Day 155: Expo

I got back from Korea on the 26th and my host family took me to Gifu for the weekend right after. After getting back from Gifu, I took the next couple of days to rest (read: vegetate and roll around in my bed) since all the traveling really exhausted me.

Anyways, I'm back but before I go into my Korea trip, I thought I should finish up on Shanghai by talking about the World Expo.

For those of you who don't know, the World Expo is like a huge fair where countries from all over the world build pavilions that represent their respective countries.

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There was a crapload of people. There's no doubting that it was at the Expo that I really felt the impact of China's overpopulation. I did not appreciate it. Do people here not go to work?

 

 Australia.

 

Sweden.

 

 

Germany.

 

 

Russia.

 
 

China and Macao (the rabbit).

 

Vietnam.

 
 

South Korea.

 

Japan.

 

 

Saudi Arabia.

 
 

Morocco.

I didn't go into most of the big ones since the lines for them were absolutely ridiculous. The longest line was undoubtedly for the Saudi Arabian Pavilion. I believe they spent the most money on theirs so I guess everyone wanted to go see what they paid so much for. When I got there, the wait time was six hours. I heard there were days when it was ten.  Honestly, do these people not have jobs? 

Probably the biggest pavilion I was able to get into was France's, because if you eat at their restaurant (which was pricey), you can cut in front of the line. At night since there were less people (but the lines to get into Saudi Arabia and Japan were still three hours), I was able to get into the United Arab Emirates Pavilion. 

To be honest, as interesting of an experience as it was, I don't think I'd go to another World Expo. The entire event felt like one huge glamorized advertisement where countries try to show themselves off in hopes of boosting their tourism. This was especially flagrant when I went into the UAE Pavilion. After going inside, it was mostly them showing us a series of movies, which were honestly just really long commercials with camera-swooping cinematography and loud majestic music. Yes, I get it. Dubai has very pretty hotels. Thank you for reminding me that I will never be able to afford to go there. Unless they have a Motel 6 or Holiday Inn. 

I wouldn't say going to the Expo was a waste though because the one thing I really liked was the innovative and in most cases, amusing (Macao) architecture of the pavilions. I think my favorite was Morocco because of its simplicity; to me, it was just breathtaking, especially when I got inside.

Okay, I'm ending this post now because I really have to pee. I'll talk about Korea next time.