A Trip to Shanghai World Expo 2010

This visit certainly goes down to my blogbook as the biggest exposition I had ever attended. And it was located in Shanghai China , what more could I ask for?

So it started off like this....

We only had a day to explore the expo site and we need to stroll an area of 5.28 square kilometers. Imagine we're superhumans but we're not and of course it's impossible! So a day at the site was absolutely a huge adventure. We kicked our butt off around ten in the morning and outside the temperature was cooling (that was June). Got my shades on and my fave green jacket and of course my never-to-forget camera. I was all set to go. Well, a day of adventure in such a huge site was sure great fun. 





As we entered the site, we had seen the USA pavilion first hand. Surrounding it was a few more pavilions including South Africa, Argentina and Brazil, just to name a few. Basically, we had one day and we didn't know exactly where to start. Finally, we decided to explore the magnificent China pavilion (the most eye-catching pavilion there was at the site). Upon reaching its vicinity, there's never been that enter-directly-as-you-wish moment instead we queued up like almost eternity! That's one downside for this expo. The queues were horrendous and people wouldn't stop pouring in and joining in the line the longer we managed to get inside. We tried our hardest to be patient but God knows how much I disliked it. So we had successfully entered the pavilion and immediately, we were greeted by this beautiful sight, very China I must say. Inside, we had seen various sub-pavilions of the cities and provinces in China. If we only had ample time to see each one of them, we could have actually learn a lot about the history and culture of China.  

Well, we didn't have much time to really see each and everything, however, we had great fun inside and we certainly enjoyed it. It's definitely a real good experience and learning journey having been able to see how much of China has to offer. We did not stay longer. We moved on to explore the African pavilion. This pavilion was fantastic with all the African collection for sale inside and the various displays of the sub-pavilions of the African region. We definitely had a great time here.

Unfortunately, it was difficult to even start queueing up again so we ended up just taking pictures with all the pavilions we could find. But we didn't miss out the most important Expo Cultural Center. It resembled like a UFO or to me a 'flying saucer'. It is used for most performances during the Expo like concerts and sporting events such as NBA basketball matches and international hockey games. The seat capacity of its main venue could be adjusted to 18000, 12000, 18000 and 5000 based on the demand of the performance. The most beautiful thing about this center was that it has a 360-degree (circular) viewing pathway where you could view the entire expo site as well as the Shanghai's skyline and the river.





The view from there was indeed mesmerizing! Thankfully we didn't miss it. After that, we just basically strolled the entire place and took pictures, most importantly. We didn't stay up for the night, so it certainly was one remorse we had. They said it's actually an awesome sight at night with all the pavilions lighted up. But our tour guide had to pick us up by seven. Well...I guess that was about it then..

SOME EXPO INFO:

Shanghai Expo has started on the 1st of May and would only last till 31st October of this year. This is another huge event set in China following the grandest ever event in history Beijing Olympics. With the aim, 'Better City, Better Life', this exposition will provide an opportunity for people to discuss the development of cities by offering their visions for a better future as well as promotes the communication and cooperation between nations and cultures. With over 200 countries and international organizations participated, it is no doubt that this exposition is a mega event one should not miss.

The Expo 2010 mascot is known as HAIBAO (literally 'sea treasure').

Overall, the 2010 Expo in Shanghai signifies that beautiful life needs our joint efforts by supporting each other and living in harmony between man and nature, people and society and people among themselves, can urban life be better.