World Expo In Shanghai

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WORLD EXPO:
On Sunday morning we woke very early and left our hotel in Shanghai to head for the World Expo. For those of you who aren't familiar with the World Expo, it used to be called the World Fair and the first one was held in London in 1851. This year's expo is the largest and most expensive ever, and China expects 70 million people to visit the Expo over the course of the summer.

Inside the expo, over 150 countries have displays. The more wealthy nations (countries from Europe, Asia, and North America) have built massive buildings to showcase the architectural and technological abilities of that country. Many of the buildings are are absolutely stunning from a design standpoint. Inside the buildings each nation constructs displays that teach visitors about the country. Each country's display is different, but most have food, technology, products, and photos/maps. Unfortunately, 450,000 people visit the Expo each day, so it is very difficult to get inside some of the more interesting displays. For example, the US display had 4 hour wait (and you had to have a reservation as well). However, many of the smaller nations had no lines at all, and there were some very good displays (like New Zealand and Malaysia) with less than 10 minute waits. Some countries also had representatives from their country on hand, and we really enjoyed talking to people about their home country.

Many of the world's smaller or poorer nations could not afford to construct their own buildings, so they had rooms in large warehouse-style pavilions. There were shared pavilions for Africa, South America, Central America, and the Pacific Islands, although some wealthier countries in those regions (like South Africa and Brazil) had their own buildings. There were a number of countries in these pavilions I had never even heard of.

As far as the buildings go, there were a few surprises. All of us were disappointed in the United States' building. I don't intend to sound unpatriotic, but the building was quite boring and paled in comparison to many of the other countries' buildings. We were unable to go inside, so hopefully the inside was much better then the exterior. We heard rumors that the US did not want to pay for an Expo building, and as a result our building was funded entirely by private companies. If that is true, its disappointing that the US did not want to participate in such an amazing international event.

There were a few surprisingly good buildings too. Hungary, Spain, Luxembourg, Brazil, Chile, Malaysia, and Singapore were all extremely impressive. And as expected, Britain, Germany, France, Mexico, Japan, and China all produced astounding buildings. Also keep in mind as you are checking out the photos that all of this gets torn down when the Expo ends.

Until next time,
David S.

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Photos

China
An upside down pagoda. The biggest of all the buildings

United Kingdom
Those are thousands of huge fiber-optic cables on the outside of the building

Comments

[dcsimps2]

To Dolly:
Dolly we were told that only diplomats and government officials can get in at China. Expect 2 to 4 hour waits for Britain, France, Italy and Spain. I'm not sure about the Dutch pavilion, it may not be quite so bad. Hope this helps!