Tonnes of mud is dug up from the Boryeong mud flats and trucked in for the festivities, which more than two million people attend each year to take part in competitions, street parades, local exhibitions and enjoy live music.
Why: The festival was launched in 1998 as a way to promote Boryeong’s beauty products, which are renowned because they use the local mineral-rich mud. But it turned out people were more interested in playing in the gloop than its skin-soothing properties and it turned into a mucky free-for-all.
Do it because: Well, because there’s a 100-foot mud slide you can have a go on, you can mud ski and you can take part in mud wrestling or mud sculpture competitions. If you’re really lucky you could even be crowned the Mud King or Queen.
July 19-28
mudfestival.or.kr
Photo: Getty
