Strawberry Festival

So, back in Alabama, there is the National Peanut Festival. It's a pretty big deal. There are rides and people selling things, music, and all sorts of food. Well, Hunny and I got to go to something very similar here. It was their Strawberry Festival. It was pretty much the same, save the rides and they were more proud of their strawberries then we are of our peanuts. Everything was strawberry. Granted, you can do a bit more with strawberries then with peanuts, I mean who would want peanut soap or jam? Yuck! Hunny and I didn't know if we were even going to get to go. The bus list was full, but luckily, a few people didn't show and we were able to take their place. The trip was pretty long. Almost three hours. Being so long, we ended up stopping at a rest stop. This is no ordinary rest stop like in the states. This place was huge and packed with people selling and buying. We stopped by a place that was selling something like a walnut puff. You could watch a tiny factory make them in front of you. We watched and decided to try some since it looked tasty and harmless enough. And they were pretty cheap. 2,ooo Won (just under 2 dollars) and we got quite a lot more then what I was expecting. I quickly blow off the steam so that I might taste the chocolaty center only to find out it was bean paste. WHAT?! I know, right. They put bean paste in everything. Someone was telling us that he had an ice cream Popsicle thing with bean paste in it. I think it's because they try to make everything healthy. But then can you explain the frying everything?? Finally made it to the festival. It was pretty huge and packed. At first we were a bit over whelmed by all of it that we just looked around at what all they had and what we wanted to do. There was an activities area where you could make rice cake, jam, soap, and even a neat, fancy little white pound cake and decorate it with strawberries. I wanted to get my face painted but everywhere was so crowded that we just watched till we got pushed out of the way. I don't think people understand how populated Korea is. Hunny and I found out that it is the 9th most populated city in the world. That is more populated then New York City... We did make some soap.
Lemon scented with stawberry puree mixed in the wax, you can see the seeds in the soap. At another stand there were huge, ugly bugs. Mostly beetles. And there was even a spot where you could pick them up. You should've seen all the kids surrounding the area.

You'd think they were giving out free candy. There was another spot that had the grub looking larva.
It was all gross to me. Hunny picked up a beetle; this thing was huge!! Like a silly silly man, he tried to get me to not only touch it but to hold it. He must have forgotten who he was talking to. No way, Jose!! Then we spotted a small zoo thing. It was pretty cool. The first thing we spot is a huge lizard, I mean huge. It was about as long as I am tall. It was an interesting place to say the least. It had a skunk, monkey, rabbits, and a turtle all together in one cage. And I was curious as to why they would put the topless wolf cage next to the also topless caged chickens. My favorite though was that they had cats there. Fairly average, normal cats. Ok...? So, I lied. My favorite part was the tiny fury creatures for sale that you could pick up and hold and play with. It was as open and even more packed then the beetle stand. I was right in there this time with the kids grabbing and petting. "Oh Hunny please can we get one?!? The mice are only 2,ooo won!!" No luck.



While walking around we spotted these two fellas hand making noodles. It was pretty cool. I've never seen it so was pretty interested. They didn't seem too thrilled with their job but I came over and was so intrigued. A few people stopped and watched too. One old man try to convey to me something along the lines that the man could make the noodles thin like my hair. Sure enough he did. Well it least like angel hair. It was the neatest thing.




We caught up with some buddies and had lunch/dinner. We stood in line forever to buy some meat. Korea is pretty proud of their meat; and for good reason too, it's really good. Then, we sat down at this table and these ladies bring out a small gas stove thing and we cook our meat right there. The ladies watched us for a while till they decided to help us poor Americans out. We don't know what we're doing.They brought us some lettuce leaves, garlic, spicy bean paste, thinly sliced onions, and kimchi. You put everything you want in the leaf and wrap it up and eat it. Delicious. Though I avoid the kimchi at all costs. I'm still working on enduring the less spicy stuff.

With a flat of strawberries, some jam, and soap in hand we headed back to the bus for the long trip home, of which I slept most of the way. All in all, we had a fantastic time. I look forward to going again next year. I feel like I'll be a bit more prepared. Maybe we'll spend all day there next time.