We spent one full day at the World Expo, and really, an entire month wouldn't have been enough. The place is massive. I've read that the Chinese government forced 55,000 people out of their homes to mow down enough space to accommodate over 230 pavilions (one for each country participating, not including countries with joint pavilions) and dozens of additional tech pavilions on both sides of the Huangpu River. We had enough time to visit 10.
It was a 30 minute subway ride to a security checkpoint where we transferred to the special Expo line (yes, they built a brand new subway line for the sole purpose of transporting visitors to and from the Expo). Upon arrival, we agreed that our first line of business would be to snag something to eat. I was hoping for something exotic, Sami made a v-line for KFC. I was quite angry with this, and threw a little mini fit. One bite of the chicken sandwich and I forgot why I was so upset (although I still had to act the part, I can't just let her win that easily). It is hard to be mad when tasting mayonnaise. I love it (Sami and Koreans hate it, which frustrates me to no end) and hadn't had it in months. When I visit home I am going to walk around with a jar of it and constantly rub it on my gums.
There was no agenda for our day at the Expo. All we knew was that we wanted to see the U.S. pavilion and the China pavilion. Normally, Sami likes to plan out every detail of an excursion, so I wasn't quite sure how she would hold up.
At Europe Square, the first pavilion the first building that caught my eye was the Spain Pavilion. It looked like it was made out of wicker baskets. I wanted to go in there, thinking that there would be a Spanish ham tasting room. There probably wasn't, and Sami did not want to go there anyway. We made our way to the Switzerland Pavilion instead.
Spain Pavilion
There was an enormous queue at the Switzerland Pavilion, but there were relatively few people in line. We serpantined through the empty line back and forth passing by the same people on the other side of the rope each time. When we did get to the front of the line, everyone made a mad dash up a paved incline which featured mounted binoculars that showed panoramic views of the Swiss Alps. Apparently, Chinese are like Koreans in that they don't give a shit about waiting for their turn. One little kid would sprint in front of me and shove his face in the binoculars every time I went to bend down. Bastard.
There was a nice little video and display room inside that showed off the best of Switzerland, but we buzzed through that and went straight for the chairlift. The chairlift was Sami's favorite part of the day and it was a great opportunity to take a look at the rest of the Expo from above. From the top, we could see many of the more popular (architecturally speaking) pavilions such as the U.K. Pavilion. There were gardens and greenery all along the inside wall as well as the roof of the Switzerland Pavilion. These vertical gardens were a definite trend at the Expo, and I would bet that they will be quite common in urban areas here in the near future.
Switzerland Pavilion (top) and the inside of the chairlift (bottom)
After Switzerland, we headed next door to the France Pavilion. I would love to go to France someday and wander around and get fat and drunk. It looks like my kind of place where the people can be lazy and take their pleasures seriously. The countryside also looks beautiful, especially the Pyrenees. Sami, however, has no desire to go there. She is a history buff and always mutters something about wars and rudeness when I bring up France. Anyway, I had to settle for the pavilion.
The main courtyard housed some extraordinary vertical gardens and a large fountain. I felt that the France Pavilion did a nice job of showing off the best of what the country had to offer. Inside there was an area with frantic French chefs (actually, most of them were Chinese, but you get the idea) scurrying and whisking about in a room behind a windowed wall. There were also Cartier and Louis Vuitton showrooms and electronic walls showing the sun rise over various neighborhoods in Paris. There was also a wall of fine art featuring the works of famous artists like Van Gogh and Cezanne. When we left the pavilion we stopped at the attached French bakery and bought two croissants from a Chinese guy.
The France Pavilion
The electronic wall showing Paris
Art by Cezanne
After France, we swung by The Netherlands Pavilion, which had kind of a funhouse feel in addition to a pretty sweet solar powered car.
The Pavilion behind Sami is the U.K. Pavilion
Next we went into the Luxembourg Pavilion, which had yet another rooftop garden. It also had about a dozen or 15 individual six-feet tall by two-and-a-half-feet wide screens where when you would walk up to them a digital person would talk to you about their everyday life in Luxembourg.
Sami and I went into the Ireland Pavilion to pay homage to the majority of our ancestry. The inside celebrated the 3,000 year history of the Emerald Isle and showed off famous places like the Jameson Distillery, and famous people like James Joyce and Bono. My favorite exhibit showed how the typical Irish home has evolved over the years.
The Turkey Pavilion (located right next to the Ireland Pavilion and proving that geography played little part in the placement of pavilions) was chaotic on the inside, not due to the number of visitors, but because it was completely dark except for neon lights that would beam down on famous artifacts. It was kind of like a disco museum, only with loud, chanting music. However, at the top floor of the pavilion there was a very cool 360 degree panoramic view of Istanbul that would change to different parts of the city.
After lunch at a Bulgarian restaurant where I had musaka, which was good, and Sami had a grilled chicken breast which was not, we checked out the Denmark Pavilion. This pavilion has gotten a lot of attention because they shipped their most famous statue "The Little Mermaid," inspired by the Hans Christian Anderson story, to Shanghai. The pavilion also had bikes that you could rent and ride to the top. We walked and laughed at the comparisons to Denmark and China painted on the walls. Denmark has one city with a population over 1 million. China has over 160.
As it was getting later and we weren't quite sure how long the lines were going to be, we rushed to the U.S. Pavilion. To say we were disappointed with the U.S. Pavilion would be putting it mildly. Much has been written about the abortion that is the U.S. Pavilion- how the lazy media never questioned the government's claim that no public funding could be used for a World Expo, how the engineering bid was given to a couple with family ties to some government decision maker and how Hillary Clinton had to scramble at the last minute and garner funding from large private corporations after the project went (surprise) over budget. If you are the least bit interested in learning about this, I strongly suggest you read this article. As for me, I will give you our initial thoughts, strictly from a tourists perspective.
First off, the architecture was uninspiring and looked like something that wouldn't be out of place in a Beaverton strip mall. The food that they served in the attached restaurant was your typical fast, cheap and greasy. Once herded inside, we stood and stared at a large screen. We were greeted by a group of college bi-lingual ambassadors. Even though these were obviously very intelligent students (after all, they speak Chinese!), we were not impressed. No other pavilion required kids making bad jokes that did not break the cultural barrier. The first movie we saw, while standing, was nothing more than Americans, both famous and not, attempting to say hello in Chinese. Cute. There might as well have been a large sign that read, "Look at us Americans! We are dumbbutts, but at least we can laugh at ourselves!" Ok, maybe that sounds pretty harsh. I guess you had to be there. Next, we were herded to a second movie theater, where we were greeted by taped welcomes from Hillary and President Obama. The short 7-10 minute movie had kids talking about how great cities are going to be ("they are going to have cloud pillows, where you can lay on a cloud!"). The idea was that we should be inspired by kids who have no limits to their imaginations. I get that, but other countries are out there actually promoting their country. We have not tooted our horn at all. Not even a little toot. Lastly, we were taken to a third and final movie theater which screened another 7-10 minute short. This was a music video (no speaking) about a girl who wants to grow a garden in the middle of a trashy part of a city. She overcomes adversity and eventually gets her multi-cultural neighbors to pitch in. After the movie we were ushered to a room which served the purpose of thanking the corporate sponsors who ponied up the cash to pay for the $65 million movie theater (the three films alone cost $25 million. This is more to produce than this year's Oscar winner The Hurt Locker).
I hadn't read anything about the U.S. Pavilion before experiencing it, but the more I thought about it, the more I was disappointed. After researching, it is easy to see why it failed. First, it reminded me of a college group assignment where one group just doesn't understand the grading criteria or objective. While other countries were expressing their vision of the future of urban areas and showing off the best of their country- maybe to boost tourism, we were saying to the Chinese "Look, we are here! We like you! We are your friend!" We were more interested in getting our sponsors' logos on the wall.
The other bummer is that I doubt that anyone back at home even cares that the Expo is going on, or is worried about how we present ourselves. Other countries get their citizens involved and have them vote on architectural designs. We could care less.
In stark contrast to the U.S. Pavilion was the China Pavilion. The China Pavillion is massive and will remain a permanent fixture on the site while most others will be torn down. We were completely overwhelmed by the size and scope of the Chinese Pavilion, and felt that we could have spent a day there and still not seen everything. There was a different room for each Chinese province, and multiple floors that we just couldn't get around to. I heard that there was a giant electronic mural of an ancient Chinese painting where the people and animals in the picture actually moved around like they were alive. Just one of the many things we missed.
The last two pavilions we hurried to were North and South Korea. We thought that North Korea was going to be bizarre, but it turned out to be only slightly creepy- way less than we though. Despite the outlandish props, you could tell that there wasn't too much money pumped into it. Why would the want to take any away from the military?
We honestly didn't get to see too much of the South Korea Pavilion because there was a performance going on. The outside of the pavilion was pretty cool. The theme was hangeul which is the form of writing that King Sejong created to help improve illiteracy in Korea. It is used today and is a very simple form of writing when compared to Chinese and Japanese.
By this point, our legs and feet were aching. We headed back toward the Exp subway to catch a few minutes of rest before our night river tour of The Bund. We realized that we had just experienced something that we would remember for the rest of our lives. We felt fortunate to see such a magnificent event, if only a sliver.
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