Touch me pains.

Spent most of this fine spring day in Hampyeong county for the Hampyeong World Butterfly and Insect Expo. On the one side of the grounds are several long greenhouses where they have tons of different crops growing: pumpkins, apples, tobacco, cucumbers, you name it. Because there are some flowers and some vegetables, guests are tempted to touch the plants. The folks at the Expo were one step ahead of you, and they put these signs every few meters:



If only you were a girl and my name were pains. Around the corner from where I took the above picture I ran into this:



Hahahaha, keep in mind this was along the path in a series of greenhouses with thousands of people at any given moment. Yeah, I know when your kids gotta go he's gotta go, and whatareyougonnado, but I still found it weird.

Public urination notwithstanding, it was a pleasant festival. The most striking thing, in my opinion, was to see an otherwise unremarkable town of 10,646 people swell to one that rivals the population of the largest cities in the province. According to the official website, the Expo expects to attract 2 million visitors over nearly seven weeks.

The crowds were massive and the site had a theme park feel to it, and I'll admit that by the end of the day I was getting tired of being pushed, poked, run over by strollers, and being greeted with 외국인이다! But, I guess if I can steal some thunder from a World Butterfly Exposition, I have something going for me. *cough* There wasn't much English, and except for the exhibition about the restoration of Hampyeong's stream, all the signs, including the ones identifying bugs and plants, were in Korean and Latin. The top attraction was of course the big hall with butterflies, but . . . meh, just go for the experience. You know, your average zoo back home will have more insects and more variety of bugs than this exposition, but whatever, it was still neat. I think what might have thrown me was that I had read some promotional material from the county earlier and was expecting some . . . I dunno, some Mecca of bugs and butterflies. Here's a bit of what Hampyeong county sent the Gwangju News back in October.

[The Expo] is expected to serve as a detonator in advancing the regional development and enhancing the brand value by firming up the status of Hampyeong as the center of the world's insect industry and a Mecca of the four-season ecological tourism.

and

It is also enhancing its value as a thesaurus of an ecological system where goldenbats, which have been designated and managed as the world's No. 1 rare animal that is near extinction; black-headed storks, a natural monument; and storks inhabit collectively.

The butterfly festival, which was introduced for the first time in 1999 with butterflies that inhabit only in clean place as material, is heralding the name of Hampyeong to all over the country, firming up its position as one of the nation's best festivals.

It has created such high competitive tourist resorts and festivals as Korea Orchid Festival, a flower scilla festival and experience of mud flats, turning itself into an advanced district of ecological tourism.

A series of environment-friendly programs, including the butterfly festival, has upgraded the region's image and helped environment-friendly agricultural products producing in the region gain high value added.

and

Now, insect reminds us of Hampyeong. Accordingly, Hampyeong has been pushing ahead with all butterfly and insect-related events, including insect industry related to microorganism, insect-applied materials and natural enemies, insect academic research and insect-related companies.

Through such events, Hampyeong is expected to attract more than 2 million domestic and foreign tourists and enjoy a sharp rise in tourism income.

Lee Seok-hyeong, magistrate of Hampyeong-gun who is also chairman of the Expo Organizing Committee, said, "Hampyeong World Butterfly & Insect Expo is pursuing globalization of the region's brand that utilizes environment-friendly image representing butterfly. As it is the world's first environment-friendly Expo that uses insects as material, it is expected to greatly contribute to activating regional economy and developing the butterfly and insect industry. I will do my best for making preparations for the Expo."

So that clears that up. Well, regardless, everybody had a good time and every festival committee in the country wishes its charge would be so successful. Other attractions include a small amusement park, lots of really nice flower beds and gardens, a high-wire act, several sound stages, lots of stuff for kids to see and touch, some nice photographs and crafts from China, the usual traditional Korean games and handicrafts, and a couple of halls devoted to regional attractions and upcoming expositions in Korea. Plus, it was nice to not have to look very hard for a bathroom or a vendor. Oh, and one of those halls has that saddle-lookin exercise/masturbation machine.

I also did two things for the first time in my life. Well, three if you count going to Hampyeong. I ate Dippin Dots, and I tried "Doctor Fish." Dippin Dots are theoretically interesting, but I didn't care for the taste. Doctor Fish is ingenious, and I have no idea why you don't find those things everywhere.

I'll add another word about "Touch me pains." We all know that Koreans are generally nosy and that those signs aren't redundant, but I remember dealing with the same kind of dumbassery back home. I worked for the Pittsburgh Zoo's horticulture department one summer, helping to plant trees and groom animal displays, and it was really common to have people pick flowers and trample the plants. My boss was right when he'd rhetorically ask/bitch "What do they think they're going to do with a flower? It's gonna die in a day anyway." As a matter of fact, I'd say trespassing is a much bigger nuisance back home, but I'm just basing that on my own recollections. I always chuckled when we had to plant various thorny bushes and trees around certain areas as an indirect way to tell people to stay away. Probably the most amusing, but idiotic, things people would do at the zoo was they would walk through the "Asian Forest" and try to break off a branch of bamboo with their hands. Anyone who has ever seen bamboo knows why this is a ridiculous thing to do. Incidentally, every now and then I'd hear about people who would get bamboo from somewhere and plant it in their yard. Bad idea, as bamboo is very invasive and fast-growing, and the stuff you plant over here will wind up waaaaaaaaaaaay over there in a very short time.