August 8, 2005

Looks like a fun time!

There are various "celebrations" that are known worldwide. Mardi Gras in New Orleans Carnival in Bahia, Brazil Now, let's travel to Korea for the Boryeong Mud Festival
Korean mud festival sees anarchy reign
The girls wrestling in bikinis, crumpled beer cans and a mud-splattered Miss Universe looked shocking in a country renowned for its cosmetic excesses and sharp conservative edge.

But they were signature motifs at the eighth Boryeong Mud Festival, a seven-day event that kicked off Saturday. It has since spawned a 2 billion won (US$1.9 million) a year cottage industry and mushroomed from a promotional campaign for local cosmetics into a quasi rock festival.

Whereas the Spanish throw tomatoes and chase bulls, Korea this week demonstrated the biggest case of mud worship outside of Israel, where the Dead Sea's black banks are heated to soothe arthritis and psoriasis clinics ring its tranquilizing, bromide-laden waters.

"We learned that Boryeong mud is more mineral-rich than Israeli mud and better protects our skin due to its strong moisturizing properties and high germanium content," festival director Kim Dong-il said.

As this sleepy West Coast town, some 200 kilometers south of Seoul, surrendered to "mud cage" raves, blood-red sunsets and tropical downpours, however, not everyone was convinced of the mud's cosmetic properties.

"It's not really about beauty, just about fun," said Miss Universe 2004 Jennifer Hawkins, a beach baby from Down Under who came as host of the prime-time travelogue "The Great Outdoors" for Australia's Channel 7.
Sounds like quite the party... Posted by DaveH at August 8, 2005 9:34 PM
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