All work and no play makes me a dull boy

A few days ago, I decided to take a day off and finally check out what the World Expo was all about.  The Shanghai government gave every legal resident household a free ticket and 200rmb to thank them for putting up with the construction and preparation but the ticket expires in Aug, so I had to go by today.  I didn't do too much homework - just went online to check out the buzz on some of the best pavilions and then printed put the schedule of events, which seemed to be pretty repetitive and small-time.

Took a cab to West Yanan Lu and wanted to catch Line 4 to Luban Lu, one of the Expo entrances on  the Puxi side, but I forgot that two lines both run off the same track and lost about half an hour . Doh! At least this happened on a day when I wasn't in a rush. Might as well get used to waiting.

10 min walk from subway stop and I was there. Lots of space for queues but no lines, through security in 5 min (don't bring liquids or lighters).

Went to check the event calendar and found there was a Gracie Brazilian jiujitsu (what I train) demo at night!
Then I started wandering in a general direction in that area. 

World Expo Museum - skip, just some audiovisual screens on past exhibitions, not even a narrative

Pavilion of urban footprint - not bad. Supposed to be the evolution of cities, but there are just a lot of static displays and no narrative our explanation of significance.  Actually there are a few videos that had some text, but no one was reading.  Kind of like drive-bys.  Looking at how many cameras are going off around me though, I guess this is what the chinese market wants. Photo opps and cheesy disneyland-like displays.  Been there, done that.  It's a little depressing to see especially around the displays that atte explaining concepts like sustainability that more chinese could be exposed to.

Japan Commercial Pavilion - only had to wait 17 min for this one, even less than the 30 min posted. It was a series of about 7 short marketing pieces by japanese companies.  Some were gee whiz (3D), others emotional, what's funny is that you had no options on what to see. Just had to watch all.  The highlight was that a few (about 10%) of the visitors won an invite in their gift bags to visit the"worlds most expensive bathroom". My luck held out and I had one.  Other than a solid gold toilet, however, this was no different than any nice Japanese office bathroom.

Next, I decided to go check out a different area. I went to Area B, Oceania and Asia, taking the free subway one stop.

Australia - impressive red block building very much in character with the Outback. I have been to Australia a few times and spent a fair amount of time there, but the line was short. the 360 theater was technologically nifty but lacking in content.

NZ - Virtually no wait.  I was drawn by the polynesian/mauri dancing performance, but they actually had a decent pavilion.  I thought it didn't do a good job capturing the amazing scenery and overemphasized the cities, but I guess that was intentional. to offset that though, they had this sort of landscape on top that even had a live wall of plants.  air seemed cleaner.

Philippines - No wait either.  given the recent killings of HK tourists due in part to police incompetence, I would have expected some backlash and one of the workers said that that there had been some response, but mostly not nasty. this pavilion was very accurate to how I know the philippines. Focused on music and disorganized.  But one thing made this a favorite for me: free massage.  Yep, masseuses from the Shangrila Hotel gave 10 min massages. was very nice.

Given how the lines were so light and after some food court workers told me that this was the fewest people they'd seen in awhile, I decided to go spend my remaining time this trip on the more crowded things.

Made my way to China. That building is imposing. Holy cow. Best place to take good photos is from the neighboring sky bridge that connects to all the retail and restaurants.  Unfortunately I couldn't get in because I hadn't pre-registered.  They give those out every morning at 9am at all of the gates.  I asked one of the info booth volunteers which gate had the fewest people and she said gate# 2, on Puxi side.  I also checked out Macau's pavilion from the outside but couldn't get a good photo. It is in the shape of a rabbit.  As one China blogger put it, didn't a single person on the Macau committee stop and say, "Wait a second, it's a fucking bunny??"

Turkey - 10am min wait, nifty architecture, and almost like a museum inside. They are also the first I'd seen to use bluetooth to send details as you walked through the pavilion.  Good idea.

Ireland - the "look how many famous Irish there are!" pavilion. I waited 15 min  which was about 10 min longer than this exhibit was worth. nice grass on the outside.

England - I mainly went just to see the building architecture. There are fiber optic cables all on the outside, supposedly each with a seed inside.  The net effect is that the pavilion looks like a fluffy koosh ball or maybe a dandelion. This is one design concept that must new seen to be believed.  It really does look shiny and round from a distance and then hazy up close. My camera even had a tough time focusing! There was still a big line and I've seen enough of the UK, so have it a skip.

France - this was the last pavilion I had time for and it was worth it because I can definitely say that without a doubt it was the most impressive pavilion I saw all day. First, it looked nice outside. Sophisticated, classy, cubist.  Wait was less than 20 min. Inside the courtyard, out looked a little like a French estate garden.  The theme was the "sensual life" so obviously there was a lot of emphasis on indulging the senses. The thought that came to me as I was walking through was a science and technology museum (which I ve always loved). Lots of overactive exhibits, lots of pizzazz for a reason. There were booths that had smells, lots of surround sound, and one cool thing was that they had the kitchen of the attached french restaurant integrated into the exhibits. 

After this, I had to get to the BJJ demo, so I got back over to E District. It was a pretty good show put on by another local school with attendance from fighters from Brazil and Abu Dhabi.  They did have random dancers, doing everything from traditional Chinese dress to Brazilian Carnevale costumes to cheerleader outfits which was weird.  Mixed in with bloody scenes of mixed martial arts, ultimate fighting championships and hard hitting demos, they also had some wushu and soft flowing taichi performances that really looked more like a dance performance.  Weird.

So 9 exhibits in about 10 hrs plus watching two shows was a pretty good day.