Mud Festival

Korea has a festival for everything and this past week we went to the Mud Festival.  Basically, it is every little kids dream, you play in mud all day and get as dirty as you possibly can.  The festival is on the coast about 2 hours southwest from Seoul and one Friday Russ took the day off and we headed out there. 

This area of Korea is known for the therapeutic qualities of their mud and it is said to be good for the skin.  I personally think they have a lot of mud and don't know what to do with it so they have this festival and call it "therapeutic".  Either way, it is really fun to play in the mud for a day.

A man covered in mud that you could take a picture with.

We started out a little bit slow as we tried to figure everything out.

But then the fun started...they had huge slides that were filled with muddy water at the end and big obstacle courses that they were pumping mud and water into.  There were small basins filled with mud all around that you could use the paint brushes and cover yourself in mud, there was even a pool filled with mud that you could lay in.

 

As an added bonus, the festival was right on the beach (we used to live close to the beach in NC and we all miss it).  They took a lunch break at noon and closed everything down and so we headed down to the beach to wash off and play in the waves.

Then right back into the mud for more fun.  At first, Russ and I just let the girls go on the slides and obstacle courses because that is the Korean way.  Kids play and have fun and adults stand around and watch, but that is not the Pound family way.  We play and have fun along with the kids.

There was an area where they would paint you with colored mud.

 

This guy was very creative in his design.

We saw him later in the day and I asked to get my picture taken with him.  As Russ was snapping this picture an official festival photographer ran up and took a picture as well.  This will probably be the cover shot for next year's brochure.

There was huge stage set up on the beach where they sprayed the crowd with water and played live music, and they had an industrial-size mist machine that the girls thought was awesome.

Finally, a little bit more muddy fun before we had to clean off and head home.

They played organized games in the mud pool.  In this game it was basically mud wrestling and they chose Taylor to challenge this little boy.  The Koreans play for fun, but the Pound family plays to win and so in less then 10 seconds this was the scene...

little boy down and Taylor still standing.

The winners got to splash the losers with mud. 

This was "mud jail" you would stand in here and they would throw mud and water on you. 

I'd say this counts as a successful day at the mud festival.

 All cleaned up and showing off their Oreo creations on the way home.

 The end of a fun day playing in the mud...