Dispatches from Jeju

Tuesday September 4, 2012.

After a long and uneventful journey I arrived at the Jungmoon Family Pension and Resort (what a name!) in Seogwipo. The Family Pension and Resort will be my home for the next 10 days while attending and exhibiting for Zeitz Foundation at the 2012 IUCN World Conservation Congress being held in Jeju.

Today I woke up to a misty morning and fearing rain in what Korean TV said was going to be a rain filled afternoon, set out to the Jeju International Convention Centre where I will be setting up the exhibition tomorrow. I am still learning to negotiate taxi fares in denominations which if you think in Kenya Shillings terms, seem like a complete ripoff but that is a story for another day as Kenya is not Korea

People say first impressions are important and I have to say I have already been impressed by Koreans. From a service perspective, they are efficient, polite and quick. This was evidenced by the speed in which my luggage, mislabeled in Nairobi by the Korean Air local representative, was able to get to me within an hour from 2 Airports 50 kilometers apart. The luggage was rerouted to Jeju from Incheon Airport and arrived before me as I had to take a flight out of Busan to Jeju.

The Congress is supported by the Korean government and the citizens of Jeju are giving it their all to deliver what they are describing as the greenest congress ever. Jeju International Conference Centre is a magnificent 6 story building with great ocean views and built with very green concepts in mind. It is a beehive of activities today awaiting the official opening ceremony on the 6^th September. 

Looking at all the happenings today, I am hoping I can learn as much as possible from the Koreans as this presents a fantastic opportunity for them to showcase their culture, hospitality industry, transport planning, architecture and also their green technology. In Kenya, there is a talk of developing conference tourism and I hope the numerous Kenyans coming for the conference can learn as much in developing this branch of the industry. 

Jeju ICC - where the Conference will be hosted

Back to Jeju. Today morning I took a stroll around town and it was quite pleasant save for temporary illiteracy in reading Korean. Luckily, I now have a map in English and the guidebook that start with giving the reasons why Jeju is so famous.

Sample the following:

Jeju island is called Samda-do (island of three plenty’s) because of its abundance of rocks, wind and women. It is also called Sammoo-do (Island of three shortages) because there are no thieves, beggars or gates in front of the houses.

That certainly seems like a place one would like to live with those abundances and shortages but we will see in the next ten days if those claims remain true or if it is tourist brochure copy editor gone in overdrive. 

I passed by the Museum of African Art and other than the beauty of the building (copied from a mosque in Mali, I think our Nairobi museum is fabulously rich in content and the Koreans could learn from us there.

Museum of African Art - Jeju

For now, I can certainly say, Mrs Maria and her family who manage this Jungmoon Family Pension and Resort have been very kind to me. Sure enough there are no gates in her compound, so at least one of the shortages is true locally. Let me go out and investigate the abundances and the other two shortgages. Watch this space.