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).
No comments:
Post a Comment