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 versione italiana
July 2003 - Boryeong Mud Festival in Seoul, Korea
(Mud
Festival) - July started off with a trip to the coast for
the annual 'Boryeong Mud Festival; on the West coast of Korea.
It lasts for about a week, during which people can roll in mud pools
(not natural ones though, but plastic pools with mud in it) and play
organised games. It is also possible to be “painted in mud”.
This mud is not ordinary mud, but it’s a thermal mud, which
is said to be extremely good for one’s skin. They also sell
beauty products containing this special mud.
The strange thing was that, as you can see from the photo below, there
were probably as many photographers as there were people participating.
The Koreans are often either far too organised or completely disorganised.
In this case it seemed like it was staged just for the papers.
All
photos by Valeria Lo Iacono & Paul Symonds - 2003
It's hot and humid in Seoul at this time of year and the
weather stayed good on that day. The really strange thing
though was that Koreans don't wear swimming costumes on
the beach. In the photo on the left, just below, you can
see the people on the beach all in their t-shirts and
shorts despite the fact that it was a very warm and nice
day, despite being overcast. Girls were even walking into
the sea with their handbags.
In
the photo above on the right, some of you may recognise
Valeria. Yes, that is her! Below is another photo of the
main mud pit which people were using. The festival was
actually very very small and we saw dozens of Westerners
which is unusual anywhere in Korea (except for an area
called Itaewon in Seoul, which is where the Westerners
bars are, near the American base).
Two
weeks after the mud festival, we held a dinner party in
our new apartment. Italian food and plenty of wine. Nothing
special - just a chance to get friends together. Below,
myself and Duncan shown - he works for the British Council,
teaching English.On the right are friends Dong-Mi and
Misun.
I hope you like the new format of the weekly/monthly updates.
Due to numerous requests, (1 request from Mr Rich Doleman,
Dublin), I have changed the style to show images with the
usual text. Other news is that we have got tickets for Euro
2004 in Portugal. Expect
pictures of Portugal next year. In the next month the previous
months will also be getting documented in this same style.
Any suggestions please email me.
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