Where we left off from part 1, the Incheon Global Fair and Festival continues to impress, but with the question of substance lingering in the back of my mind.

The next stop was the Global City Pavilion, an exhibition from over 100 cities around the world:

I’m sure it was well planned to have the space for Incheon’s 2014 Asian games right by the only entrance. Shoot the arrow and win a notepad or some nice parting gifts if you made a good shot.

A booth setup for Chuncheon’s World Leisure Congress and first ever Leisure Games. Can’t wait to see the DanceSport Championships or the Wakeboard World Championships. among other ‘sports’ next year. But fear not! There’s even a preview this year later on this month. Visit www.worldleisure2010.org to learn more, or here to learn about the ‘preview’ later this month.

Seoul is represented quite near the entrance as well. While their exhibit showed off several new tourist sights (Gwanghwamun Square), they also showed off future plans for a Dream Forest, supposedly to be opened in mid-October. Talking about places and things as if they already exist was an early clue to some of the hyperbole to be found here.

An African exhibit with plenty of information about several areas, including Tanzania and Kivu. Beautiful and informative, and helpful to see some of the highlights of a given area.

A LEGO model of the old Seoul Station, anyone?

What about a life-sized version of Boba Fett, of Star Wars fame? Not sure how this ties into a Global City Pavilion, but they’re still awesome to look at.

A significant percentage of booths were dedicated to Korean cities, traditions – and one to show off a proper Korean tea ceremony.

Showing off some Korean history from the Nokcheongja Pottery Site, along with plans to open a new center in Incheon that will be dedicated to pottery.

The ‘151’ refers to the total number of floors between the two towers – not one tower that’s 151 stories high. With plans for retail, office, a hotel, apartments, an obsevatory, condominiums, and a restaurant at the very top, there is a distinct possibility of never having to leave the building. It still looks like rather ‘pie-in-the-sky’, but would be intriguing to check out when / if it’s finished.

A perfectly normal start for an exhibit, right?

Yeah, we have a sign FAIL here. Bear in mind these were taken on the second day of the events, and may have complete and wonderful signs for all I know.

One of several cities from China more interested in getting investment monies from other countries. Since I was one of about three non-Koreans I saw in the place, I’m not entirely sure who they’re marketing to…

Apparently, hyperbole and presumptuous are two concepts that don’t exist in the Korean language.

The model looks nice, but the idea of a completely planned city sounds like something I’d expect from a government that thinks it controls all and knows all.

A wonderful Nepalese performance involving metal plates / lids.

The drumming group was excellent, although the poor kid (dragged in) seems a little confused on what to do.

Parents just love dressing their kids up, while the kids often look like ‘are we almost done?’ No matter how much encouraging mom did, I never saw this kid smile…

Another highlight of sorts was an area of peculiar musical instruments:

Those should look familiar to anyone who’s driven a car or had to change a tire. Appropriately enough, they would spin from the axle and make a nice reverberating sound.

Not only was it interesting to look at, but it was tuned! That’s a big deal to a music geek like me. To play them, imagine using a table-tennis paddle made of rubber to slap on the end at waist-length.

Meant more for kids, run through the tube and hit the chimes along the way. Since most of them were the same shape / size there wasn’t much variation to be heard – but the kids didn’t seem to care.

Finally deciding to rest while standing in line, I walked with the snaking line into the Robot Science Pavilion:

A cute way to start off – it even bowed every once in a while.

Anybody up for a Robot Rhino? While they had some animatronics to them, they were more interesting to stare at and move on to the next one.

The Tongue Gun – use the handles to the left and push a button to make the chameleon’s tongue stick out.

Blending in usually requires more than a cape, but it was another photo op for the parents.

As long as these gigantic robotic grasshoppers don’t take over my yard I’ll be happy…

After the robot zoo came a different section focused more on robot games, much like you may have seen on TV. While the biggest and most destructive games are presumably saved for a prime time type event, there was a continual stream of events happening:

Two-player teams would use their robots to pick up and move the balls to behind the line. Not pictured were several other setups for several other games.

Now the late afternoon, it’s time to explore a flower garden near the center of the area:

Much like other flower garden, there’s plenty to see; lots of color and variety here as well.

The indoor portion was quite nice. A deliberate path was set up past the flowers, several pieces of art using flower petals, and several photographs. I’ve taken better.

Just outside the indoor section – the Statue of Liberty looks just a little different here.

After looking on the map for unexplored corners, I found this interesting sight:

A very colorful dragon head, complete with a wave of flags that follow it. I’m at the rear gate at this point, and this dragon head faces one of the expressways around Incheon.

A wonderful concert of the Asian Philharmonic Orchestra – time to sit back and relax.

An excellent tenor solo of ‘La Donna e Mobile”

Another highlight was the fusion of a Korean drumming quartet and Western classical music. Although the piece was unfamiliar, the combination was extraordinary.

Some of the lights installed near the amphitheater lit up as it got dark:

The last thing before heading back was a nighttime fountain show:

Just outside the digital art building, the installation art is much more impressive at night:

The final verdict: GO! It’s a wonderful opportunity to see a lot of Korean culture, a lot of world culture, and samples of virtually everything Korea knows how to put together in one huge event. Allow your disbelief to be suspended much as it is at an amusement park, and try to look past the facades of constructed buildings. There more than English to get there, get around, and see virtually everything there is worth seeing. Give it a full day and just try to see it all – you might need a second day 🙂

I’m not done yet – head to part 3 here, or back to part 1.

Directions to Incheon Global Fair and Festival: Take line 1 of the Seoul subway system to the Bupyeong station, then transfer to line 1 of the Incheon subway system. Get off at the Central Park station on the Incheon subway system, then take exit 2 to street level. Walk straight along the road for about 200 meters, then look for the fair entrance on the left. 18,000 won to get in; wheelchair and stroller-friendly. Souvenirs, food, and drinks are all typically priced fairly, so there’s little need to bring in outside stuff unless you’re pinching pennies.