Loco Mocos: Strawberry Festival in Nonsan

Yesterday we got up at 4 am to take the subway into Seoul, in order to catch a train to Nonsan for the Strawberry Festival! It's the first time we have been out of the city.

The train took about 3 hours, but we had purchased a ticket - which came with....a seat! I was super happy I didn't have to stand for 3 hours (like in some countries that have the letters PY in them). It was really neat to see the countryside. Unlike S.A. and USA, the countryside here is packed full of farming. There isn't any random space that isn't cultivated, except for the hills and mountains, which have made it impossible. Plus they reserve these areas for hiking and burial grounds. Koreans love to hike and garden, which is cool, cause I like to do those things, too.

We got to Nonsan and were able to follow the multitude of people off to see the fair. When we got there, many people were still setting up, and a couple hours later, after we left, we could barely walk through the crowd!

They were trying to level the muddy ground before lunch time.... they almost hit a mad granny trying to sell soup!

These ladies were wearing traditional korean dresses selling sweet strawberry chewy rice desserts

These ladies were making delicious strawberry jam

Here's the angry soup lady. I would be too, if that crane was blocking my business, and I had made this much soup.

The chinese noodle guy

Strawberries, strawberries, strawberries!!!!

They had a pastry competition. The chewy rice cakes were pliable, like the marzipan characters you see in the fancy shops. Lots of people made cakes, tarts, and little candies.

Some of the oddities of the festival were this seven piece saxophone jam band. Don't worry, their eighth member joined them before the festival was over.

The pan flutes guys came, and later played to a giant crowd. They sold all their pan flutes.

They had a petting zoo with a skunk, a turtle, and a monkey. What more could you ask for?

The Ginsu knife guy was there....

And so was the Slap Chop guy

We were able to catch a small city market on the way out of town, which made me really happy. Not everyone shops at the supermarket! The smells were awesome!!!!