Smaller mud festivals in Yeonggwang, Gochang counties this July and August.

If you'd like to try out a mud festival in Korea but don't want to deal with the overcrowding, the drunks, and the pervy photographers that are associated the famous one in Boryeong, there are a couple other options in the Jeolla provinces.



Yeonggwang county will be holding its 3rd annual Mud Marathon Festival (머드마라톤대회축제) on July 30th and 31st. The actual "mud runs" will take place the morning of Sunday the 31st (registration closed July 15th, but hey I gave you plenty of advance notice), though other performances and activities are scheduled, including a mud slide, mud sleds, and tug-of-war. A Korean-language program is available on the website. County buses run from the bus terminal in Yeonggwang-eup to Yeomsan-myeon and Baekbaui Beach (백바위해수욕장).

And check out Jeollabuk-do's Gochang county the next weekend for a similar set of events (전국갯벌스포츠축제). Hat tip to the Gwangju News editor for that one.

Ferry to run between Fukuoka, Yeosu during 2012 Expo.

Test run from Fukuoka to Yeosu. (Yachtpia)

The Beetle Ferry, which currently operates between Busan and the Japanese city of Fukuoka, will make daily trips from Japan to Yeosu next year while the Jeollanam-do city hosts the 2012 World Expo. From the Korea Herald last week:

The state-run Korea Tourism Organization said Wednesday that it has secured a sea route linking the southern port city of Yeosu to Fukuoka, southwestern Japan, in preparation of next year’s Yeosu World Expo.

The organization, together with the South Jeolla provincial government and the Yeosu city government, has arranged for a chartered ferry service by Japan’s Kyushu Railway Co. (JR Kyushu) over the route.

The high-speed ferry “Beatle” [sic] will travel once a day between Yeosu port and Fukuoka’s Hakata port during the 2012 Yeosu Expo, scheduled to run May through August next year.

Beatle is capable of accommodating 200 people and takes three hours and 45 minutes for a one-way trip, with the ferry service estimated to cost about 200,000 won ($185.36) per passenger.

Fukuoka is probably best known to foreign teachers in Korea as a nearby visa-run destination, but as I learned in late-2009 it's fine for a short vacation, too.