China Provinces Pavilion.
Woke up today at 7 am, tired, body sore. Stumbled out of bed, ate breakfast, and got ready for another big day at the Expo. We arrived around 10:30 this time, got through security, and entered.
It was very hot today. And since it was a Saturday, a lot of the locals were there, so the place was super packed. To make matters worse, instead of letting in two people to accompany a senior, they only let in one today. My great-uncle was forced to wait outside for quite a few of the exhibits.
But enough of the bad. Let’s talk about the places we checked out today. We went to the China Provinces Pavilion again to finish up on the provinces we missed yesterday. I slid a curling stone at the Heilongjiang exhibit, saw a 180 degree video at the Henan exhibit, and admired the stone carvings at the Shandong exhibit.
Confucious say...
Next, we walked through the pavilions of the Middle Eastern countries, but it was so packed we couldn’t even get in. So we looked at the decorations and buildings outside and headed our way. A lot of the more obscure countries weren’t as packed and had short waiting periods, so we decided to visit those instead.
The Ukraine Pavilion had some videos and displays, nothing fancy. I liked Turkey’s exhibit – there were ancient artifacts ranging from neolithic figurines to models of Byzantine cities to displays of ancient aqueducts. A 360 degree panoramic video of Turkish street life was the icing on the cake. Estonia had a bunch of colorful pig displays.
Next came my favorite exhibit of the day, Denmark. Very nicely designed building, with a linear pathway, a bike path (they had bike rentals), interesting and educational displays, AND they actually shipped their famous Mermaid statue to Shanghai for the pavilion. Now that’s impressive.
After a jaunt at the Lichenstein Pavilion, we entered the exhibit for the Czech Republic. There were a lot of creative displays, include several that open down from the ceiling. They even had a Metropolis exhibit showcasing the urban city. Slovakia was another quick visit.
Cambodian Stone Carvings
Next we hit the Southeast Asian island pavilions. We got into the Malaysia exhibit. Very fancy, with two floors and even a modern art exhibition. The Cambodia Pavilion was small, but the inside was a temple theme, with “stone” walls and carvings.
Soon, we were at the two largest pavilions of the day: Indonesia and Australia. The Indonesia Pavilion was enormous, with multiple stories, waterfalls, and themed decorations. There was a display where people could sign a petition to save the Komodo dragons, plus displays of ancient weapons and art.
The Australian Pavilion had an amazing, 360-degree rotating film, where three separate screens came up from the floor and rotated continuously while the movie played. Definitely a well-done display, with colorful props and interesting characters.
The Denmark Pavilion. Too cool with their Mermaid.
Canada was our last stop of the day but was a pretty big disappointment. There was a room with a bunch of exercise bikes that people could ride, plus a 180 degree video of random scenes in Canada. It was trying too hard to appear avant-garde.
By now, we had spent 9 hours at the Expo today. So we decided to call it a day and head back for dinner. I ate at Nanjing Road (Buxing Street), Xiao Long Bao for the win, and I immediately fell asleep for two hours upon returning to the hotel before waking up and falling asleep again. Another big day tomorrow.
World Expo at randomtidbitsofthought.wordpress.com.
