Boryeong Mud Festival Part Deux

Around this time last year I went to the mud festival in Boryeong. I had so much fun I went again this year. I didn't get as muddy as last year but it was still a good time. This year I got to do the colored mud :-D which is pretty awesome. Later at night there were random street parties. DJ booths were set up on top of mini towers and people were just dancing and drinking everywhere. This year it didn't rain, the weather was gorgeous but really hot. It started to rain a bit the next day though. That's it really for my account of the mud festival this year. I have some pictures I took but again not that many since I didn't want to mess up my phone. So enjoy!

 I hope if you're ever in Korea you get the chance to go to the Boryeong Mud Festival; it's a pretty good time.

Thailand Adventure!!

In the time between my contract ending and starting my new job I took a mini Vacay to Phuket, Thailand with my friend Nicole. It was amazing! That country is so beautiful!! It was also extremely hot and humid lol but we still had an amazing time.

We arrived in Phuket at midnight and our hotel was quite a way from the airport. So, when we finally got there we just basically passed out in our room lol after turning on the AC of course. 

The next day we checked out the hotel swimming pool and Kata beach which was a two minute walk from our hotel. It was a pretty lax day, and we grabbed brochures for different types of tours you could do. We decided on three different tours.

First tour

This one included doing a fish spa, seeing an elephant show, riding atvs, visiting a fruit farm, white water rafting, and a hike to a small waterfall. Soooo, yeah, a lot in one day. 

The fish spa was pretty awesome. There are these fish in a tank that eat the dead skin off your feet. It tickled so bad! It was hard for us to keep from laughing the whole time. Afterwards though, my feet felt amazing!

The elephant show was ok. It wasn't all that thrilling and honestly I felt bad for the elephants. They had them play harmonica and dance around. One was shooting balls into a basketball hoop.

Riding the atvs was a lot of fun! That was my first time driving one so I was nervous at first. After awhile I got the hang of out and I had a really good time. I would so do that again!

The fruit farm was pretty cool and they gave us some fruit to eat but we weren't there long. After that we went to the place for rafting. They feed us lunch and then people changed and headed for the boats.

Rafting was amazing! Before we started down the river the men who were paddling the boats kept having splash wars with each other. This if course meant we were apart of it too since we're also in the boats at this point. We went down the river and at some areas they would stop and let you get out and swim.

Once rafting was done we headed a but higher up the mountain to see a waterfall. It wasn't much of a walk to get there and the area was small but it was still a cool thing to see. We were there for a but then we were brought back to our hotels.

Later that night

So after eating dinner and having a bit of a nap we decided to go out. The area with all the bars and people were suggesting to us was called Patang. There were so many bars and foreigners and....prostitues O.o I was a but shocked by that honestly. That aside, it was a good/interesting night. Warning: Do Not See A Ping Pong Show...trust me on this.

Second tour

On this tour we did snorkeling at Kati Islands. There are three of them and they're beautiful! I've never gone snorkeling before so I was a bit nervous. The whole experience was absolutely splendid! It was great being able to see the reef and the creatures that live on, in, near it. 

We snorkeled for about 45mins around the first island. We didn't get on it, but the second island we spent two hours there. We had a delicious lunch there. You had to pay to sit in the beach chairs there though. It wasn't expensive or anything though so it was fine.

After that we went to the third island and did another 45mins of snorkeling. At this point I was becoming really tired. This was a full day if activity so it took a lot of my energy. We docked at the third island but we didn't have anymore cash to rent chairs. The tour guides were nice and let us stay on the boat. Nicole went to do more snorkeling and I decided to stay on the boat. I curled up and knocked out lol it was so relaxing. The warm sun with a slight breeze and the gentle rocking of the boat it's no wonder it didn't take long for me to pass out. 

It was a great tour and definitely my favorite of the three we went on. That's one I would for sure do it again. I also recommend this tour if you do happen to find yourself in Phuket.

Later that night

We went to Patang again and this time we convinced one of the frot desk girls to come out with us lol she was working there for a internship and was from the Philippines. 

It was an interesting night once again lol and I'm just going to leave it at that ;-P

Third and last tour

So on this tour we saw a temple, rode elephants, and went to see the Big Buddha. 

The first thing we did was elephant trekking. They have you meet a baby elephant first. You get a picture with it. It was...an interesting experience. My friend and I actually felt a little bad afterwards. The conditions weren't bad but they weren't ideal either. I felt really bad about how they had their leg chained to a pole. Also, they had these stick things to direct the elephants with but it had a bit of a hook at the end. It was fun but yea I don't think I'd do that again.

The temple was pretty we didn't stay there long though. It wasn't very big so you could see all of it by walking around for like 10mins. 

After that temple we went to see the Big Buddha. They're currently doing some construction on it so there were tarps and stuff in the way. It was amazing still; the view was awesome. I had to wear shawls though since I couldn't walk around in my tank top and shorts. Then we went back to the hotel and relaxed. 

Well there ya have it folks. Those are the highlights from my trip to Phuket, Thailand. There are more adventures to come so stay tuned! Below are some pics from the trip enjoy ^^*

Starting Over

As mentioned I have a new job and live in a new area; same city though. My last job decided that didn't want to resign me due to being an average teacher. Well really they basically said my class management skills needed work and I guess they decided they didn't want to waste time working on it. However! I am not the least bit upset, I actually really like my new job. 

I now work at a smaller hagwon that actually is closed during the holidays! Plus I get 10 vacation days and I can wear jeans to work. On top of that I have smaller classes and each class is only 50mins long. Wait, there's more! On some days I only have 4-5 classes so that means random hour breaks in the day. The material is also a lot easier to prepare and they're not too strict on how to teach it. 

So, the downside is I now live in a much smaller apartment and I'm about 15-20mins away from my old area where all my friends are. Granted, these things aren't all that bad. It's only me and The Choms so that much space isn't really needed. Also, I have met some people out here which hopefully I'll become friends with. If I want to see my other friends I can always just catch a bus out there. So, while these things are a bit inconvenient it's not really that bad. 

In summary, I am pretty happy with the new changes in this aspect of my life so far. ^^*