Cheongdo Bull Fights

This week marks one of the most interesting cultural festivals in Korea, The Bull Fights. The small city of Cheongdo will be filled with people this weekend to watch the bulls push each other around. If you want to experience a more traditional side of things here in Korea, take a trip out to Cheongdo this weekend.

The English title of this event seems to get a lot of criticism from many a waygook believing that the event is similar to Spanish Bullfighting. This event is quite different and I believe the true translation of the event into English should say “Bull Wrestling”  because that is in fact sort of what is happening.

The bulls square off in the ring and their trainers encourage them to lock horns. They will push each other around for a bit and when one bull backs off, the other wins. Rarely is their any blood shed and the bulls are seemingly taken care of. Fact is, I have even seen a bull/trainer lip-lock. However strange that maybe, these bulls won’t get their heads lopped off after the event.

The Event goes on from March 17th to Sunday, March 21st, 2010. Tickets will run you about 5,000 won at the gate. For more information please check out their website HERE

Cheongdo is about 30 minutes from Daegu and about an hour or so from Ulsan. Check with the tourism people to see if there are shuttle buses set up to go to the event. If not, like most places in Korea, you can get there by bus or train. I would recommend taking your motorcycle out there because once you get into the town, traffic is a nightmare and the stadium sits on the outskirts of the town. There are shuttle buses that take you to the event but are usually packed with old people. Do not take a taxi from the station to the event! it will cost you a ton of money and with the insane traffic, you won’t get there any faster.