South Korea is promoting its newest World Heritage ‘site’ to tourists: tidal flats, 2,150 species of flora and fauna, Mad Max-style mini-tractors - and plenty of mud
- Several of South Korea’s tidal mudflats - or ‘getbol’ - were inscribed as a combined property on Unesco’s World Heritage list in 2021
- Programmes designed to attract foreign tourists include catching, cooking and chowing down on clams. Elsewhere, pickers zoom across the flats in mini-tractors
At the southwestern tip of the Korean peninsula, South Jeolla province may not have many high-profile tourism attractions, but it does have plenty of mud.
And it’s that mud which the provincial government is hoping will woo the tourists when they are again able to visit the country, reports The Korea Times.
This, of course, is no ordinary mud. It is mud blessed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.
Shinan county’s mudflat is the star of the show. The largest in the country, its environmental significance lies in the fact it consists of a range of mudflat subtypes: estuarine; open embayed; archipelago; and semi-enclosed. Its sedimentary system goes as deep as 40 metres (130 feet), believed to be the deepest in the world, according to those who know such things.
Mudflats are also effective carbon sinks, so they should help in the struggle against climate breakdown.
3 heritage hotels to rival the Raffles in Singapore
All of which might suggest that the mudflats of southern Korea and elsewhere should be left well alone by people.
Not so, says an unnamed provincial government official quoted by The Korea Times: “South Jeolla mudflats are significant in having preserved a rich marine biodiversity but they are also an important tourism resource, to represent Korea’s eco-friendly tourism. We will manoeuvre the [planned tourism] programmes in ways that they won’t harm the natural habitats and our natural beauty can be promoted to a global stage.”
In December, the provincial government said it would invest more than 970 billion won (US$815 million) in the coming five years to maintain the flats’ ecological and economic value as well as develop them as a “global brand”. It has formed partnerships with tourism agencies Hanatour ITC and Trazy, according to the newspaper, and has devised five programmes to appeal to foreign tourists (as well as foreigners already living in the country), one of which involves catching, cooking and chowing down on mud octopuses and blood clams.
There’s no news yet on whether South Jeolla will try to rival western South Chungcheong province’s Boryeong Mud Festival, which was created in 1998 as a marketing tool for Boryeong’s mud cosmetics but soon descended into an annual fortnight of filthy frolics. La Tomatina with mud instead of tomatoes.
Still not convinced mud should feature in your first post-lockdown holiday? Then take a look at the Mad Max-style YouTube video “Feel the Rhythm of Korea – Seosan”.
The clip was produced to highlight the attractions of the Ojiri tidal flats, which are outside Seosan city, in South Chungcheong. In it, a mean-looking local cranks his mini-tractor into life, then races through the countryside, past local tourist attractions – the House of Yu Gi-bang; the Haemieupseong Walled Town and the Ganworam Hermitage – before hitting the mud, joining dozens of other pickers on their mini-tractor-trailers, all racing hell-for-leather to find the best spot to … dig for clams.
It’s a well-made clip, if a little anticlimactic. If it doesn’t convince you that the mud is what you’re looking for, you may at least want to watch the video again.
Turkmenistan leader orders flames put out in ‘Gateway to Hell’
It’s a Herculean-sounding task: Turkmenistan’s strongman leader, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, wants to shut the “Gateway to Hell”.
As well he might; the “gateway” – the result of a 1971 drilling accident in a giant natural gas crater in the Central Asian country – is seeing plenty of natural resources literally go up in smoke.
Citing environmental and economic concerns, President Berdimuhamedov has appeared on state television, telling officials to put out the flames at the 70-metre-wide, 20-metre-deep Darvaza gas crater, in the middle of the vast Karakum desert, reports newswire Agence France-Presse.
There may yet be hope for lovers of the flame, though. Berdimuhamedov ordered experts to find a way to put it out in 2010, and the inferno – which he renamed the “Shining of Karakum” in 2018 – managed to outfox the president and his men, then. It may well do so again.
Guest of Thai hotel threatened with lawsuit over negative online review
A reminder that one would be wise to watch their Ps and Qs and travel reviews in Thailand comes with a recent report published by the Vice website.
On December 19, a guest named Khing expressed dissatisfaction with her deluxe room. Even though she gave the Ozone Hotel, near the Khao Yai National Park, 6/10 in her Agoda review, the management took issue with her comments on the state of her room, its view and the attitude of the staff.
Sport, spectacles and music – 2022’s big global events for your calendar
The review has been removed, but Ms Khing has been told she must also publish a public apology in five Thai-language newspapers for seven days, or pay up: 50,000 Thai baht (US$1,500) per day in compensation and three million baht for the damages. If she does neither, a lawsuit may follow.
It is unclear whether Khing plans to comply with the demand, reports Vice.
