Advertisement
Back to Shanghai one more time with Leslie and Mari, for what was going to be a very full week. Sunday on the plane, Monday working, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at the Expo, Wednesday shopping and working, Saturday more shopping and Sunday....on my way to Africa. You top all these with seeing a lot of our friends...and going to sleep late, waking up too early...what a week!
The last time I did an Expo was back in 1992 for the Sevilla Expo. The trip was with my sister, and we spent four nights sleeping on the streets, parks and car parks around the expo...well, was fun, adventurous...seriously on low budget, but a great souvenir. At the time, I had left only once Europe for Tunisia and had set foot in around 15 countries.
18 years later, here I am with Mari and Leslie. Mari should get very close to her 50th country by the end of the year. Leslie is nearly 10, been on every continents except South America and Antarctica...and myself, will very soon reach the 100th mark in term of countries visited. So the feeling is a very different ones. We are not here to go from
one pavilion to another, but rather to check specific pavilions of countries were we have been, where we are going, or where we wish to go....plus few pavilions of countries that are not at all on our list, read Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan and North Korea for example.
3 days for the Expo is not enough, to be able to see properly all the countries represented, we would have needed 4 to 5 days....but life is all about choices isn't it!
First morning, first queue...and the only crazy one we would encounter...Saudi Arabia...queuing time, 5 hours...worth it...well, it is very nice, but for me it worth maximum three hours waiting. We even saw few fights between Chinese...nobody has ever explain to these people that pushing in an enclosed queue...doesn't get you anywhere.
As you may know, we've left Shanghai after few years there nearly a year ago. So when it comes to the “buzz of the Expo”...well, we were aware of it. But interestingly enough, the Expo has a very bad press in the expat communities in Shanghai....”queuing...me...no way” is what you ear everywhere. Most Shanghai expat residents would first ask you how bad is the place,
how not organize it is....next they will also let you know how many free tickets they have received...but these are not VIP, so they are not sure they are going.
So let me put it straight...the aim of a World Expo is to attract people. This is a simple fact, meaning you need to expect queues in the most popular pavilions. The pre-opening figures where as follow....expecting visiting Chinese....97% of total visitors...our feeling, it is closer to 99.5%!
The result, many pavilions do not even bother providing a translation in anything else than Chinese....sorry for my lack of it! And not the basic ones, Mexico, Australia...nice movies, not even a single subtitle! So this is not a World Expo, this is the World Expo...advertising the world to the Chinese people. Mind you, it's done pretty well, but if you have never been to China before, you may be on for a little shock...you think the French don't speak English...well, the Chinese do speak Chinese!
Next means you need to be ready for some pushing....that's ok...I'm not that small...even by very old and persistent ladies. You need to expect smoking in queues....that was actually fun...specially to stop them
doing it...if you are there with children....be ready to get hands touching the head of your child all the time....but the good news, spitting seems to be finally...at least here...a thing of the past.
After Saudi Arabia, we made our way to Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iran, North Korea, Maldives, Mongolia, Vietnam, Morocco, Qatar and finally UAE....and it was over for the day. The best of the bunch were easily Saudi Arabia, Morocco and UAE.
The next morning, on Wednesday, we were ready to hit the road, dentist visit, shopping at the pearl market, glasses market, Barbie shop for Tiffany....and our traditional dim sum lunch.
On Thursday, back to the Expo. This time...what a surprise, our first stop, the China Pavilion, with a queuing time of only 30 minutes...yes, that sounds great. The China pavilion is massive and as well very impressive. It took us an hour to go around. The first stop is a nice movie, really too borderline of propaganda, but hey, this is China after all. Next was a huge room with a massive replica of past chinese country life...Wow....this was follow by a little ride, in the exact style of “A dream world” from
Disney....the end of the visit....a impressive display of water...don't really know how to explain it, but they managed to have a “waterfall” and within Chinese characters appearing by simply stopping the water to drop in some point...wow!
After this, the day was spent visiting...Israel, Pakistan, Oman, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pacific Pavilions, Malaysia, New Zealand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Australia, UK....yes...all this in a day.
The ones to do: Nepal...well...there is not much inside, so if you see a huge queue...inside view is as good as from outside. Pacific Pavilions...well, we are divers, so this is a hit...but the place is very well done if you consider the size of most countries. New Zealand, one of the best organized pavilion in terms of crowd control...and on top of the...a very nice experience. Cambodia...wow...small country, low budget, but a very nice reproduction of Angkor Wat and Ta Prom...well done Cambodia. Indonesia was another nice experience, allowing huge crowds inside without any waiting time.
Thailand was definitely one of our favorite pavilions. This guys manage to have a beautiful, simple message, but at the same time trying to educate the crowds...adding on top of this a fun 3D
movie...well done.
We did stop by Singapore, huge crowd...so went to ask at the VIP entry what was the queuing time...guess what, they let us jump the queue...for no real reason, maybe just a nice smile...well...and Leslie is very cute too! Movie was ok, but not in my top 10 pav! Next Australia, 10 minutes wait...nice movie, but only in Chinese without any subtitle.
The best is to come UK...by night...well, a little disappointed...the pavilion is great looking by day, but by night it is slightly dull from the outside. Went to the VIP entry...question...do they light this stuff? Answer...are you British?..my answer...no but I've lived in London....and hop, you are in through the VIP entry...and I did not even lie! Well, actually I lived in Southampton, but not sure the guard would have understood!
Friday, after a short night, back to the Expo. This time, we chose another entry to avoid too much walking. Bad news, not much sun, but clouds and drizzles...and if you want to know, the same kind of crowds than on a nice day!
Today, Canada, Brazil, Chili, Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba, Caraibean Pavilions, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Hungary, African Pavilions, South Africa,Tunisia,
Luxembourg, Belgium, Monaco.
The very bad...Mexico...nice pavilion, but the worst crowd management of the Expo.
Disappointing, Carabean pavilions, most are empty, not even finished. You can see that these will not attract that many chinese tourists.
The good, Brazil, Peru and all the African Pavilions, what a great job for Africa...and it was really crowded and popular too.
The very good, Chile...do not miss this one, on of our top 5!
And the ones we love, Hungary, Belgium and Luxembourg, but we are completely biais as these are our home countries.
This was it for the Expo, we would have wish to see Italy, France, Swiss Pav as well as few other European countries...but the time was running out.
Saturday was another shopping day, and time for Leslie for a sleep-over with his friend Max. And for us, party time on Friday and Saturday. I can tell you, this was a very full week...running a lot...queuing not as much as expecting, and seeing many great friends!
I do have few problems uploading the pictures...as I'm in Congo and internet is too slow...so sorry for this little delay. Next blog to come, back in
the water!
With love from three of us! It's summer holidays soon!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.386s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 12; qc: 27; dbt: 0.3563s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
deleted_148721
deleted_148721
:)
My best stay in Shanghai.... It was so good to catch up with friends and see the world in a short time... Love you so much! Waiting for you!!!!