2008 Hampyeong World Butterfly and Insect Exposition
V.B. Meyer-Rochow
Jacobs University Bremen, School of Engineering and Science, Research II, Room 37, Campus Ring 6, D-28759 Bremen, Germany and Department of Biology, Zoological Museum, Oulu University, P.O.Box 3000, SF-90014 Oulu, Finland
Allow me to explain briefly what those who plan to visit the World Butterfly and Insect Exposition in Hampyeong (South Korea) next year can expect. I have spent three months last year at the Butterfly Institute in Hampyeong and became involved in some of the preparations for this mammoth-event. First of all, it ought to be mentioned that Hampyeong is not a ‘newcomer’ in hosting insect expositions and has been organizing an annual butterfly and insect festival for a long time. However, the 2008 event will break new ground as it will be the first one aimed at attracting large numbers of foreign insect researchers, amateur insect enthusiasts and professional entomologists. The organizers hope that Hampyeong and its very successful and impressive butterfly breeding programmes will achieve world fame and that the annual insect spring festival will eventually become an “institution” known world wide for its spectacular insect displays, entomological presentatios, seminars, and cultural events.
So, would it be worthwhile for foreigners to attend the Hampyeong event next year (2008) between April 18th and June 1st? Having lived in Hampyeong, a small country town in southwest Korea, a four-hour-drive away from the metropolis of Seoul, I can definitely recommend a visit to those, who are adventurous and adaptable; people, who seek something different from the luxury and organized life-styles one expects to enjoy at 5-star-resorts and university-organized symposia and congresses. Hampyeong will fascinate those, who are not afraid of communication difficulties (few people speak English there), who enjoy culinary challenges (silkworm pupae and octopuses may be on the menu), and who delight in discovering that at night it might “rain” large rhinoceros beetles may from the sky. In Hampyeong traditional Korean lifestyle still prevails and there are no subways, no trams, no airports and few buses. Yet, the town is accessible from the major Korean city of Gwangju only 45 minutes to the north and reachable by bus or taxi.
The local fish, meat, and vegetable market in Hampyeong, just like the beautiful and green landscape with its rice paddies and other agricultural fields, is a ‘mecca’ for photographers. Around the market one can find small restaurants that provide genuine Korean country dishes with plenty of garlic, fermented cabbage, and chilis. To the citizens of Hampyeong, ‘ecology’, ‘eco-tourism’ and ‘environmentally friendly agriculture’ are not just words, but something that has become part of their routine. During the annual butterfly festival scores of tourists visit Hampyeong, often spending no more than a day there, and then returning to the town of Gwangju, where they find excellent hotel accommodation and all the amenities and services one expects of a modern and highly developed city (but, as I said before, not necessarily the traditional and small country town of Hampyeong).
I should think that anyone with an open mind not only would have an unforgettable time during the 2008 Hampyeong World Butterfly and Insect Expo, but could benefit in a variety of ways from a visit to this event. It should be possible to pick up tricks of the trade with regard to insect breeding, to meet like-minded insect enthusiasts from Korea and other countries of the world, and to make observations on local insects. A variety of insect-related goods, ranging from T-shirts with insect motifs to folk medicines based on insects or insect products, would be on display and Korean as well as foreign entomologists would be on hand to provide explanations and perhaps conduct scientific discourses. A visit to Hampyeong’s recently established “Eco-Park” should be a must and undoubtedly will leave an impression on the mind of the visitor.
However, one word of caution and advice: The visitor to the Expo in Hampyeong must be prepared to face difficulties in conducting any bank business and, for example, to exchange foreign bank notes there or to draw money from money-dispensing machines. Equally difficult is to find travel agencies in Hampyeong, although tours to the fascinating southern Korean island of Jeju by ferry (a five-hour trip across the sea) are available from the nearby seaside town of Mokpo. Making phone-calls from Hampyeong, no matter where to, is another problem. So, my advice would be to make Gwangju your ‘base’ and to travel to Hampyeong by bus or taxi in the morning and to return to Gwangju in the evening.
Anybody seeking further information on this first-ever “World Butterfly and Insect Exposition” in Hampyeong (South Korea) from 18. April to 1. June 2008 is advised to contact www.hampyeongexpo.org or to send a FAX-request to the Organizing Committee 061-320-3774.