Our sessions ended much earlier today (3:45PM, supposedly 3:30PM, but extend a bit), and the rest of the day (or night) was free time for all of us. Together with my colleague from Australia and Singapore, we headed to the exposition site to see the different exhibits from countries all over the world. Regular tickets costs CNY160 (CNY200 for peak days), but since we arrived past 4PM, Night tickets were already available (CNY90), valid until closing time tonight.
Expo 2010, or officially Expo 2010 Shanghai China, is a major international world exposition that started from May 1 of this year until October 2010. It is built along the two river banks of Huangpu River and is a massive site of 5.28 square kilometers, making it the world largest world fair. The theme for this world expo is "Better City - Better Life".
me with my colleague and roommate Matthew
Country exhibits are divided as national pavilions. Country pavilions are actually building structures, so that means most countries has its own building. There were also Theme Pavilions relating to Urbanian, City Being, Urban Planet, Footprint and Future.
flags of different countries
The place is so massive. As you can see at this map. It is actually divided by a river in between
Here are some of the photos taken while walking around the site that late afternoon (until closing time):
Egypt
Israel
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
reminders while queuing at the line - polite language and no noising, polite sharing and no challenging!
Cultural Center, not really a pavilion but a space to be used for performance, entertainment or additional exhibits
Nepal
inside Nepal pavilion
India
ice cream!!
South Korea
at the South Korea pavilion
Vietnam
Laos
Asia sign at Asia Joint Pavilion 2
Taiwan, changes color from time to time
inside the theme pavilions
New Zealand
Cambodia
Brunei Darussalam
Malaysia
Thailand
After a couple of hours walking, we were tired and hungry and headed to CP Food Plaza to have dinner before we continue our expo exploration.
Near the restaurant is the Philippines pavilion. As we were a group of different nationalities, we promised to visit each other's pavilion. This is our first stop.
The theme of the pavilion is "Performing Cities". True to its word, there were entertainment/performance going on inside, as if we entered a club. A Filipino celebrity (Budoy Marabiles) was there. I was informed there's usually live performance inside the pavilion. There's no line at all at the entrance.
inside the pavilion
Popoy, the Philippines pavilion mascot
Hilot (traditional massage). Are they seriously holding massage sessions here? If so, it's would be a great help for the aching feet or visitors walking all over the expo!
Fulfilling the promise, we then headed nex to the Australia pavilion. There was a bit of a line but it was moving.
inside the pavilion
inside the pavilion
display showing some history for Australia (Journey)
splash wave
There was also a showcase of challenges and solutions presented in an advanced audio-visual presentation of how Australia addresses urbanization.
Lastly, and just across, we entered Singapore pavilion.
inside the pavilion
display of Singapore as the world's only Formula One Night Race
As there weren't much time, we just walked around and checked out the beautiful structures of other pavilion before heading home.
UN and Lupu Bridge
Portugal
Slovakia
Czech Republic
Europe Joint Pavilion 1: Liechtenstein, Malta, San Marino and Cyprus
Turkey
Ukraine
Norway
Sweden
Ireland
France
Polska (Poland)
Germany
Switzerland
Spain
Serbia
Belgium
We took the Shanghai Metro from the expo site to Hengshan Road station , which is walking distance from the hotel. Overall we spent a total of 5.5 hours in the expo site - yes so little time, so much to do. For sure, I'll be back here to cover more!
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