The World Expo ends on October 31. I think it is fun to see – a bit too many people, but you have to go with the right attitude or it is no fun. We took the 10:30 ferry. We walked the two blocks to the ferry, purchased tickets and got on the boat with out waiting in a single line!
We thought we would stop on the Corporate Pudong side first. I wanted to see the Coca-cola building as it was well done in Beijing at the Olympics. As were we walking to the Coke building, we notice the fast line for elders over 75. We watched as people used this fast line to see if we could slide the Grandparents through it, but everyone was showing an id. We were hoping we could slide Grandpa in as 75. Grandpa is 69 which is close enough when it comes to a long line.
Coca-cola – When we arrived at the Coca-cola line, it was 4.5 hours long. We passed, but we took photos outside with the various coke bottles and caps.
After a coke and fun photos, we walked to the river to catch a boat across to the Puxi side. All the World Pavilions are on the Puxi side. We needed to find food as everyone was hungry! We found a fast food place near the African Pavilion called Kuna Matata…looks good!
Kuna Matata – We enjoyed some fast food ostrich wraps and chicken wings. It was perfect to fill the tummies fast.
African Pavilion – With full tummies, we ventured into the African Pavilion. It was a large building hosting many smaller countries of Africa. There were no lines as the place is big and you wonder into the various small set-ups.
The real fun of the African pavilion was the shopping. We spent over an hour shopping. Grandpa holding my carved out pumpkin-like fruit (forgot the name). Now, I had the fun of carrying it for the rest of our Expo day.
The time and day gets away from you when you are at the expo. It was already 5pm. We needed to venture out and see more!
Egypt – We decided we need to see the Egypt Pavilion since we are going there for Chinese New Year. We waited about 40 minutes to get into Egypt.
Tunisia – Tunisia was next to Egypt with a short line, therefore, we ventured into see it. Jim noticed they were doing the henna tattoos for 30rmb. Emmy wanted to go back to Qatar to get an henna. The only problem was that Qatar was on the far side of the Expo. We talked the girls into doing it here with a promise we would go to Qatar on our Friday kid Expo day planned in a couple of weeks.
I also bought the girls some perfume in these beautiful, delicate bottles in Tunisia for 150rmb ($22) each. Both of the bottles were broken when we got home. The perfume was still in the bottles, but the tops had broken.
Russia – we walked over to see Russia as it is pretty at night. The lines were long, of course. We decided to see if we could get in by saying Grandpa is 75, but has no id. They let us in – we should have tried this sooner!! Russia was a large pavilion with two floors. It felt as if you were in Alice in Wonderland with large plants all about. The lighting in the pavilion was blue, therefore, most of the photos did not come out.
The next stop was dinner, it was after 7pm already. Our tummies were hungry. We found a nice Italian place to eat. The pizzas and pastas were very good.
United Kingdom – This pavilion was on the top of my list to see if we could use the “elder fast line” with Grandpa. The guides/guards checking id’s were tough to pass. First, we almost didn’t get in since there was no id. Jim pushed and he gave in. Then, only two people could go in with the elder person, plus the children. Really, everyone in our group could go in but one person. We should have said Grandma was 75, also. I think she will be aging for the next pavilion. I said I would stay as I have been to the Expo more than anyone. The family went in to see this unique pavilion. Grandpa came back out in about 10 minutes to see if he could get me in, also. We had to wait for the tough line bouncer to leave as we almost couldn’t even get Grandpa back in. We went in to catch up with the family.
This is my favorite pavilion at the Expo. It has such a different look from the outside and unique on the inside. The pavilion looks like a box with thousands of spines that hover without visible support. It is a cube formed by more than 60, 000 slim and transparent acrylic rods containing seeds of different plants that were collected in a bio-diversity project.
The inside called the “Seed Cathedral” was small, but interesting. You enter the “Seed Cathedral” to admire the seeds in the spines.
During the daytime, each of these 7.5-meter-long rods will act like fibre optic filaments, drawing on daylight to illuminate the interior. At night, light sources embedded in each rod will allow the whole structure to glow.
The Lupu Bridge (å¢æµ¦å¤§æ¡¥) is the world’s second longest arch bridge and steel arch bridge, after Chaotianmen Bridge in Chongqing, China. The 2.5 billion yuan (US$302 million), 3, 900-meter (12, 795 ft) bridge was opened on June 28, 2003. Its main span is 550 meters (1, 804 ft) over the Huangpu River.
The name of the bridge, Lupu, is an abbreviation of the two districts of Shanghai which it links – Luwan District on the north bank, and Pudong New District on the south bank. This follows the naming convention of the three earlier bridges on the Huangpu River – Nanpu (Nanshi-Pudong), Yangpu (Yangpu-Pudong), and Xupu (Xuhui-Pudong).
Spain – Spain was another pavilion I wanted to see while we had our “old people” pass. This is another pavilion with waits up to 4 hours. Spain is another interesting pavilion from the outside. It is constructed of 8, 524 wicker panels of traditional materials and a handcraft technique used both in China and in Spain. The space spanning 7, 000 square meters was designed to be a hand-weaved wicker basket structure supported by the steel framework inside.
The inside had three exhibited halls. The first hall had scenes of water and fire enclosed around you on the wall and ceiling. At the end, a lady performs a traditional dance. It was interesting, but hard to enjoy with all the people around. The second hall had scenes of urban landscapes of Spain from the perspectives of people from different ages to the urban cities. The third hall had giant baby, 6.5 meters tall. It was a bit odd looking as it blinks and welcomes people.
Poland – We had time for one more pavilion. The girls were getting tired and Grandpa’s bad knees were tired. Everyone had tired feet. I had tired feet so I can just imagine how tired the Grandparents feet were by now. We decided to do Poland since Grandma has a strong Polish background.
The Inside of the Pavilion was made of white lattice walls and ceiling. Again, hard to get a good photo with the lighting.
Sweden – It was 10pm when we left the Poland Pavilion. As we were walking out, I saw the Sweden horse. For all those with kids, it is the Hanna Andersson clothing company horse logo. I had to have a photo of the girls on the horse. No one (but me) wanted to go in the pavilion as everyone was ready to go home.
We walked out one of the many gates to find a taxi. The taxi queue was long, but moving fast and orderly (a surprise in China). Elle was asleep before we got home. Another fun, long day at the World Expo.