Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea

By Rachel Redfern
Interpretation by Hwang Yeong-wook
Photos by Christina Green; Mascots images courtesy of Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea

Those who travel to the 2012 Yeosu World Expo expecting a small festival with a few new buildings will instead come away thoroughly impressed. Massive, wavy silver buildings with ceiling projections hundreds of meters long display the theme of the Expo—The Living Ocean and Coast. One hundred and ten nations participated in this Expo, each bringing interactive media, food, art and information from their home countries; each country also made a special effort to talk about their regional waters and their problems, as well as to provide information on their conservation and environmental efforts.
A day at the Expo should begin by exploring a few of the international pavilions, of which there are four sections. With so many nations participating, the scope of the Expo can be overwhelming (going with a plan in mind is recommended); wander through the Digital Gallery (the main building) where one can spend hours in the international pavilions and still only have enough time to see a few of them. The most talked about pavilions were Switzerland and Singapore, as they had unique displays and exceptionally friendly staff. Switzerland has a giant piece of glacier in a room set at -7 Celsius and free water at the end of your tour. Singapore is a very personal experience with a guided tour designed to provide audiences with an intimate look at life in Singapore. In a particularly commendable move, Singapore asked the people of the city to donate their used items and then commissioned an artist to create a large art installation with the items. School children also participated by submitting their own works of art, creating a truly physical sensory experience (try the multimedia bike which lets participants cycle through the streets of Singapore). The pavilion itself even becomes a performance space as giant blocks of it open up to the public at 3, 5, and 7p.m. for dance performances.

Each pavilion delivers information about their living coastline and efforts to preserve it; many, just like the Singapore pavilion, emphasize harmony between man and nature.

After visiting the pavilions you can enjoy a large lunch (try the Pho) and then go to the blue and orange building that is the brand new aquarium. The aquarium boasts three kinds of seals, a giant sea turtle, and three Beluga whales, as well as an aqua forest with interactive fish tanks and tide pools.
Finally, end the day with quite possibly the most intense water show you may ever see. Jet skiing pirates with water-powered jet packs dive in and out of the water like dolphins, propelling themselves twenty meters into the air while dancers stand on giant, flexible poles, spinning and dipping to the waving red flags below them.

These performances reflect the atmosphere of the Expo: festive, but with an underlying note of concern for the ocean and the way that humans interact with our environment.

The Yeosu 2012 Expo is highly recommended as an excellent opportunity to experience the creativity and innovation, as well as the environmental and technological developments pioneered and displayed by the nations present.

About the Expo

General Information:

The expo runs from May 12 to August 12, 2012, from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tickets for the expo can be purchased online in advance and cost 33,000 won for a standard adult day pass; however, on peak days (May 26-28, Aug 10-12) the pass will be slightly more expensive at 40,000 won per adult. 2-Day and 3-Day passes are also available for 53,000 and 69,000 won, respectively.

Each day there are dozens of shows on several different stages (additional tickets are not required). While the Big O Event Center is the most notable, there are also street performers wandering through the Expo site during the day.

Each of the countries participating also has a pavilion space with interactive media displays and information: for the more popular pavilions, Singapore, USA, Japan, China and Thailand, expect a wait time of at least thirty minutes. Several of the larger pavilions do require a reservation: the Theme Pavilion, Korea Pavilion, Climate and Environment Pavilion, Marine Life Pavilion, Aquarium, Marine City and Civilization Pavilion, Marine Industry and Technology Pavilion and the DMSE Marine Robot Pavilion.

In order to make reservations for these pavilions you do need to have your ticket (or online ticket) in hand, meaning that you can either wait until you’re inside the park and make reservations at the available kiosks, or purchase your tickets online and make reservations in advance. Reservations can be made on the Yeosu 2012 website or by downloading an app for your smartphone.

Getting There:

Starting at 8 am there is a direct shuttle bus from the Gwangju Bus Station (U-Square) directly to the front gates of the Expo: The bus ride is approximately two hours, leaves every half-hour or so and costs 9,800 won. The shuttle buses leaving the Expo and heading back to Gwangju start at 11:50 a.m., with the last bus at 21:30. These return buses also depart every half-hour or so.

Accommodation:

Beautiful new hotels directly next to the park have been constructed in order to accommodate the park’s visitors and the Yeosu 2012 website provides an excellent booking service (in English) to find affordable hotels and motels in the area.

The Yeosu Expo also provides a friendly and bilingual customer service, representatives of which wander the expo, volunteering information and producing maps and event schedules from their pockets and ensuring that patrons have a pleasant experience.