Giulianna playing a game and got kind of a neat effect due to the fog. Rhyon took a nap in the wagon, which was a great thing except that it reattracted the paparazzi! We managed to find a place to sit and have a break away from the crowd and in the shade.

For some reason we decided to go back toward the main festival area again. This time it was even more crowded. It also didn't help that the tide was coming in. We decided to try and go into the ocean and wash off our mud so we could change before went back home. The crowds were like nothing I had ever seen!!

That pretty much concludes our mud festival experience. Except for the long ride back and then the really good baths we all had before heading to bed. Like stated in my information post the mud festival was started as a way to promote cosmetics made from the mud. So no trip would have been complete without purchasing some mud products. I bought these huge bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body wash and two bars of soap in a set for 20,000 won which is a little less than $20. So for my shower I used my new mud products! I LOVE the shampoo! My hair is super soft today and not frizzy for the first time since we got here!!! My skin and face are nice and smooth too! The good news is they have a web site, www.boryeongmudmall.co.kr just in case anyone thinks they might want to try it!!!