Korean Job Discussion Forums

Clockout · Joined: 23 Feb 2009

I was part of a huge chartered group from Seoul (a dozen or more bus loads where each person paid about W95k for the ride and hotel)

Bad information and communication from the trip coordinators was the theme of the weekend.

There were not enough hotel rooms for the group because the hotel owners had sold them despite being paid up front months ago.

I eventually found a bed at 6 am Saturday in a rathole yeogwan near the main festival area.

The festival itself was pretty boring. A bunch of foreigners and a handful of Koreans following them with cameras. Even in the best of weather the festival wasn't much. And when the rain started it just went downhill and degraded into a drunken mess.

Boryeong is not equipped to accomodate so many people. Not enough restuaurants or bars. Just masses of people cramming into places, standing doorways etc. Anything to avoid their hotel. Saw the worst behavior by foreigners that I have seen yet. Really embarrassing for all foreigners in Korea.

The only upside to the weekend was catching an early bus back to Seoul.

kabrams · Joined: 15 Mar 2008 Location: your Dad's house

Someone told me not to go to mud fest, simply because it would be a bunch of drunk people gone wild who think that mud + alcohol = do whatever you want.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but I had a friend who went and said he had a great time.

ETA: I don't think foreigners have the responsibility to make other foreigners look better/good, and each person is responsible for him/herself...but it would be nice if we all acted like we had some common sense, especially when we're in a country that might not necessarily be our own.

Smile

fortysixyou · Joined: 08 Jun 2006

fermentation · Joined: 22 Jun 2009

shifter2009 · Joined: 03 Sep 2006 Location: wisconsin

I had a similar experience to the OP but I still had a pretty good time. Managed to cram 7 people in a room meant for 4. I think peoples criticisms of the event are all pretty fair but mud and booze are both pretty fun. If I ever go again I think I am going to book a room in the next town over and cab it in and out however. The hotel situation is pretty shady with small groups getting huge rooms and large groups getting the shaft. Hard to tell what your going to get. If I was the organizers I would defiantly try to expand the facilities. Lots of money to be made if they want to be enterprising

eamo · Joined: 08 Mar 2003 Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.

Can't you camp there? Seems like the kind of thing that would need a festival-style tent village.....how could any small town have enough accommodation for such big crowds?

Captain Corea · Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: Seoul

What was some of the worst that people were doing there?

shifter2009 · Joined: 03 Sep 2006 Location: wisconsin

shifter2009 · Joined: 03 Sep 2006 Location: wisconsin

DaeguKid · Joined: 09 Dec 2006 Location: Daegu

endo · Joined: 14 Mar 2004 Location: Seoul...my home

I went last year and had a great time.

I'm not sure where all these talk about foreigners behhaving badly comes from. Sure there were a few smucks, but nothing outrageous.

Plus there were plenty of drunk Koreans or gyopos acting in a similar manner.

Some of the doom and gloom people on this thread perhaps have their reasons for feeling the way they did. But I have the feeling that they are a half empty type of folk anywhere they go.

ekul · Joined: 04 Mar 2009 Location: [Mod Edit]

Personally I made the mistake of going out Friday night, getting up at 5am on Saturday to get to the mud fest, drinking at 9am and then falling asleep in my motel with the window open and getting eaten by mosquitos all before 11pm! It was a shame the weather wasn't better and I can't say I enjoyed the train journey with the huge amount of boisterous foreigners but the actual behaviour during the festival was pretty low key. The clams were good and so were the fireworks. The mud and the sea were fun for the few hours the weather held. As mentioned before, been there got the t-shirt, prolly won't do it again though.

shifter2009 · Joined: 03 Sep 2006 Location: wisconsin

Clockout · Joined: 23 Feb 2009

re: foreigners behaving badly

I saw two instances of harassment (borderline sexual) by foreigners toward Korean girls that left a pretty bad taste in my mouth. It wasn't physical but just saying some pretty lewd things because they knew the K girls were oblivious them speaking English.

I generally have no problem with drunken, boisterous behavior (especially when I choose to go to an event like Mud Fest) but these two cases were out of line.

oldtactics · Joined: 18 Oct 2008

I had a mostly terrible time, and I'm the kind of person who usually makes the best out of any situation. The actual mud events were disorganized and they actually ran out of mud, somehow, at around 5pm on Saturday, well before the sun went down. General theme of Saturday evening was pissing rain combined with drunk foreigners screaming and yelling for no reason. All the restaurants were under staffed and all the bars were locking their doors even if they weren't full, so the night ended up being a lot of roaming around in the rain and then going back to our minbak.

Very MTV Spring-Break type atmosphere so I'm sure someone, somewhere had a good time.

Meh.