Yeosu Expo 2012

Assuming that you all know what Yeosu Expo 2012 is, I am just going to write about a glance about Yeosu Expo 2012 and my personal experience. After all, there are tons of information on internet about this event.
Yeosu Expo 2012 is being held at Yeosu city, Jollanam-do province, south of South Korea. I have been to this city once I think 2 years ago with my Malaysian friend. At that time, they were still building this expo. There are a lot of pavilions, exhibitions, facilites, shows, and etc. You can see the details here.
Given only roughly 9 hours to explore Yeosu Expo, it was not enough. I have only visited several pavilions and exhibitions. The waiting line was killing, there were even people fighting because someone tried to break the line.

Hanwa Aqua Planet Yeosu

I had to wait for 2 and a half [freaking] hours in the line to enter this Aquarium. On the website, it says that this aquarium is the largest in Korea and this is also one of the big ones at Yeosu. I do not know if that is true, but for me it was a disappointment to know that this one is said to be the largest. Even though it has this rare beluga whales and some other rare animals, there is not much variety of animals. There is, though, a really nice room with glass wall and glass ceiling, meaning it feels like we are underwater and we can see what is inside the water. There is also this big-screen type of aquarium that has tiny sharks in it and schools of small fishes, but I have seen that one at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago with more variety of animals, so not a surprise. What else? Penguin? I know I write as if it sounds boring, but actually for those who have not been to many aquariums, you might enjoy this aquarium.
Conclusion: worth visiting, but it really does not worth waiting for 2 and a half hours. Consider it.

International Pavilion

International Pavilion is really big. There are many countries participate and open their pavilion. I went to only several. Here they are:
Norway
Well, I should say it was pretty boring. we had to wait for 15 minutes then we went inside. They said we were going to ride a ship, but when we entered the room there was nothing but a captain explaining about something. Then we went to another room, we sat down on the floor and there were 3 screen and a pilot-type room. Oh, this is the ship? The screen then shows videos about Norway. It is good if you want to know about Norway. But if you want to have more than just seeing videos, do not go there.

Indonesia
My own country, huh? The screen was huge, maybe half of the room. I really enjoyed watching the video, I did not even know my country was that beautiful. There are some exhibition, too about batik and other stuff. But still, I expected something more.

Australia
I just got inside than got outside. What was inside again? lol. But the twitter-like bird was very cute.

Philippines
It's more fun in Philippines! Wrong. But I think it really is more fun in the real Philippines, though. Me wanna go there!

Malaysia
I did not go to the pavilion, but they had this traditional dance just beside their pavilion. It was so cute and I watched it for a while. And they were all good looking *grin*.

Many of my friends said that Germany was really good. But too bad I did not go there.

Expo Digital Gallery
I think it is easier to understand what this place is by watching this :)

Marine City and Civilization Pavilion

Now this one is pretty interesting. Starting the journey from the past. Human started to discover the buoyancy, then they made floating boat, row, sail, then a modern ship. People can travel a lot far across the sea and discovered new places. Also, people start trading things. It was interesting enough to experience the history of this. But little did I know, the most amazing part was after this.
Leaving the past, we proceed to the future. It was just very amazing how people can design the whole futuristic plan about life on the sea. First, they design a boat-type house with complete facilities. It has bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, etc. Power source is solar and water is purified sea water. You want to go to some island? Just enter the name of the place, and auto pilot will take you there.
Not only a house, they also designed the whole city floating on the sea. Isn't that just amazing? And everything looked very futuristic. But I was a bit scared, though. What happen to the life on the land? Has the number of people on the land grown so much that there is no space left on the land?
Anyway, I enjoyed this place very much. Recommended!

Posco
Besides their exhibition about their research, there is one fun thing: A giant (balloon?) dancing doll. They are really cute and they dance like crazy. You are so going there!

Lotte
Let's ride a hot air balloon! Even though you will not really fly to the sky, the experience is going to be real. The simulation was so good that I felt like really flying.

LG
It was started with a group of TV screen hang on the ceiling. Then the screen go up and down based on the video it was displaying. For example, if a boy is jumping, then several screens with go down while he was jumping. It was not really interesting. Then we watch 3D video on a very big TV screen. I guess they just want to promote their 3D TV screen.


Samsung
Waited for about 50 minutes just to find out a big disappointment. Samsung only gives like a theatrical show. Nothing "techie", even worse it really was nothing.

The Big-O Show

This is the main star. My friend told me there is a similar thing in Singapore. But I have never been to singapore nor have I seen thing like this, so it was ah-ma-zing! Lasted for about 30 minutes at night. The Big-O is a very huge O-shaped thing at the center of the expo. Surrounded by fountains that sometimes shoot the water up. The Big-O can produce mist and water, and can "breath" fire and glowing lights. Now the interesting part is, when the water falls inside the inner circle of the Big-O somewhere back there the light shoot the water and it becomes a water screen, producing image on the surface of the inner circle of the Big-O. Moreover, the Big-O makes some kind of mist that floats all over it. The light also shoot it and it becomes a really pretty aurora kind of light effect. The show has story and with combinations of those effects, it is a masterpiece. It was my first time to witness such a smart and beautiful show. This is a must. You see this show and nothing matters anymore.

Those are things I visited during my time at the expo. I wish I could visit more and tell you more about Yeosu Expo 2012. But the waiting line was argghhhh.
Interested to go there? Yeosu Expo 2012 will stay open until August 12, 2012. Hurry!

PS: looking for a place to stay while visiting Yeosu? Check my posting here.

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