If one searches the internet for information about a place called Muju, here's what they may find. Muju county in Jeollabuk-do is a small county of about 25,000 residents located right in the middle of South Korea. Muju has a winter ski resort that boasts the longest trail and the steepest trails in Korea.
Muju is also the host of the annual Muju Firefly Festival and is the only place in Korea where these creatures live. In order to protect the firefly, it has been designated National Treasure #322. It is said that the firefly can only live in a clean environment, so it is called an environment indicator insect. So this festival is both a celebration of this amazing creature and an avenue for raising environmental awareness.
On Friday, June 19th I took a bus from Seoul to Muju, a trip that took 2.5 hours and cost 13,000 Won. My bus arrived in Muju at about 5pm. The festival activities are right next to the bus terminal so they weren't hard to find. The first thing I noticed was that the festival had a clearly Korean style. What I mean is there were lots of specialty products such as ginseng, black tea, wine, and other regional products being sold from their vendor tents. These vendor tents plus the food tents are what you will find at any Korean festival.
Another first impression was of the beauty of the valley and the stream that cuts through the middle of the town. The town is small, but is actually quite clean and attractive. Even the main bridge across the stream has a really interesting design. The bridge lights up at night with colors that change between red, blue, and green. However, the bridge is only lit up during the festival, so I was told.
The main activity at this time on Friday was a traditional wedding ceremony. The main stage was floating on the stream and there were seats arranged on the banks of the river, however the view of the stage from the seats wasn't really good at all. In addition, there were 5 photographers and cameramen on the stage making it impossible for anyone to take a picture without one of these guys in it. So I wasn't pleased with this event despite wanting to watch it and decided to grab something to eat before continuing with my exploration.
While eating my dinner I spoke with some Koreans. I wanted to know where the jjimjilbang (public sauna/dormitory) was located so I could sleep there. My theory that every town in Korea had a jjimjilbang was proven wrong when I was told there wasn't one in Muju. A jjimjilbang in Korea will cost you about 6,000 - 9,000 Won to stay in for the night and a cheap motel will run you 30,000 - 60,000 Won for one night. So the clear choice for me when I'm traveling alone and wanting to save some money is to stay at a jjimjilbang.
Since there wasn't a jjimjilbang in Muju, a Korean man offered to let me stay at his house. I said yes, but later on wound up meeting some English teachers who live in Muju and eventually crashed at their apartment. Nevertheless, I am still impressed with the kindness of the Koreans I met and spoke to while in Muju. Just to emphasize the kindness I received, I was given free food at the food tent, and another Korean man I met who lives in Busan gave me his phone number and invited me to stay at his place whenever I'm in the area.
After dinner I went to the indoor exhibit of real fireflies. What I found was a dark room with fireflies in a cage along the length of the room so that one could stand and observe them blinking. I only stayed there for 5 minutes because I was more interested in seeing them in the wild. There was a tour guide present who was talking about fireflies, but this service was only available in Korean. I think if this service was in English, I'd be more interested in the exhibit.
It was now almost 8:30pm and time to get on the tour bus that would be taking groups of 100 or so people to see fireflies in their natural habitat. The ticket cost 5,000 Won and the bus ride was maybe 10 minutes long. The destination was a little valley with a dirt road going about 400 meters into the valley. There were enough fireflies flying around and blinking to satisfy most curious people.
I, on the other hand, lived in Virginia for 11 years where there are more fireflies than you can count in your own backyard. So for me, although it was nice to see fireflies for the first time in 6 years, it was hard to be impressed by the comparatively small number I saw. It's possible that on another night there could be more. If you've never seen a firefly, then I think you will be very happy to visit Muju in order to have that experience.
The next day, Saturday, June 20th, it rained the entire day. It rained heavily until about 11pm. The only festival activity my new English teaching friends and I did was sit at a food tent and ate and drank. When the rain finally stopped, we decided to find a place to see fireflies. We paid a taxi driver 20,000 Won to drive us to a good place and wait for us for 30 minutes before driving us back to town. He took us to a small foot bridge called Firefly Bridge only about 10 minutes outside of town.
On one side of the bridge is a small foot path built so one can view fireflies between the forest's edge and the road. We only saw one firefly the whole time we were watching, probably because it had been raining all day, or maybe it was too late for the fireflies to be active. I would go back to Firefly Bridge if I had the chance because I thought it was an interesting place for firefly watching.
On Sunday morning I got on the first bus back to Seoul. Sitting at my desk and looking back, I'm happy I went to the festival because I was able to see a beautiful Korean town, meet some nice Koreans and Westerners, and I was able to see fireflies again, my favorite bug of all time. I can recommend this festival for the same reasons. I was told that the fireflies will be active throughout the summer, so I would even consider visiting Muju for a night when the town isn't hosting a festival. I imagine the town would be incredibly quiet and peaceful.
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