A Weekend with Adventure Korea

Last weekend Brenton, Amy, Rachel and I went on a trip with Adventure Korea. A few months ago Amy, Brenton and I went with Adventure Korea to the DMZ and had a lot of fun, so we wanted to give a different trip a go. First up we went to the Pumba Festival in Eumsong. Here is a little blurb about the festival that I copied from Rachel's blog:

Pumba was the word repeated in the songs of street singers, especially when Korea was once impoverished. They strolled around marketplaces or villages seeking food, money, or anything they could get. Pumba doesn’t have a specific meaning but is a language mechanism for keeping a rhythm. These days, the word pumba generally refers to gakseori. These performers do not beg for food or money, but do sing at events or festivals.  The festival has multiple gakseori (performers) who were on stage all day as well as a plethora of booths where you can learn about cutting yeot (Korean malt candy), pound rice for rice cakes (tteok), or buy some delicious festival food.

The festival itself was pretty good, but nothing too exciting. We had been told that we could dress up in traditional Pumba costumes and make-up and join in the festival. What we didn't realise was that we were actually the main attraction of the festival! I now know what it is like to be famous and I did not enjoy it. There were camera's in our faces non stop, Brenton's especially because he opted to go for the full Pumba make-up. Some of the other wagook-ins loved the attention but we promptly ditched the costumes and make-up (Although, there were remains of Brenton's make-up for a few days).

Tradition Pumba costumes

Brenton in the make-up seat

Brenton post make-up but pre paparazzi, so he is still smiling

Paparazzi

Paparazzi

and more Paparazzi, ok this is starting to get old!

They especially loved Brenton because of his crazy make-up.
They were even telling him where to stand and how to pose!

After the interesting Pumba Festival we jumped on the bus and headed to Daecheon Beach (which is home to the  Boryeong Mud Festival in July, watch out for a blog on that later). This part of the trip was much more relaxing. We spent Saturday night drinking on the beach, making new friends. Sunday we went ocean rafting and then in the afternoon Amy and Brenton went paint balling while Rachel and I relaxed on the beach. All in all a good, but interesting, weekend.

Daecheon Beach