YOG a flop?

2010 is a great year for many countries in the world

World Cup 2010 - South Africa (where the world united with one common love - soccer, and one common hatred - Vuvuzela)

World Expo 2010 - Shanghai, China (awesomest place ever been...sorry, I'm biased)

G-8 and G-20 summit - Canada(not a big issue since I doubt we'll get out of this recession anytime soon...okay that was just plain nasty and awfully sceptical of me...but well...we all know that US and Europe can't agree since Europe want to cut spending and US wants to increase spending)

Youth Olympic Games - Singapore...WOOH!!! **Nationalist fervour moment**

But well...you don't see that sort of enthusiasm online.
You see links like...
Netizens not wanting to giving way to buses
http://getai.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/what_bugs_me/405698/give_way_to_yog_buses_netizens_say_no_way.html
How the government blew the budget.
interesting how govt = PAP...but then again its quite true.
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/08/04/would-singapore-win-the-right-to-host-the-yog-with-a-budget-of-389-million-dollars/
How YOG created an inconvience to the students of NTU.
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/08/07/ntu-student-complains-about-inconveniences-caused-by-yog/

Then you hear of facebook groups which hate YOG to the extent of boycotting it
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/07/28/two-new-facebook-groups-set-up-to-boycott-paps-yog/

Next, comes how somehow the event is going to fail.
farce ticket sale
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/07/yog-%E2%80%93-another-farce/
bad facilities
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/07/28/slovak-yog-ambassador-criticize-singapores-yog-venues-of-school-standard-only/

Finally, everybody complains about that JJ Lin song.
Well, I'm no song writer so I can't do a better job than him and hence I don't think I'm in a position to comment.

I know my sources ain't exactly good...STOMP is like the ultimate voyeur website whereby people can intrude into other's lives and feel free to film others in the name of citizen journalism.
Temasek Review on the other hand...well...lets just they just say things just to oppose PAP.
I do read other forums, but seriously...singapore forums? Well, unforunately for me...those that I read are super low intellect(not that I'm very smart or anything, but stop whining about everything...come on...I know how epic fail most of the elites in Singapore are...but I don't need these facts hammered into my head all the time), so I'd rather post STOMP and Temasek Review websites to spare myself more embarrassment.

You know...I think the internet is rather merciless when it comes to making comments.
Normally you get one internet troll making a cynical or prejudice comment to piss people off or fire people up...But now you got an army of them and they've got their troll headhunters and their troll witch doctor with their berserker upgrade and their troll regeneration...double with the tauren chieftain with level 3 endurance aura...CAN YOU STOP THAT!?!?!?! Such levels are not seen since Lee Bee Hua and the STTA incident.

Personally, I think its really unfortunate that most Singaporeans do not feel the connection and pride towards YOG. I actually don't blame them because I don't as well. YOG seems so distant, its happening here, yet its none of my business.

Think about it...I bet most Singaporeans didn't even know about the YOG until it began a few days ago. Then you might say, "what about the publicity posters?"...then I'll reply...what publicity posters?

I know the advertising sign board is huge, like those placed on GRCs to show that "they" care. If you don't notice the words, the huge boards probably looked like some new savings plan by the Singapore banks to replace the POSB squirrel or the OCBC mighty saver children. In addition, most Singaporeans do not notice these stuff as their eyes are either on the road or waiting for the bus. I know...excuses.

Honestly, I thought the mascot was quite good and decently represented Singapore. Compare it with Hai Bao of the World expo...how does that represent Shanghai? So on that note, good job team, but it needs more publicity.

In addition, all the boards are in english, how can those chinese educated elderly know? probably the organisers were thinking that why should these elderly know...they're too uncool to understand the ways of the youth?
So you think...come on in...happening granny...

ah...touche...

I saw their performance on CCTV in Shanghai. After the dance, the host of the program said to them, "you people behave very young for your age". Then one of them replied with some cool tone, "we're here to give the young ones a run for their money".

TV publicity - all we see is the JJ Lin video...erm, seriously, I thought it was the new national day song...like a substitude to "count on me singapore", though it did seem a little childish. So how would Singaporeans become aware of this event?

I know I shouldn't just whine about these stuff and provide a solution.

Some things I noticed China did during the world expo.

Have television programs to introduce the event.
They have segments on the shopping channel to introduce the souvenirs sold in the expo. They sell all sorts of stuff on the shopping channel. From T-shirts to handphones to television. But for the world expo, they have segment to sell world expo collectables. In fact, I'm quite impressed by the standard. They sell all sorts of stuff from gold coins to jade seals and a mini version of the清明上河圖.

TV: "Next we have the 清明上河圖, which you can find the the china pavillion............buy one back so that you can enjoy it with your family"...**rolls open the painting**...**dramatic family look**..."get yours now today at RMB1****"...

In addition to the shopping channel, they also got programs which show a walkthrough within the expo like an introduction to the pavilions. They even got large scale programs and competition revolving around the expo. Contestants(non-chinese) give a introduction to their country's pavillion or a segment of the expo...in chinese... and let me tell you...their pu tong hua aka mandarin is very good. So good I thought they were native chinese.

Besides using the television, the city of Shanghai gave 2 free tickets to all the families in Shanghai as an incentive to visit the expo. In addition, they put some money into some "card"(its like our EZ-link card) and this money can only be used to buy expo tickets. This provided the incentive for families to participate in the expo. The Singapore government can actually consider giving some tickets out to families to bring their children to watch the matches.

The chinese government also pulled in and recruited organisation outside of the expo to set up shop and tour destinations within Shanghai. They set up a tea cultral centers and liased with Tong Ren Tang(over priced chinese medicine, somehow they are very pushy and rude if you don't buy and if you do, they sell you very expensive herbs like cordyceps...but its fine since its a once a while kind of thing). All these tourist destinations bring in the vibrance to Shanghai(because if you really think about it, Shanghai is really a financial center, nothing much else).

In my humble opinion, China made everything in Shanghai revolve around the World Expo 2010, can Singapore make itself revolve around the YOG 2010? Only when Singaporeans can feel that they have a stake in this event that it can be a success.

感谢你和我来作伴

If you guys didn't know, my grandmother slipped and fell a month ago and was admitted to the hospital. So prior to going on my tour, I spent an entire month in the hospital taking care of her.

Well, she wasn't awake all the while, especially after here physiotherapy, as she would be exhausted and sleeping. So while she was sleeping, it would be very boring for me. So I bought a game to play on my PSP to kill time.

Its quite an old game and its rather cheap.
Introducing...Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

The game is dated to the time before the Final Fantasy VII.
You play as the character Zack, a soldier second class, mentored by a soldier first class called Angeal. Everything was fine until Angeal disappeared and clones of a missing soldiers start appearing and wreck havoc.
The plot is rather short and I finished the game in a week. I enjoyed the gameplay though, puts you on your guard. Unlike the FFVII gameplay, the player runs around slahing monsters and switching materia and items at the same time. It requires some level of control.
For Cloud fans, you will be very disappointed. Cloud is completely pathetic in the game as he spends a large portion of the time being air sick, PWNED by mobs and suffering from mako overdoes. To add oil to the fire, Zack has a romantic moment with Aerith.
Well, but for people who cannot get over Aerith's death, this game provides comforting evidence that Aerith was not meant for Cloud but for Zack. Rather, its Tifa that was meant for Cloud, because at one point, young cowgirl dressed Tifa asked Zack are there any blonde hair soldiers...erm...demostrating that they were meant for each other? Rather Aerith was waiting for Zack and she sent him 89 letters whereby Zack only reads the last one.(spoiler)
The game ends with a sad ending, but its only necessary to push the plot forward to FFVII. But thanks crisis core for spending time with me...even though there is a sad ending, but its only necessary to push my life forward back to the start of a new semester.

Size does matter and so does queues

Well, I did a count yesterday.
Altogether within the 2 days, I covered 23 pavillions which comprised about 106 countries (about 86 are small countries which are in combined pavillions). Well, there is no glory in bragging about going to combined pavillions since there is usually no queue to go in(the only queues exist within the passport stamping counter).

Well, to side track a little to explain about the passport stamping, its like the most happening craze within the expo. The local chinese tourist are crazy about it, its like the Shanghai's world expo's version of pokemon. Everyone is there to catch them all. So for each pavillions, there is one stamping booth. For combined pavillions there are multiple ones, one for each country. Its like evidence to prove that you've been to that "country".

yeah so above is an example of a stamp booth.
Its normally more crowded for other pavillions. Portugal is one of those that they control the number of people entering in batches. Just another side track, but the queue for Portugual is quite long but they let people in big batches to make up for it. It just happened that this is the interval where my batch just left and the next batch was coming. My friend who took this photo for me was like telling me how lucky I am that when she took this picture, there wasn't anybody around.

Why I wanted to take this picture is because they didn't want to stamp the seal on my book because I wasn't using the official World Expo passport. It kind of pissed me off but rules are rules so lets stick to it. Damn you capitalist that only want to make money!!!! LOL. Anyway, the ladies at the booth was good enough eye candy to make up for it.
Anyway, moral of the story, buy your expo passports.

Anyway, with regards to the the stamping of passports, the chinese are really into it. They push, they shove, they shout, they run to the queue...but the most of them all will cut queues. Well, its actually their culture. Its not like a good thing or a bad thing. Once you realise its their culture and that they mean no harm doing that, its actually fine. I think its their way to get into the mood.


That is why for pavillions such as Nepal(above), where there isn't a queue to the booth, you see hordes of people crowding around the lady.They push and shove in order to get their passports chopped and a stamp pasted(which is unique to only some pavillion, most only chop a seal). Just an advice for people visiting the Nepal pavillion, if you use the service where the lady paste the stamp and chop the seal for you, you have to pay 10 RMB for it(which is absurd). However, very little people know that you can chop the seal and paste the stamp yourself and its free. Just walk out from the area where the lady is and you would see a booth where they have the chop and the stamp DIY. Since nobody knows about it, its actually empty...which is weird because everybody is rushing for something which they can get for free.

Of course, if you don't want to queue for booths which actually have a queue and you happen to be a cute little girl, you could always use your adorable looks to plead to people who are in front of the queue. Well, at least I would fall for that...Damn you loli china chinese girls for being so cute...I want to kidnap you and keep you in my dungeon....BWAHAAHA....OMG...chinese girls are so cute...

They would give you the cute look with their huge eyes and their gua zi lian and their kawaii hairdo... and say...
Chinese girl: "对不起, 你能帮助我盖章吗?
Me: "Vegeta, what does the scouter say about the cuteness level of chinese girls?"
Vegeta: "its over 9000!!!!"
Me(to vegeta): "wth...@$@#%$#^#@$%#$@%@#$%"
Me(to chinese girl): "Anything for a lovely maiden like you"
Me PWNED


Looks like I have something else to add to my list of weaknesses...china girls...
I fell for it not once but twice...haha...well, from another point of view you could say I'm generous, kind, friendly, sweet and AWESOME!!!!

Seems like I sidetracked too much.
Some advice to people who want to visit a lot of pavillions in the shortest amount of time.
1) I really do not advice people to visit small pavillions, because there isn't much to look inside. This can be a great waste of time since you might spend some time queue or at least walking the queue.

You might wonder like how can the pavillions be small?
Although judging from the outside of the pavillion it looks massive, some pavillions only have 1 floor. This is because out of all the pavillions in the Expo, only 5 will be preserved, the rest are actually made with very simple architecture. By including a second level would increase the amount of engineering required. So some have a tall structure but very little area within.

Then how does one judge the size of the pavillion?
The smallest pavillion I visited was the Lebanon pavillion. It was small and very little things. In addition to that, I felt what was inside doesn't really represent Lebanon.

On hindsight I realise I could have judged the size from the map. In addition, I probably should have gone to the iranian pavillion which was next to it.

So looking at the 2 images above you should be above to get a grasp of what is big and what is not.

2) try to visit pavillions which do not have a compulsory show. Pavillions which have compulsory shows or performances tend to take people in batches and every batch depends on the number of people that can fit in and the length of the show.
Indonesia has a big pavillion and despite having a show, the queue is very fast, this is because, the show is an optional show.

3) Although I suggest not to visit small pavillions, big pavillions(with the exception of joint pavillions) tend to have very long queues.
Queue times are periodically announced on the speaker.
Take note and make appropriate decisions.
Saudi Arabia and Japan - 4-5 hours
England, Germany, France - 3-4 hours
It flucutates, so its important to know which ones are popular and its up to you whether you want to waste precious time queuing.

4) Time of the day matters, from the opening till around 4, there are usually long queues but towards the night, the queues get shorter. So maybe you can plan your program to visit popular pavillions at a later time. but bear in mind there is also a closing time.


5)Long queues are not the problem, stagnating ones are. There is no point in queuing for a pavillion where you wait very long for small batches of intakes. Its okay if the queue is long as long as there are people constantly walking in. I aim for pavillions which have moving queues and I think the longest I waited for was Belgium EU which was about 30-45 minutes despite the line being 6 times the length of the building(the queue coils around the building). Turkey has the longest queue I've walked the building is huge and line is long, but everybody is continuously walking in.

6) The main tourist within the expo are the domestic tourist from the different provinces in China. There are usually more interested in countries close to China as well as European and American countries which are more familiar to them. So you have to compete with them in the queue in the raging summer heat. Fortunately, its not humid in Shanghai and hence although you might perspire much, you wouldn't get sticky.

It seems these tips are enough for a part of my survival guide to 2010 world expo.
Its sufficient for anyone who wants to clear as many pavillions as possible.
Hope someone is able to beat my record of 23 pavillions in 2 days(its quite possible because I spend a lot of time reading the exhibits).
As all good gamers would say good luck have fun(glhf).

Expo 2010

You know the saying all good things come to an end, or in other words 天下无不散之宴席.
I was quite scared of going alone initially...I was like thinking on the plane..."what the hell am I getting myself into?". But it turned out fine...the aunties and uncles and the tour guide were pretty helpful.


The tour guide, Sam, on the right and the driver AKA Liu Shi Fu(刘师傅) on the left.


The tour group.
Its a small group though. It was suppose to be an 8 person group but someone got pregnant and then cannot make it for the tour and then 3 people dropped out. Its a well balance group with people coming from Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
The is Uncle David, Auntie Yulia, Sheryl and her aunt.


The sourveirs I bought back from the expo...Should have opened the boxes so you can see the silver coins and the shell stamps.