Pumba Pumba

Last weekend, I went on another organized trip with some of the same folks I went to Namhae Island with. This time the destination was the Pumba festival in Chungcheon province of Korea. We hopped on the bus early in the morning on Saturday and drove for about 2 hours. When we arrived we were quickly whisked away to the festival where they immidiately made us don our costumes and get our faces painted. You see, Pumba is the Korean equivalent of beggar. In olden days, Korea had many Pumbas who put on street shows and recieved money or food in return. This festival recreated some of those ideas and we were expected to dress just like the olden days Pumbas (of note, the Koreans were not given the same expectations - they were all plain-clothed).

Alexis, myself and Tess with our makeup on!
As it turned out, us waygookin (foreigners) were the star attractions of the festival. We were surrounded by "paparazzi" all day. We did a few fun things like making a giant batch of bibimbap (rice mixed with vegetables) and participating in a concert. It was hot out so Tess, Martha and I went to find some shade to eat our bibimbap. Apparently the Koreans thought this was a good photo op as there were about 10 photographers taking pictures of us the whole time we ate. We kind of felt like monkeys at a zoo.....

Making the bibimbap (random, James and Tim)

It was like this all day...

When we were at the concert, several people were drummers but they also needed other people to carry pails around. A Korean gave me a rusty old metal can and gave me and another girl instructions (through sign language) to go around to the spectators and beg for money during the song. I must have been a real good beggar because at the end of it all I had about $15 in my can, while she had only $3. Next, the 3 of us sat in a circle and put all of the money in the centre. We played rock, paper, scissors, with the winner getting to pick a bill each time. As it turns out, this game must be my calling in life and I won every game except one. I was amazed that I was able to keep all the money ($17) but in true beggar fashion I quickly spent all of it on beer for me and my friends :)

Who could say "no" to a face like this?

After the festival was over, we drove to Worak National Park. We had a BBQ supper and then headed to the noraebang (singing room) to belt out some tunes. The next day, we went climbing up one of the highest mountains in Korea - Mount Woraksan. It was grueling, but we all managed to make it to the top. The views were OK but it was also sort of foggy which was unfortunate. We hiked back down (the round trip was 5 hours), had more bibimbap for lunch, and then headed back to Seoul.

At the bottom of the mountain:

At the top:

VIDEOS:

Pumba Dance

Noraebange singing (warning, we are terrible)