Monday, June 14, 2010

BEFORE YOU VISIT THE SHANGHAI EXPO, READ THIS FIRST...

Thinking of visiting the Shanghai Expo? Read this first before you finalize your travel plans. TY Pok shares his expo experience with Seniorsaloud. He writes:

This has been a physically and mentally taxing journey. The splendor and scale of the exhibition is staggering. The sea of people visiting the Expo is endless.


Between 450,000 and 520,000 visited the Expo daily during the period, June 6 to 8th, when we were there. The Kobe Expo attracted 60 million visitors. The Chinese want to beat this attendance record. They will succeed for sure.

This is my troupe getting ready to queue for entry into the Expo with our survival kit - stools, umbrellas, water bottles and dried food. 

We waited in queue 45 minutes just to enter the Expo entrance gate! The security screening at Expo entrance was as strict as that at Shanghai airport! The queue was 8 hours to enter Saudi Arabia Pavilion, 7 hours to China Pavilion, 6 hours to Japan Pavilion!The temperature of 30C was unforgiving. Squabbling, fighting and fainting was common.
That's me outside the China Pavilion. 

We managed to visit the China Pavillion by good fortune and spent three hours there. Each province put up an exhibition to highlight their uniqueness. The show was impressive.
  

Top: Yunnan Pavilion, Above: Malaysia Pavilion

We managed also to visit Singapore (60 min waiting), Malaysia (30 min), Indonesia (30 min), Philippines, Brunei, India, Vietnam, etc. We avoided the popular ones like Japan, Saudi Arabia, UK, Germany, Denmark, etc as the queue was too long.

As the temp was high and the crowd large, we scrapped the 3rd day visit to the Expo out of exhaustion. Instead we explored Shanghai city.


We visited the Jade Buddha temple, took a boat cruise along Huang Po River, went shopping in Nanjing Road, and spent the evening at Paramount Nightclub.


It was old Shanghai life style re-lived.

Impression :


The Expo 2010 is impressive and worth a good look. But only if you are physically fit, mentally strong to endure the hot weather and large crowd. We gave up after only two days.


From left: Loh Choon Sen, Tai Lip Tee, Mrs Tai, Mrs Loh, Judy

Three things you must take with you when you visit the Expo:
1. Umbrella - foldable one preferred
2. Foldable stool - to sit while you wait in queue
3. Empty bottle to collect drinking water provided FOC inside the Expo ground. No liquids allowed to be taken into the Expo premises.
4. You may want to bring a hat or cap, sun screen lotion, dry food or fresh fruit. Expo F&B prices are more than double the prices outside the Expo.
"Nasi lemak" at the Malaysia pavillion costs RMB50. That's RM24!


The sea of people consisted of over 95% yellow faces (Chinese, HK, Taiwan, Chinese Malaysians, Singaporeans), while Japanese, Indonesians, and Arabs made up the remaining 5%. White and brown faces were barely seen.


Is the financial crisis holding back the USA and Europeans?

If you are planning to visit the Expo, and need more travel advice and tips, send your queries to Seniorsaloud, and we shall forward them to TY Pok. 

1 comment:

pinsysu said...

wat lah ... can't the china ppl plan the event on cooler days instead of smack right into summer heat!