Cheonan Walnut Cookie Festival

Cheonan is "famous" for being home to Korea's first ever walnut tree [wow!]

 According to legend, a buddhist monk brought the tree to Cheonan from China over 400 years ago and it still stands today at Gwangdeoksa Temple (on my to-visit list).

One of the typical traditional snacks from Cheonan is walnut cake, and there specialised shops that have these crazy industrial revolution style machines that mass produce the cakes. The cakes themselves are little balls filled with walnut cream and walnut pieces. They're pretty tasty.

This weekend (15th-16th Sept) was the First Cheonan Walnut Cookie Festival. [Koreans use the term "cookie" very loosely, it can refer to biscuits, cakes, or even crisps. Basically anything snack-like.] The festival comprised a small stage, a dozen stalls, and some plastic chairs, and it took place outside the train station (pretty clever way of getting visitors, I wouldn't even have known about it if I hadn't have been going to the station anyway.) I think it would have been a massive disappoint for anyone who purposely came to Cheonan to attend the festival, although Ric was particularly impressed by the Korean belly dancers!