I guess not many people are attending the Expo.  Not as many as Korea had hoped, anyway.  Various branches of government offices are required to buy so many tickets and my wife kinda-sorta volunteered to do so at her workplace.

I was surprised by how close Yeosu is to Busan.  I looked at Google maps and asked for directions- it would have sent me way North to Daecheon before returning South to the expo for a travel time of over six hours.  Instead, we drove it in under two-and-a-half.

Getting there was pretty easy although we didn’t see any Expo signs on the expressway (number 10, if you are curious).  Once near the location we found signs for the Expo -go straight, and for Expo parking -turn right.  We turned right and drove through the grittiest industrial area I have ever seen.  There were a lot of signs for parking and that was the only thing that eased my fears that I was heading into a scam.

It wasn’t a scam, but it was a grim place for parking.  The free shuttle bus took us to the Expo.

I guess there is a gallery of images below.  I had wanted a long row of photos that I could add commentary to, but I guess in WordPress, that is only possible if you place each image individually, not as a group.  Commentary below the images.

We got to the gates just before nine and onto the grounds quickly.  We first went to the Aquarium and though we didn’t dawdle, we did end up -at 9:20- in a line where we queued for more than two hours.  We were lucky to have brought drinks but the little guy could have used some snacks as well.

The aquarium was good but not that much different from Busan’s.  The Beluga whales were interesting to me but didn’t hold the little guy’s attention for long.

He did love the Turkish ice cream men who served acceptable ice cream with great showmanship.  I had seen the act before but even still, I dropped to the ground to catch the cone when he ‘dropped’ it.

Somewhere in the pictures are the only spinal boards I have seen in Korea, the world’s first ‘surfboard’ (suck it, Melvin!) and some images for Kind Fun Labs.  At the lab, we walked in, and played with huge amounts of flour.  In the next room we played with huge amounts of rice.  The picture of me nearly buried in rice? That is my nightmare after a long weekend at the farm.

The fish robot had a frickin’ laser in it’s head!

To cut this short, almost everything that was interesting had long lines. The international pavilions were okay but felt underdone.  Despite the complaints I have heard, there was plenty of English.

At the end of the day -we left around 7:30 – I thought again about the strange location for parking and found some rationale for it.  Several of the exhibits were focused on ocean life and how to preserve it or exploit it.  Not all the exhibits were positive but most were and I think the parking -in the midst of a huge industrial zone at the water’s end – balanced those points well.

If you get cheap tickets, or will be in the vicinity anyway, check it out.  If not, don’t bother.

Check out these reviews from other bloggers:

Pro, con -also via ROK drop.