First, we went into 2 halls in the Theme Pavilion. Inside the two halls, one was showing the stories behind the world expo, and the other one was on technology to help with the unfortunates ones.
We then walked fast to the Countries pavilion expo site (Area B in the World Expo) and saw the pavilions of Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Thailand and etc... The queue for Malaysia and Singapore were long. Me and Feng went to take photo with the two malays in custom outside of the pavilion. That two people were so happy when I said: "Saya orang M'sia" and when Feng greeted them:"Selamat Pagi". Lol... I felt proud when I was there looking at the Malaysia pavilion. It is one of the pavilion with rich culture and with its unique features. Not like those other countries, which were just well.. modern structures.
Straight cut over to the Europe site after that because my top priority, Switzerland pavilion was over there. Went into Estonia pavilion as we saw no queue over there and we were surprised to see only colourful piggies.. and more different colours of piggy banks inside the pavilions. Funny.. But cute! The Spain pavilion was unique from the exterior. Didn't have the chance to go in cause the queue was looooooong.
Went into the queue for Switzerland pavilion. The normal queue time during peak time for famous pavilions like those top ten (eg. Japan, China, Switzerland, Spain, Saudi Arabia etc.) can take 3 to 4 hours. *Gasp* and the queue lines are outdoor with plain railing, no seat. Luckily, we only queue for around 1hour30min to go into the Switzerland one. Meet one German who cut queue and we ended up chit-chatting while q-ing and the other Chinese (mostly local) looked at Yi Feng and me like aliens. Well... Anyway, super high when we went into the pavilion. Saw beautiful photos of Switzerland thru telescope like thingy along the way and watched amazingly beautiful 3D video of the snow peaks. Then, we had a chance to ride on the chairlift!!!! I felt even 'higher' then (lol, good english huh?). Saw the blue like softoy thingy in the collage below? It is called Haibao, the mascot of the Shanghai World Expo. The giant size Haibao as that big can only be found in the Switzerland pavilion (those fake one outside are not counted) and I sat beside it throughout the ride. =D The chairlift brought us up to the rooftop of the pavilion and we had a good view of the pavilions surrounding it. Can looked across the HuangPu river too!
Went to the other area of the Europe pavilions. The Poland one was closed, for donno what reason so we just went to take picture with the lambs over there. Meh meh~ Saw the furry ball like thingy? It is actually the UK pavilion. Thought will have beautiful lights at night but well.. cheated. Anyway, we went to take pictures with the other pavilions. Didn't manage to go into them cause of time restraint. Since World Expo is for them to showcase their architecture skill, guess appreciate them from the exterior would be fine plus... we wouldn't want to wast time q-ing and going into those lousy ones. =P
Went into Austria pavilion since the queue line was moving fast. Saw a tall guy that looked like Leehom to me and took a picture with him. It would be nicer if Yifeng was not in the picture. =P Once enter into the pavilion, we get to play snow fight! Then, it was a corridor with censor wall that will made out sound. Then, it was a musical hall and we watched a play of the musical instruments. Then, it was the souvenir shop and Feng brought a bottle of apricot jam there.
Need to run so that we can make it for the Taiwan reservation ticker! So, we went across the HuangPu river (to the Expo site area D and E) by riding on a ferry at around 2pm. Brought our lunch at the Japan Corporate Pavilion. It was the most popular shops in Japan selling tako-yaki. And we spent RMB40 (S$8) for eight tako-yaki and another RMB40 for a fried noodles. After the quick lunch, we we around the area with lots of the China own government sectors pavilions. The coca-cola pavilion was there too! Saw the bullet-train like train in the left bottom of the collage below? It was the kind of train that we ride to travel in between Nanjing, Hangzhou, Shanghai and Suzhou.
Saw some cute cute stuff over there too!
Then, still rushing time, we went into the Pavilion of Future. Queue time was ok. The interior of the pavilion was amazingly beautiful too! A marvelous way to use the lights and sound. Lots of information on the technology and city planning. If only we have more time, then we can really listen to each of the description.
Rush over back to the other site of the river by ferry (back to the expo site A) after the Pavilion of Future. It was 5.20pm and we ran over to the Taiwan Pavilion. Only to find out that... the reservation tickets was fully given out!!!! cause the queue was long enough aldy.. (ticket suppose to be given out at 6pm) Walao... People.. do you all need to be so 'kiasu' or not??? Sigh... After sighing for a while, we redo our planning fast enough.. and ran to the other pavilions in the expo site A. =P Went into the Nepal pavilion as the queue was fast moving. Just went into the pavilion, we saw a crowd of aunties and uncles busy pushing and squeezing themselves near the Buddha sculpture at the center and 'shower' the Buddha with coins. And YiFeng and my face turn -> O.o" when we saw that. After giving them a solute(=P), we walked along the up-climbing walkway to the highest point of the Nepal pavilion. Then down to back to the center of the 'tower', there were more Buddha related sculptures.
Went to the combines Asian Pavilions and took photos outside Korea Pavilion and Vietnam Pavilion after that before we started our queue for Japan Pavilion. We hesitated for a while when we started to queue for Japan Pavilion as the people was telling:"Q time start from here will be 2 and a half hour." And that time was evening time.. after whole day of walking, running, and standing... Anyway, still... we queued..
Queuing there was well.. Interesting.. the local pushed and cut queue like crazy.. Do they need to present themselves in such a uncivilized way? Sigh.. I 'kena' knocked to stick to the railing once... and squeeze like roti prata a few times before I went into the Japan Pavilion. Even the working personnel over there keep saying 'no pushing pls' to 'don't push', the local just don't listen. Well.. I feel so embarrass to look like a chinese at that time. That's the way the China people are going to present themselves to the world?Anyway, it was fun too, cause one aunty (seem to be in her late 30s') behind me keep pushing and squeeze through me and Yi Feng at once, leaving her husband behind and trying to pull her husband over. Then I asked her, in a super proper chinese intonation, :"可以不要插队吗？(can you stop cutting queue?)" Then she replied:"我没有啊(I didn't)" Then she still tried to pulled her husband to front, with her hand in between me and YiFeng. I don't like a middle-aged man to stick to me so close trying to get over so I just let her husband go over and said:"很好,你把你国家表现得非常好,很文明 (Very good, you represent your country very well, very civilised)" Her face just turned red and just nice, we went into the Japan pavilion a short while after that and they were of course in front of us. While me and Yi Feng enjoying the interior of the pavilion on an escalator, I overhead her complaining to her husband, saying that she didn't cut queue and kena complain not civilised bla bla bla... Her poor husband. Haha..
Japan pavilion! Shooting not allowed inside so didn't take any photos. We went through a walkway that showcased their water purified technology, their traditional painting and houses.. Then to a performance hall. In the hall, Canon showcase their camera with super clear and good focus and instant online sharing function. Then, the future house wall will be like a screen that you can change wallpaper as you like, with a tv that move with you if you move and a 'touch-wall' function phone. We saw the performance of violin playing by a Honda robot too! Then.. to the second performance hall, we saw the iReal (a moving chair like thingy) and a performance that to present environmental awareness. During the second performance in Japan pavilion was the only duration that I rest my leg throughout the whole day.
After the Japan pavilion, night was here and we went into Israel and North Korea pavilion before we ran over to the expo site B to take photos of all the pavilions at night. Stopped to buy a Haibao softoy from the souvenir shop that cost RMB50 (S$10), cheap and it is the real version. =)
World Expo site closed at 12midnight but most of the pavilions closed at 9plus pm. I simply dragged my foot to walked across the pavilions at night. Ate KFC (dinner of the day at 1oplus pm) before we cabbed back to our youth hostel. My feet felt pain when I stand up for just for a while that night... but still.. I had a great experience in Shanghai World Expo, and I have a Haibao. =)Next day.. Back to Hangzhou...
