Yeosu Expo 2012 South Korea 여수세계박람회

Yeosu Expo 2012 South Korea
2012여수세계박람회

Yeosu Expo 2012 is one of the biggest events Korea has held in the past few years. There has been much talk about the decision of its location, accomodation and transport to the event itself. I have read some and watched some reviews of the expo so I was lucky enough to be able to visit it myself and see how valid the varying opinions are.

Getting to the Expo is a little troublesome as you either need to take the KTX or fly down. A flight takes about 40min and the KTX about 3 hours 30 minutes.
Accommodation did look pretty sparse but there is a hotel about 7min walk from the venue called the MVL http://www.mvlhotel.com/. Its only been open for a few months and is modern and luxurious. Quite a few foreigners are staying there I would assume some of the more senior members of the international exhibition personnel.

 

Here is some more information about the prices and so on:
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_2_1.jsp?cid=1325870

Here is a slideshow of the pictures I took showing the various areas of the expo and a few shots of the expo as seen from above at night:



So in my opinion there are defiantely 3 things you need to see. 1) Aquarium and Marine Life Pavilion 2) The Marine Robot Pavilion and 3) the Big O Show.



If you are going to the Aquarium and Marine Life Museum and you can get there on a week day you should have no troubles. However if you are going on a weekend and you can get there early before the Expo opens do it and then head straight for the pavilion. If you see a line already just past the entry gate, that will be the line for the Aquarium. The line should move fairly quickly in the morning but will be grinding to a halt later in the day. The line will extend and twist and turn for over 1km at peak times so if you are waiting for an hour in the morning you are doing very well as people are spending 3 hours or more in that line later in the day. Take a look at the Aquarium attraction here:





The longest wait we had was waiting for the Robot Pavilion which took about 2 hours but was worth it! I don't laugh too often and it usually takes something very special to make me snigger but the soccer robots definitely made me chuckle :) They were supposed to be a fantastic robot soccer team kicking goals and running after the ball but only 1 out of the 4 players was functioning properly. It was a fantastic comedy of errors with robots falling over and struggling to get up, one robot seeing the ball and moving away from it and just general hilarity. There was also some dancing robots and a lovely humanoid woman to start the show off.
You can see some of the action here:





At the end of every day there is the Big O show. The Big O is the center piece of the expo and displays a water projected animation. You would have seen something similar on my blog earlier when I went to Kangwon Land (http://rawrkorea.blogspot.kr/2011/08/kangwon-land.html).
So here is the show. It is only missing a few seconds at the end so you can see basically the whole show:



There are many other pavilions to see so check out this website for the tips of which other pavillions you should visit:
http://eng.expo2012.kr/is/ps/unitybbs/bbs/selectBbsDetail.html?ispsBbsId=BBS178&ispsNttId=0000018196

There is also an International area where you can visit countries from around the world. Personally I didn't quite understand some of the exhibitors plans for the expo. Some countries showed some animations or videos, some just had a walk through with some less than spectacular displays. I would recommend visiting the smaller Asian countries (e.g. Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines...) as they generally had more interesting displays and performances than the larger countries.

There are also many random street performances and dancing Hyundai robots that you can see throughout the day as well as many areas for refreshments and snacks or meals.

Watch out for the mountain climbers (there are plenty of those) if you live in Korea you will probably know what I mean and if you have been to Yeosu you will definitely know what I mean :)

So I will leave you with some performance video's and some photo's











This is the big screen at Yeosu that is mounted in the roof. People can take pictures with a smartphone (app?) and get them posted as part of the big whale that swims across the screen.



Well what a trip!

That all for this week. Next week I will have a short report on the Seoul International Book fair for you so until then have a fantastic week and see you next time! :)



g

Incheon International Airport

Incheon International Airport.

So a few months ago I decided to take a ride on the new Airport Rail Line that runs from Seoul Station to Gimpo and Incheon Airports stopping at a few stations on the way.

The fare is a little more expensive than a normal subway trip (I cant remember exactly.. maybe around 3,000 won?) but it is a very quick and convenient way to get to the airport. When you reach Incheon International Airport Station you can relax at a few little restaurants or bars as well as do some last minute souvenir shopping. Don't leave too late though as the trip to the airport terminals may take another 7 - 10 minutes or perhaps you may be able to catch an airport buggy that travels between the station and the airport. everything is internal so you don't need to go outside to get to the terminal so no need to worry about the weather.
There are may restaurants and shops before the gate but because of the size of the airport you may need to refer to the interactive maps to find the level and directions of your preferred restaurant or shop. Some restaurants or bars overlook the runway so you can see the aircraft at their terminals.

Also at the station there is a garden of sorts upstairs and at the time I was there they were showing an exhibition of airport designs which were all very impressive indeed. Here are some of those models:















Here are also a few pictures of the airport itself:









On a side note I also visited Gimpo Airport also close to Seoul and they had a money exhibition:

















Well that's all for this week. Coming up next week at COEX in Seoul is the Seoul International Book Fair. It runs from the 20th to the 24th of June. Here is a link:

http://www.sibf.or.kr/

So have a great week! :). I should have some interesting posts for you coming up soon!

Myths and Legends - Louvre Exhibition & The Civilizations of Turkey: Emperors in Istanbul

Myths and Legends - Louvre Exhibition Seoul 2012
The Civilizations of Turkey: Emperors in Istanbul Seoul 2012

This weekend I had the chance to visit 2 exhibitions being held in Seoul at 2 separate museums for the next few months.

Myths and Legends - Louvre Exhibition
Seoul Arts Center, Hangaram Art Museum, Seocho-dong, Seoul


This is a fantastic exhibition with over 100 works on display all of fascinating quality. The cost is 12,000 won per adult but well worth it as you can spend an hour or more looking at the sculptures and paintings.  

This is a little more difficult to get to than most places as it is a little far from the subway station but if you head to Nambu Bus Terminal Station (Line 3) and take exit 4-2 Seoul Arts Centre Exit (this exit is not very well sign posted but if you see the normal exit sign that says 1 - 5 turn around and you will see another exit with 4-1 and 4-2 posted above the exit. Follow 4-2 all the way out) walk up the street to the "T" junction and turn right you will see a huge building on your right about 300 meters down the road on your left. Cross over and you are there.

This runs until the 30th of September.

Here is the link:
http://www.korea4expats.com/events-in-korea-Myths-and-Legends---Louvre-Exhibition-5-June-30-Sept-2012-Seocho-Seoul-6350.html











The Civilizations of Turkey: Emperors in Istanbul
(Treasures of Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire)
National Museum of Korea, Special Exhibition Gallery, 137 Seobinggo‐ro, Yongsan‐gu, Seoul, 140‐026, Korea





A lot easier to get to just go to Ichon Station Line 1 and exit 2 or 3 and you will see where you have to walk as there is a huge park and building. Cost 12,000 won.

Here is the link:
http://www.korea4expats.com/events-in-korea-Treasures-of-Byzantium-and-the-Ottoman-Empire-Ends-2-Sep-2012-Seoul-6224.html

This is a smaller exhibition from the previous one which I mentioned and displays some items from Turkey which includes some Greek sculpture. If you had to choose between these exhibitions I would go to the Myths and Legends as you will get more value for your time and money. I was a little disappointed with this exhibition as you could walk through in 20 minutes or under and there was not much to see.









That's all for this week. I see Bob Sapp is going to be fighting  in "Bitter Rivals" somewhere near Suwon this coming weekend but I may not be able to see that... so if you are interested I'm sure you can Google the details for that match.

Next week I may be on the road again.. we shall see what happens and I will be bringing you a special report. Until then have a great week :)

부산국제모터쇼 2012 Busan International Motor Show (BIMOS)

부산국제모터쇼 2012 Busan International Motor Show (BIMOS) BEXCO
Korean Motor Show 2012

The Busan International Motor Show held over 2 weeks from the 24th of May to the 3rd of June was a hugely successful event with one article I saw on the busan.com website saying that 3 million had attended before the final weekend (the show is in its final day as I write this).

I attended the Seoul Motor Show last year and I felt quite comfortable moving about between the different exhibitors even though there were many people but at the Busan show, even though I think BEXCO (event center in Busan) might be bigger than KINTEX (event center in Seoul) it was packed with people!



Taking the KTX from Seoul at 8am and arriving at the event by 12pm (using the Busan subway line) I spent about 4 1/2 hours shooting pictures and video of the event.
Some of the event exhibitors included Chrysler, Ford, Kia, Hyundai, Mercedes, Bentley, Audi, Nissan, Toyota, Maserati, Cadillac...

I didn't see any motorcycles this year but I hardly had enough time to see everything and I could have spent at least a couple more hours there getting more coverage. However I did need to get the KTX home eventually :)

As for the models all the usual suspects were there including but not limited to the following:

Cheon Bo Young, Park Si Hyun, Han Chae Yee, Lee Sung Hwa, Yee Ah Rin, Soo Joo Kyung, Ju Ha Da, Lee Yoo Eun, Lee Ji Min, Kim Na Hyun, Nam Eun Ju, Lee Soo Jung, and Lee Eun Seo.

I put together some video slide shows of the event models and the cars but I also produced my most ambitious video so far combining live footage and photographs creating all the transitions, sound effects, creating my own "rk" RawrKorea watermark and audio mixing 3 dubstep tracks to go along with the video track. So please enjoy that if you have a spare 14 minutes or so :)

So without further adieu here are some pictures and the 3 video's:

The Cars of the Busan International Motor Show 2012 (BIMOS):













Slide show of the cars at BIMOS 2012



Racing Girls (Car Models) at the Busan International Motor Show 2012 (BIMOS)

Park Si Hyun


Lee Sung Hwa


Lee Ji Min


Soo Joo Kyung






Cheon Bo Young


Check out the video description for more models time coded into my video's :)

Slide show of the racing girls (car models)레이싱 모델of the Busan International Motor Show 2012:



And finally the racing girls (car models) 레이싱 모델 of the Busan International Motor Show 2012 live footage:



So thank you for coming and watching and that's all for this week!! I hope you got the chance to go and see BIMOS. I will update my categories list and add a section for "Motor Shows" so you can see this event, last years event and the other smaller motor shows that happen throughout the year. one is coming up in July so I will keep you posted about that. It will be held at COEX in Seoul and is called SAAS but I will tell you all the details closer to the event :)

Have a great week and see you next time! :)