Yeosu Expo

Anyone want a Robot wife?

Slightly Weird Mascots

As this was the only weekend left in Korea we didn't have anything planned we therefore decided to make ourselves busy by heading across the country to Yeosu.  The Expo in Yeosu finishes at mid August so it was our last chance to see it.  The theme was The Living Ocean and Coast.

Samsung

Hyundai

The easiest way to get to Yeosu was to book an express bus from Dongdaegu and then a free shuttle train to  the Yeosu exhibition site.  We decided to head to the company Pavilions.  The 대우 robotic pavilion had maybe the biggest queue, but inside there were plenty of things to see once we got inside - there were giant undersea machines, football playing mini robots and a couple creepy androids.

Robot Devil: Coming Soon?

How to make a boring sport worse
- Robot football players!

Videos: along with the robot devil (not at all like in Futurama!) there were also dancing robots and creepy heads that showed off their weird expressions while singing kpop songs.  The Lotte and GS25 pavilions were good too, Hyundai had 3 big white walls made up of moving white boxes onto which a movie was projected.  The pavilions themselves were housed in ridiculously good looking buildings and often the exhibitions themselves had little to do with the company but were simply cool.  Unless Hyundai is trying to market moving cinema screens.

Fun Korean Fact -
'Whaling' is slang for circumcision 

Halo anyone?

Back to the International pavilion to wonder around different countries.  The huge ceiling of the International area was made up of a huge curved screen.  While we were there they played ocean themed films but I imagine it could be put to good use at the end of EXPO as a giant outdoor (but covered) movie screen.


Many of the big, developed nations had their own pavilions.  Canada had pulled out as it would have to been bigger and more expensive than the USA.  America was one of the few to have famous people speaking during it.  There was a projection onto falling water as well as a speeches from Obama and Hilary Clinton.  The video was the usual propaganda - not a sign of the endemic obesity, everyone was well spoken and educated.  I'd bet everyone had health insurance (unlike the 50 million completely uncovered 31% who are covered by public insurance, or 40% of those who are 'inadequately' covered)...  South Korea could teach the States a thing or two about how the healthcare system should be run!

Yes, we're mature adults

Enough of my 미국-bashing, many of the African countries were huddled together in two big halls.  Lots were interesting, but a few were just shops selling tourist junk.  Nigeria was particularly bad.  Nigeria was one of the few from Africa with their own pavilion but it was essentially a giant shop.  Grabbed a delicious (although expensive) lunch at the Germany restaurant.  The beer, sausages and sauerkraut were excellent.  The Germans were not having a particularly good time with the locals, we saw more than a few arguments but there were Koreans there to explain and translate (not that it did much good).

Kazakhstan, greatest pavilion at the expo,
All other pavilions were run by little girls.. 

Kazakhstan was probably my favorite - a guy played a traditional guitar-like instrument, singers and dancers.  Some quick facts - the largest land locked country in the world (9th biggest overall), population 14 million, after the collapse of the USSR it was the last soviet republic to declare independence and since then (1989) they've had the same 'president' Nursultan Nazarbayev.  The ladies at the exhibition seemed hesitant about answering anything about him or the politics of Kazakhstan.  Perhaps nobody minds a dictator when he does a good job?  Or holds elections twice a decade (Putin)?  There was Kinect controlled fly-over of the new capital city Astana (youngest in the world, founded in 1998). I've decided I'll learn a the Cyrillic script and maybe visit 카자흐스탄.

The UN was very interactive and actually informative, no queue either.  Caught a few different shows - Thailand and Vietnam in particular - before heading out to see the Big O Show - a giant ring with a projected water show.  It was out in the sea, and at one point the ring shot out giant bursts of flame all around hot enough for us to feel the heat on the shore- not the most environmentally friendly but anyway.
Afterwards we headed out in Suncheon, started playing Strip Noraebang which lead to a very surprised Korean when he popped his head in to ask if we wanted beer or food to find most of us topless..


Spoiler - the show didn't really look like this.  Possibly due to the winds messing up the water spray.  Impressive anyway.

Tea Festival and Ulsan Old Downtown Band

Grabbed some delicious food in Daegu Friday night with the Gaksan locals.  Saturday at the Daegu Exco was the Tea Festival.  Wanted to head across to the actual tea fields, but they were on the other side of the country.  Really didn't fancy another Mokpo trip.  There were meant to be a few people going, but due to hangovers it ended up just me and the bf.

There were stalls with traditional clothes, 찜질방 pajamas, plants (sadly no tea plants, Mark really wants one), a small museum, different cups and pots, coffee, lots and lots of tea, a main stage and a few places where you could watch the traditional korean tea ceremony.  The main stage had foreigners wandering around in 한복, a big band (including 3 generations of a family) playing mouth organs.  The primary school brothers came back on by themselves to play a KPOP cover.  Strange, very Korean and enjoyable.

Afterwards we headed to Ulsan.  There were bands playing in a park in Old Downtown.  Apart from the bands there was also a group of asian (mostly girls, but a couple gayboys as well) high school age kids from Korea and the Phillipines who did sexy line dances.  Straight mans wet dream.  Foreigners got free beer, which ran out pretty quickly, but that didn't really stop us.  Dinner and drinks, fairly quiet night as we were saying goodbye to a friend.

Remind you of the movie you've got hidden in your sock drawer?