After Burn, Kayaking & Mudfest

Post Korea Burn, my sunburn got incredibly worse. I can officially say that was the worst sunburn I have experienced in my life. Monday morning I awoke to pain and part of my forehead being swollen. I wasn't too concerned and went on with the day. That night the swelling started to drain, leaving part of my eye a bit swollen, only to wake up in the morning with my entire face being swollen and unable to open my eyes. I did not go to work that morning, rather was taken to see a dermatologist who gave me shots in the butt (Korea's specialty), several pills for the next few days and hydrocortisone cream. Thankfully by the afternoon the swelling had gone down quite a bit. I went into work feeling really down but tried to take it as an opportunity to educate my students of the importance of sunscreen, despite the fact that I haven't learned it myself. I can say though since that experience I have lathered it on in every instance, although with much displeasure. I think what made it so bad this time is that I was literally sunburnt everywhere, I'm pretty sure my body was in shock :(

Pre-swollen photo 

I don't think I mentioned it in my last post, but the weekend before Korea Burn, I had the chance to see an old friend! Paul, whom I travelled with in China was in Korea for a week on his way back to China to get married to his other half, Cathy. Congratulations again to the two of them! We spent the day catching up and exploring Seoul together. A good portion of the time was spent at World Cup Park, but we also walked through another park, had lunch at Craftworks and some drinks at Rocky Mountain Tavern. 

Paul and I being lazy taking the trolly up the to the top of the park 

We walked through these painful clay balls barefoot, it's supposed to be good for you? Only made it half way!

World Cup Stadium in Seoul 

The following weekend, Mel and I had signed up to go kayaking through a MeetUp group that I used to do a lot of events with when I first arrived in Korea. We were up nice and early to head to the meeting spot then off we were to the Hongcheon River. Given the ferry incident that happened this year, safety measures have been increased, therefore we were required to wear both lifejackets and helmets while kayaking, despite the fact that the river was rarely more than knee deep due to the lack of rain in July. Some points in the river were so low that we had to get out and carry our kayak for a bit. All in all it was fun though and so nice to be back on the water. We took a brief stop to swim and again later for lunch. It still amazes me that most Koreans do not know how to swim. Some pictures from the day, some from Mel's phone that was in a waterproof case so they are a bit blurry and some from Harry Yoon, the organizer:

A bunch of us from the trip!

Mudfest was also in July! I did not know about this festival until shortly before departing for Korea. Lisa told me about this festival and insisted I had to go since when she was travelling in SE Asia, she met tons of people who talked about it. Last year, I arrived the weekend after my co-workers had gone so I was happy to be able to go this year. Unfortunately, due to the fact that it was a mud festival, there are few pictures to show for, and the few that were taken I have yet to see surface. Mudfest takes place in Boryeong which is know for its mineral mud. Every summer people gather to have mud fights, go down mud slides, get painted by mud, then swim in the ocean to wash off. I would recommend doing a quick Google search to get an idea of what it's like. 

The trip started off a bit rocky which was unfortunate. Mel, Noelia, Tatiana, Maynah, Chris, Scott, Michael and I all arrived at the pick up spot and awaited the bus. It came and we found out that there was not enough spots on the bus for all of us (poor planning and organization on Seoul Hiking Group's part, which isn't uncommon). This meant that some of us had to sit in the aisle on the ground between the seats and/or sit on someone's lap. So I sat on Noelia's lap for a good 2-3 hours down to Boryeong. Not only that, Noelia had booked for her and a few of the other girls months prior yet they did not have a room reserved for them, despite constant emailing from Noelia to try to figure out what was going on, only to not get responses from the organizer. Thankfully while driving down they were able to get a room set up for them. 

Chris and I in the water swimming and getting the mud off

Fireworks later in the night, it was quite foggy? smoggy? The whole sky lit up as one colour.

The rest of Saturday night was spent listening to music off the main stage and then going from different spots along the main strip for drinks and dancing. It was a memorable night, some poured drinks for others, some danced and sometimes fell off of chairs, we all met a ton of cool people and listened to great music. 

Relaxing on the beach Sunday before heading back to Seoul

July was packed with awesome weekends and to finish it off we had our summer vacation which I spent in Malaysia! More to come on that and a school update soon!

<3