A few weekends ago I finally checked off one of the first things that I had put on my "Korea Bucket List".... the Boryeong Mud Festival!
I had been going back and forth between wanting to go and not wanting to go for 2 years. I'd heard great things and not so great things about it. Finally Adrienne decided to drag me along by force. I have to say, I'm extremely happy she did. Some of my friends had said it wasn't that fun. "There's a little mud puddle with a long line to roll in, and that's it," they said. "It's a big, drunken mess," they said. "It's all foreigners," they said.
Yes, there were lines. Yes, there was a mud "pool" place to get muddy. And "yes" it was full of drunk foreigners. But it was still a ton of fun. Luckily, the weekend we went was the last weekend and most of the groups had attended the weekend before, so that really helped with the lines and crowds.
But the festival was more than just a mud pool. They had slides, games, staff throwing mud at you and hosing you down with cool water. But there were other festivities as well like live music and mud painting. I knew as soon as I walked up, it was definitely not the "tiny little mud puddle on the beach" I had painted it in my head to be. No, this was going to be fun.
We ran in blow up obstacle courses. We climbed slides and enjoyed a mud "hot tub". We wrestled. We played mud soccer (well, it might have been more like we fell on our butts on the soccer field as the ball when wizzing by). We had a wonderful time.
My first international trip since I've been to Korea (other than going back home for Jen's wedding)... Malaysia! At first, I didn't know where to go or what to do, I'd be traveling for 12 days by myself, but wanted to see something new! A new country, a new culture. So I decided to go to Malaysia.
I arrived extremely late to my hostel, the Reggae Mansion which was highly recommended by many of my friends, but luckily I was able to sign up for the 7 Wonders Tour that they offer through the hostel for the next day. So I work up early, ate a nice, filling breakfast, and met up with the group of about 14 other people for the tour. We visited the KL City Gallery, which was actually a nice start to the day. Our tour guide quickly pointed out the interesting architecture, blending modern, colonial, Islamic and Asian styles. It was really interesting to see spread across the entire city. We then headed to the National Memorial Site and National Palace, where we could take pictures with the guards and horses. Some of the people I was touring with were from Canada and they were in awe of the horses. Apparently they aren't that common in Canada? Something I had never really thought about and I guess took advantage of being from Kentucky. We then headed to the Thean Hou Temple, which was preparing for the Lunar New Year (aka Chinese New Year). It was beautifully decorated with lanterns and smelled of incense. And it was nearly empty, which was great. As we walked down the back of the temple on our way to lunch and ran across a TON of turtles in a little pond. It was crazy!
Lunch was spent at a really good and authentic curry restaurant in Little India. It wasn't fancy, but it was pretty full, lots to choose from, and out doors. Of course, I would spill chicken curry all over my Khaki shorts on the first day of vacation. Go figure. We then had a little time to explore Little India, then were off to our next destination, the National Mosque where we were required to dress in provided robes and head scarves. The next stop was the Pewter Factory, something that doesn't sound so great, but was pretty fun and interesting to see. We were able to watch the workers hand carve and polish individual pieces, getting to see the whole process from start to finish.
But they definitely saved the best for last. The Batu Caves. This Hindu temple/shrine was definitely the highlight of the day. The statue outside was enormous and the climb to the cave was pretty difficult, but once inside the cave it was great. The main cavern opens to the sky, a wall of greenery covering one wall. But my favorite part, the monkeys! There were monkeys EVERYWHERE. They were so cute. Sometimes someone would put food on the ground in the cave, and it was like wolves descending. The entire wall was crawling with monkeys coming down to eat. Then, when they were finished, they all went back up, the entire wall seemingly fluid. Watching the monkeys was quite entertaining. They would steal a plastic soda bottle from someone and work for a while to get a few drops out, all the while having to fight off other monkeys. The cutest part was seeing the baby monkeys cling on to their mother's tummies as they ran around and played. That night, I grabbed a quick bite to eat on the rooftop bar at the hostel and went to sleep quite early, completely exhausted.
The next day was spent exploring by myself. I went to China Town, which was interesting to see in the morning when many of the stalls had yet to be opened and you could actually see down the road, then headed to see the twin Petronas Towers before going to explore the Central Market and then grabbing dinner back at China Town (where I got to see a fun performance with instruments and dancing dragons for Lunar New Year).
The next morning it was back to the airport to grab a quick flight to Langkawi Island. This island was pretty... rural? But beautiful. The beach and sunsets were amazing, and the food wasn't too bad either. However I have to admit that I didn't quite enjoy my stay on the island, due to the fact that I got sunburned the first day and had to spend the rest of my time hiding from the sun (which was difficult to do). So the next day I rented a scooter from our hostel and explored the island, loving the ability to stop whenever I wanted and explore beaches and coves all by myself. But Langkawi wasn't the place for me, so I decided to end my stay early and head to my next destination early, Penang Island, via ferry. The ferry ride was interesting, we couldn't walk around the boat and if something had happened, the door was blocked by luggage. But the most interesting part of the journey was their choice of entertainment. They decided to play two very graphic movies, one about military and one about pirates, both including a lot of blood and swear words. I thought those were quite inappropriate for public transportation.
Once in Penang, I had to find my hostel, then decided to walk around for a bit and explore the city of Georgetown. I have a student that lived in Georgetown for 3 years and he said that I would love it. Unfortunately many things were shut down because of the holiday week. But it was still a beautiful town. Once hungry, I stumbled upon this open air hawker stall food court that ended up being really famous. Thankfully I stumbled upon it my first night, because it closed the next day for the holiday, otherwise I'd have gone there every day. The next few days I spent going to different temples and shrines, I went to the National Park and saw a bunch of cute little monkeys, and enjoyed hunting down non-existent fireworks. But the highlight of Penang (other than the great Indian food) was Lunar New Year's Eve, when we went to the Kek Loksi Temple and were able to see all of the lights, that are only lit during this time of the year. It was beautiful, something that I'll always remember. I loved the zen feeling that the temple grounds gave, light music playing among the many lanterns and flowers. It was something that not many people in the world can say they have experienced.
My last full day in Malaysia I packed my bags once again, headed back to KL and spent the day shopping and hunting for street food (which I never found). So instead I grabbed a crepe then headed to the Petronas Towers too see the light show. Being my last night in Malaysia, it was a wonderful way to spend it. The weather was great and the light and water show was amazing, and the towers were beautiful, lit against the black night sky.
My trip to Malaysia was amazing. I didn't get to do quite as much as I'd wanted, but I met some great people along the way and was able to see the wonderful mix between Islamic, Malay and Chinese culture, and eat some wonderful food.
Well, not really, it was a School Festival. But it was still fun, and a great way to spend my birthday!
Every year the school has a 2 day long festival. The school clubs perform, there is a talent show, they set up things for sale and artwork done by students in art class throughout the year. Students began preparing weeks in advance, dancing in the halls, singing in huddles before class. It was fun to see everyone so excited (especially since, generally speaking, I only get to see my students study). They canceled classes and pulled students out of others for rehearsals and preparations, they even hired a professional MC! So when the big day was upon us, I was really excited. Yes, it was after school, and yes it was on my birthday, but I didn't care. This was a perfect way to celebrate my birthday, with my amazing students (and friends that came along for the ride).
The first day of the festival, there were several classrooms that were set up selling food, taking pictures and doing other various things, all for a small price. But the main event was the talent show. Students could put together their own groups and work together for the auditions, singing, dancing, some playing instruments, but not really anything other than that (not like back home where someone might twirl a baton or do a poetry reading). Adrienne joined me after school was finished to walk around and enjoy the different attractions. We took the traditional Korean Polaroid photos (and I got a few done with co-teachers) and took a look at the different food items for sale. Fortunately, or possibly unfortunately, a group of girls had run up to me almost immediately after school, shoved a cup full of smiley-face french fries into my hands before screaming "Happy Birthday Teacha!", so I was pretty full for the rest of the night and therefore didn't buy any of the other goodies. We were stopped by a few students to practice their magic tricks on us (Adrienne and I have great theatrical skills, 'OMG so amazing! How did you do that?!'), then we headed to the main event, the talent show.
These people weren't joking around with this talent show either. There was fog, there were lights, they had outfit changes, there was even a professional announcer. And these students were good! They sang and danced so well. I was so surprised and really enjoyed seeing my students have fun. Half way through, Kaleena joined us and Adrienne had to leave and a little later, a student of mine joined us and stood with us for a while. It was so cute. A few times I noticed the principal looking my way, even pointing once, later I was told that he was really surprised that I was there, and even happier that I had brought friends. Brownie points for Allie Teacha.
The next day Adrienne came back to my school to enjoy yet another round of performances, this time done by the students that were in dancing and singing clubs (they weren't eligible to enter the talent contest). It was so cute, multiple students had told me they were performing and that I just HAD to watch them. So every time another group came onto the stage, I was like 'oh, I have to watch this one too'. Some of my favorite boys performed a mash-up of some of my favorite KPOP group dances that they had been going on an on about, and it ended up pretty awesome!
After watching many of the performances, Adrienne and I headed to the "Scare House". They had transformed the 4th floor (including the area right outside of my classroom) into a haunted house walk through. Fortunately for us, we got teacher treatment and were taken straight to the front of the line (otherwise we would've been waiting for an hour or so, and at that point we would've just left) then got grouped in with some other teachers from my school. So we were walked around the 4th floor, students jumping out of lockers, hiding on top of them, and standing creepily in the corner. Then the first room came and Adrienne and I were shoved in by ourselves. Problem was, we had to complete a task, and the task directions were written in Korean. So we stood in the middle of the room, not having a clue what to do, finally realized that we had to walk to the back in order to be scared out of our whits, then were allowed to leave the room. The rest of the haunted rooms we walked in with other teachers, explaining that we needed people with us because there were Korean instructions. I have to admit, some of these rooms were actually scary. My favorite was when we were outside waiting to go into the next room and the female gym teacher decided to grab my ankle and scare me to death. And one room, while we were walking around in the dark, someone scared us and I went tumbling backwards, flinging my shoe across the room. All in all, it was actually pretty entertaining.
A popular girl group dance
The winners of the contest
The entire festival was incredibly fun. I will know for next time that I need to ask a few more questions, go to a few more rooms, and save room for the goodies.
PS Here are some videos I found on YouTube of my students' performances...
Some of these boys totally surprised me
The 3rd grade girls that apparently are going to go into dancing
At the 2:00 mark they start dancing to the most popular song/group in Korea right now... well done
The KPOP compilation from some of the boys (the ones that kept telling me I HAD to see their dance, they know I like these groups)
