Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Smee]

According to the stats, 83,000 of the 2.3 million who attended last year were foreigners. That's an overwhelming Korean majority, though you wouldn't think so if you just browsed through the pics in the papers and in promotional materials.

There are other mud festivals in Korea, but they don't carry the same image as a drunken frat party. They also don't attract foreigners. Coincidence?

I get that it can be a fun time, and a chance to get dirty and let loose. But I really wish they wouldn't play it up as a chance to watch foreigners get wacky. The festival predates the massive intake of native speaker English teachers, yet you get the impression that Korea simply just imported the culture of spring break.

[mr_zoot]

I just came back from the first weekend of mudfest 2009 and I got the skin rash. I am white American with somewhat sensitive skin. My friend on the same trip (we did similar things and took the same mud baths) who is also American (Philipino descent) also got the same rash. The rash looks pretty similar to those pics posted earlier, only on my white skin they look more red. My friend and I both got these primarily on the lower legs.

The doctor says it is an allergic reaction to something in either the mud, the water, or maybe even a bug bite. It is not dangerous and should go away within a week.

The first night I had it though, it was seriously the itchiest thing I have ever experienced. It was maddening. I couldn't sleep that night. Now that I have medicine, it does not itch anymore.

In conclusion, the rash is real. Don't quite know exactly what caused it (one of the hundred odd mud baths, the dirty beach water or even bug bites) but you can get it if you go. However, Mudfest was so much fun I probably would have gone anyway, even if I knew it would happen again!

[MMagidson]

[detourne_me]

[Captain Corea]

A few of my buds have been talking about getting a rash this year too.

[Smee]

I've heard from a few people who got a rash as well, but nothing conclusive to show what exactly it is or where exactly it came from.

I wonder if anything like this has happened in years past. I mean, if people going to the festival came back with rashes. Now, after some people heard about this news they chalk it up to skin disease, trying to establish a pattern, but who knows, maybe in other years they just figured it was mosquitos, or sunburn, or just an isolated incident.