We heard so much hype about the Shanghai 2010 Expo that we had to visit ourselves to find out what the buzz was all about. When we (Ms Gucci with Mr Ferragamo) got there during the last 10 days of the expo ... mayhem! There were over 1,000,000 visitors per day on the 5 hectare exhibit area. In general, it was an international travel show which highlights art works and images from different participating countries. There weren't much products available (only China-made ones) which was quite disappointing from a business perspective.
From the entrance, you have to pass through the x-ray area and take a train to the desired pavilion you want to visit (of which there were plenty - most popular are: Japan, Saudi Arabia and Australia). Sounds easy? Not a chance. The queue was horrendous. On average, before you get inside ONE pavillion, you have to stand in line for approximately 2.5 - 3.5 hours. Once you are inside, you finish the viewing of an entire pavillion in approximately 15 minutes. The crowd was more local, such as busloads of mainland farmers from all over China's provinces. There were old and young people who waited for the pavillions to open, some even brought their kids - many of whom were screaming and crying. Two men behind us started fighting and almost came to blows for God knows what reason. We should have guessed from the various food bags and large containers of water the people brought that it was going to be a loooong wait. Strangely enough we even saw a man eating a raw cucumber in line (what the?) and hard boiled eggs.
On the second day we were there (yes, we went back despite the first day of torturous wait), it was windy and it rained heavily. As an added bonus - we got soaked (greaaaat).
On the upside, we enjoyed some retail therapy at Plaza 66, which was a high-end mall at Shanghai. There were many designer brands available although the prices are way too high as compared to anywhere else in the world (we heard the reason for that was that their taxes were quite steep). We also visited Chinatown and did some sight-seeing.
In general, we always heard how progressive Shanghai was so we had high expectations when we got there. And we were kind of disappointed with the trip.
Shown below are the photos that we had taken. Enjoy!
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| Entrance Ticket to the Expo |
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| The Long Queue Outside the Thai Pavillion |
What's for breakfast?
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| Hard Boiled Egg |
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| Bread |
And cucumber??
Funny Signs:
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| "Waste Sorting and No Littering" |
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| "Polite Language and No Noising" |
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| "Polite Sharing and No Challenging" |
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| Japanese Pavillion |
Display of Robotic Technology from Japan:
