Vacation in Vietnam

Better late than never! Here's a few highlights from my vacation to Vietnam this summer. I hope you enjoy a brief rundown of Ho Chi Minh City, Da Lat, and Nha Trang! Stay tuned...

Peace & Love,
Elissa Rae

Down and Dirty in Boryeong

Back in July I finally went to Boryeong. Why did I want to go there? Simple. The annual mud festival! I've heard about this "mud festival" that so many foreigners had gone to and had such a great time. I mean, who wouldn't have fun. You have a beach, mud, and slides... Unfortunately for me, my first time around I wasn't in the country to go. I was on my vacation in Thailand and Cambodia. And at that point in time, I thought Korea was only a one year thing for me. So naturally I was disappointed. Luckily, I made the wise decision to stay a second year and another try for the festival.

This time around, I was so excited to go. We had a group set up. Plans were made. Then last minute work announced we had meetings that same weekend! Nooo! I thought, "this cannot be happening. I've waited an entire year to go." So the week before we had to cancel all plans. But wait! We were unaware that there was a second weekend! This festival is so popular that they hold it two weekends back to back. Sadly, most people I knew were going the first week, but I could finally go. 

Ready to go. Two of us started to head out earlier than others. (Even though we woke up late!) We headed to the Anyang bus terminal and waited for the the bus. So excited we hopped on only to find no empty seats. The driver handed us some styrofoam squares with an awkward circle drawn on it. We weren't sure what to do with the styrofoam. People began pointing and it clicked. It was a seat for the floor... Two and a half hours later, I was happy to get to Boryeong. We met some nice people that helped us out because where the bus let us off and where the festival was at were not the same place. We bought tickets to another, shorter, bus and in about 15 minutes we made it. Finally! It wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be, but I believe the first weekend is much more popular and busy. I was ok with that. 

First things first, we had to find a room (if there were any). We only had to search for about 30 minutes and were able to stay right next to the beach and not far from the attractions. We dropped off our stuff, changed into swimsuits and browsed around the beaches. We were still waiting for two other that had to work that day. We held off doing any of the mud activities and figured we'd wait for the others. The beach wasn't the nicest of beaches, but we had great weather, a band, and warm water. We spent the first day mostly like this. When the others arrived we just relaxed, and drank a beer outside of a convenient store, Korean style. 

At night, there was plenty to do. There was a concert, none of us knew about, that couldn't be more random. It featured the k-pop group, Wonder Girls, and the American (singer/maybe rapper?), Akon. Ok? Oh and fireworks while they were singing. There were shops and food stands all over the streets. I even salsa danced with a man selling jewelry. He was quite the dancer! There were also these mini motorcycles people were driving around. I couldn't find out where people were getting them from. I finally got fed up looking and asked someone driving one if I could drive it. I promised to bring it back in 5 minutes. And guess what, they actually gave it to me! Go figure that would actually work. The rest of the night, a lot of people drink on the beach and make their own party. Although, you're not allowed in the water, probably for good reasons. 

With basically no sleep, we headed out early to the festival. There were two times available to go into the mud. So we went to the beached and got food while waiting for the second time. The food there was limited. You better like seafood or your options are 7/11 and GS25. 

When the time came, I couldn't wait. We covered ourselves in the mud reserved at the stations before the gate. People take their time painting on the mud. There were even  a variety of colors if you wanted to make a cool design. Strange, yes, but why not. Then we lined up for the rides. It was filled with slides, wrestling rings, and inflated obstacle courses. This all seemed like a good idea, but realistically it was painful. 

After a few hours playing in the mud, we headed back to Seoul. The lines for the showers were insanely long, so we took a dip in the ocean grabbed out bags and went to the bus terminal. Not thinking this out. We didn't buy our tickets beforehand and turns out we missed all the busses back. So in a last minute resort we found a train station not too far away. Luckily there was a train in 2 hours. Downside, there were no seats left. So again, we sat on the floor covered in mud for a total of 3 hours. But at least we made it back. 

Overall, I'm glad I finally got to go to this legendary festival I'd heard so much about. But in the end, I ended up with more bruises than I could count from falling so much. So if you go to the Boryeong Mud Festival, be prepared for some bruisies! Come back soon to see about how my trip to Iceland goes! Stay tuned...

Peace & Love,
Elissa Rae