Yeosu-Expo

Expo grounds map

The Yeosu-Expo, located in the southwestern part of Korea, has been on my to do list for a while now. It's overarching theme was "The Living Ocean and Coast", so most exhibits had a water topic. The Expo grounds were quite large, and we did not see all of it in the two days we spent there. We had a third day planned, but by the end of the second day we were all so tired we really didn't feel like seeing anymore. We managed to cover quite a lot of ground in those two days. Most of our time was spent in the International Pavilion, which was the most interesting part to us.

I took the girls down by train on a Tuesday morning and we spent the rest of that day in the Expo looking around the International Pavilion. It contained booths representing over 100 countries, some bigger than others. I think we made around to about 60 of them. As mentioned, the water theme prevailed. For example, in the Egypt booth, there was an iPad movie to watch in which a cartoon man tells you about Egypt's dependence on the Nile River. All of the country booths had signs about that country's relationship with water, while some were more high-tech and had interactive computer displays. They all mentioned eco-friendly things they were doing to help conserve or keep water clean. It was a good bit of hype and tourism promotion. A few of the booths deviated and did not have anything about water, but really, that was quite alright with me! (Particularly Lithuania, where a representative explained in excellent English the amber collection they were displaying.) Many of the booths had cultural displays as well, which were fun for the girls. They got to play different drums and a xylophone, and try on masks and a Yemeni veil, among other things. There were English speaking staff around to answer questions and explain things to you, and they were very friendly and informative. 

a type of instrument

Lithuania; the tubes contain amber you can view by
looking through the lens at the top.

Qatar

Cambodia 

singing bowls

My husband joined us the next day and we went back to the International Pavilion for a while. Then we walked over to the aquarium, which was supposed to be something special, but I don't know what was so special about it. It was a standard aquarium. I would say it was worth a look, but Koreans have a really hard time understanding the line concept and waiting their turn, so if you don't like pushing and shoving, you might skip this part if you've ever been to an aquarium before. It did have Beluga whales, which are pretty rare, and that was fun to see. The best part for us was the big observation tank where they had a sea turtle. Our oldest carries around a sea turtle purse (creatively named "Turt") and she was so excited when the turtle came close to her so Turt could see the real sea turtle. The things that make a parent's day!

Turt, meet sea turtle.

We browsed through the UN pavilion and went into the Kids Place, where the girls got to make a clay bowl as part of a display about celadon, Korea's pottery. They also had a flour play center, which we did once upon a time in Daegu. I wanted to go up to the observation Sky Tower, but the wait time was one hour plus, and it wasn't that special to me. We skipped many of the independent pavilions simply because of the wait time, and from what we could ascertain about the contents, they weren't worth the wait. We stuck around for the much publicized Big-O Show, and it was entertaining, though I can't say it was worth the wait or dealing with the crazy, harassing ajummas. Prior to that there was another show, "the girl from the ocean", which was all in Korean of course and I couldn't quite follow what was going on. The most entertaining part was the synchronized swimmers.  

The Big-O show

I wish we had seen more of the other pavilions, but I know Koreans and I know myself, and I know it would have been wretched trying to push and shove with them just to see the attraction. The Expo, however, was worth the visit.