If you are young and have a sense of adventure, then look no further than the Student Flights guide to funky festivals and happenings around the world.

• -Burning Man – Black Rock, Nevada: Starting on August 31 2009, this annual festival takes place on an ancient lakebed, known as the Playa. There are no rules regarding behaviour, save one of the most important aspects of Burning Man, which is to leave no trace behind.
• -Liars Festival – Moncrabeau, France: Set to play out over August 2009. The rules are simple – tell a good (but untrue) story while avoiding the subjects of sex, politics and religion and if you’re the best fibber you could be crowned king of the liars!
• -Mud Festival – Poryong, South Korea: Poryong is world-renowned for high quality mud that is known to be an excellent treatment for the skin. Indulge in mud body painting, the mud beauty contest mud sculpting, mud slides and, of course, mud wrestling.
• -Akankanto Festival – Sonkajärvi, Finland: Enter the annual Wife-Carrying Championship. If you manage to carry your ‘woman’ through the obstacle course and finish, the lady’s weight in beer awaits you. It costs 50 Euros to participate.
• -La Tomatina – Bunol, Spain: Line up for the world’s biggest and craziest food fight in Spain. The tomato battle or “La Tomatina” is one of Spain’s most recognised festivals where participation by everyone is not only allowed – it’s expected! The fight (with truck loads of ripe tomatoes) takes place on the last Wednesday of August between 11am and 1pm.
• -Air Guitar Championship – Oulu, Finland: In the first round, each contestant must play a one-minute version of a “hard riffin’ guitar classic” chosen by the jury. In the second, contestants get to choose their own song. The jury looks for originality, charisma, and, above all, technical aplomb.
• -Cockroach Racing – Brisbane, Australia: Join in the fun every January at the Storey Bridge Hotel – you can bring your own favourite hairy-legged crawler, or you can buy one on the day. Entry fees and cockroaches start from $5 each, with all proceeds going to charity.
• -Who moved my cheese? Cheese Rolling – Gloucester, England: May sees the annual cheese rolling down Coopers Hill in Gloucester. The first person over the finish line at the bottom of the hill wins the cheese.
• -Nude Night Surfing – Sydney, Australia: This self-explanatory sporting attraction takes place in the height of the Australian summer over the Sydney Fringe Festival at Bondi Beach.
• -Water Festival – Songkran, Thailand: The annual water festival that celebrates the end of the dry season and lasts up to seven days during April. Water pistols, ice-buckets, and hose pipes are the order of the day.

Did you attend one of these festivals? Please leave comments and tell  us more.

The funkiest South African festival is probably Splashy Fen Music Festival.

To view Splashy photos visit Versus – Flickr ;

Source: ioltravel.co.za