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The torrential rain continued as I packed up and headed off (on an extremely crowded bus, who did not look pleased to see a tourist with a rucksack board) to the station. I had treated myself to first-class this time - just so that I could say that I had travelled all classes and types of seat. It was very nice - much like the Shinkansen (although I wasn't in first class there...) and there were scarcely any trolleys trying to sell us stuff throughout the 2 and half hours to Shanghai.
Once in Shanghai, I took yet another bus to the hostel, which was on the outskirts of the Bund - what used to be the British/American part of Shanghai. The hostel had been newly renovated and looks amazing - by far my most comfortable stay in China. I was in a 4 bed dorm, but didn't meet my dormmates that night.
Faced with potentially another dinner alone, I decided instead to head for the much-advertised Shanghai World Exposition. I had never even heard of world expositions until coming to China, where the first question asked, as soon as I let slip I was travelling to Shanghai, was
"are you going to the Expo?".
Having quizzed other tourists I had met in Beijing and elsewhere (I was doing the whole thing backwards, you understand - most people seem to start in Shanghai and end in Beijing - oh well!) it is not possible to see the Expo, or even half of it, in a single visit - even if you go all day. Instead, they suggested that I go once during the day and once at evening/night.
For those Expo-ignorants (such as myself): the Expo is situated on a whole site, much like an industrial park (but a lot nicer). It would take about 1hour to walk from end to end, so there are buses in situ. The groundspace is divided roughly into areas: the Asian zone, the Americas-Carribean zone, Oceanian zone, European zone and the African zone. Each zone contained pavillions - think themed warehouses - designed inside and out to show off the culture of a particular country. For those countries too small or unwilling to sponsor an entire pavillion, there were some communal pavillions: the African pavillion, for example, was subdivided into areas dedicated to the smaller African countries: Cameroon, Ecuador, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania... there were about 15 different countries represented. Whereas other African countries, notably, South Africa, Nigeria, Angolia, and the North African countries, had their own pavillions.
I'm not sure what this means politically - but it seems the organisers had some trouble placing the pavillions of the Middle Eastern countries. Egypt and the North African countries were in the African zone, but the other Middle Eastern countries (including Israel...) were in the Asian zone.
At night the pavillions were lit up which was quite cool - and made a spectacle in itself if, like me, you baulked at the size of the queues! Even at night (I arrived around 8pm) and in the rain, there were still loads of people. Mostly, I gave up on any pavillion with an ages long queue - although I did loyally (I felt) queue for the GB pavillion - which was crap!
It's designed using lots of glass rods with seeds at the end, organised together like the weird offspring of a hedgehog and a disco ball. The idea, I think, is to sell a concept to the visitors - that of sustainability, eco-friendly towns and cities
China provinces pavillion
Even this late, the queues were insane - but it's a permanent fixture, so maybe next time!and respect for plants and the wildlife. Hmmm. Most of the first world countries' pavillions I went to had some sort of green theme, but I think GB went a little too far.
I much preferred the Netherlands' pavillion, directly opposite GB's, and called 'Happy Town'. It was designed like a house that had been exploded out so you walked past various rooms, filled with art installations - including a gigantic teddy bear whose eyes followed movement and voice, which was a little spooky - and parodies of Dutch culture. It was fun and tongue-in-cheek; leagues better than the GB "conceptual" pavillion.
I also popped into the Serbian pavillion and into the African pavillion - although by this time (10pm) there weren't very many people still around and the atmosphere was dead. Most of the countries had flown people out to be cultural ambassadors and for me those were the best pavillions, since the whole thing came more alive when you were able to talk with a home national.
And, despite the fact that the park itself is advertised as closing at midnight, most of the pavillions were closed by 10pm. So I wandered some more and
then headed back - taking the last subway, as that too closes ridiculously early (and I hadn't thought to check - oops). Got back to the hostel, still the first person to get back to the room, and collapsed into bed and sleep.
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