Every year, Nonsan hosts a big strawberry festival to celebrate the little, red fruit.
Nonsan is located in the Chungcheongnam-do (Chungnam) Province. The agricultural city produces the largest amount of strawberries in Korea! Some selling points of the festival include strawberry rice cake, strawberry rice wine, strawberry jam, and other strawberry-themed exhibits, arts / crafts, and activities.
Directions from Mokpo: There are only 2 direct buses to Nonsan from Gwangju throughout the week, so travelers will mostly have to board a train. Joanne, her (visiting) sister, and I took a ~2 hour train from Mokpo Station to Nonsan for almost 20,000W each. From Nonsan Station, we walked approximately 15 minutes to the festival venue. The town is small, so the chances of getting lost are minimal. (Local buses are also an option for the elderly or less able-bodied.)
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| En route to Nonsan via KTX train |
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| Joanne's sister, Ester, is visiting for the week. She also graduated from Oxy! |
At Nonsan Station, we met up with Shirley and walked to the festival. The first thing we noticed was how warm and sunny it was, enough to feel a little sweaty. The second thing we noticed was how we arrived in the middle of no where. All of the homes and gardens looked dusty and rundown. The locals devoted every other inch of land to growing crops.
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| Strawberry balloons |
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| aahhhhh |
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| A strawberry made of strawberries! |
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| Group shot in front of a floral strawberry display |
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SPOTTED: An Apache Indian group performing traditional music.
The Korean spectators were truly amazed & stood/sat in a half-circle around the front of the stage. |
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| Strawberry fro-yo for $1 !!! |
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| It was refreshing & delicious! |
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| Joanne & Ester eating veggie & strawberry burgers |
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| Veggie & strawberry burger |
Here are a few creatures that you wouldn't expect to find in Nonsan. I'm pretty sure they were all illegally smuggled to Korea. It's actually kind of sad :'(
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| Aren't skunks nocturnal? This one kept looking for a way out of his cage. |
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| This male Eclectus Parrot appeared very ill. |
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| Female Eclectus Parrot |
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| This Great Pyrenees was the size of a large pony. No joke. |
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| 4 bear cubs |
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| And a donkey |
There really wasn't heaps to do or see at the Strawberry Festival. There were a million kids and screaming babies, that's for sure. Popular activities included making cakes (aka: putting frosting on a pre-made cake), strawberry jam, candles, and other knick-knacks. We decided to cut our losses and putter around in Gwangju for the rest of the day.
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| Waiting for the train to Gwangju |
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| Chicken & Pizza Dinner |
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| Sticker pictures^^ |
Since Joanne's sister was in town, we did a bunch of "Korean" things such as eating chicken & pizza, taking sticker pictures, and sitting at a dog & cat cafe. There must have been at least 10 dogs & cats wandering freely in this little cafe. A few more were locked up in cribs and behind glass windows similar to in a pet store. Admission was 6,000W and included a selection of fruit juices and teas to drink while petting the animals.
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| All of the small dogs wore clothes. Some were also dyed unnatural colors such as purple. |
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| Even the cats wore clothes ... |
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| Sleeping on a sofa fit for a princess |
The animals were friendly and well-behaved --and maybe a little too calm and subdued. To be honest, the dogs and cats looked absolutely un-cute in their tight little hats, trousers, and t-shirts. Even worse were their caution cone orange paws and neon pink cheeks. Why, Korea, why? I felt sorry for them. Only the big dogs were spared the humiliation.
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| This dog was almost spared. If you look closely, they tied up the fur on her legs. |
