World Expo, Part I

So, first day at the Expo was a lot of fun! As we walked into the Asian section, we saw the China Pavilion. Even in the late afternoon there were lines and lines of people waiting to get in.

We saw this interesting sculpture on our way in.

Since we didn't want to wait in line for eight hours to see the China Pavilion, we toured the nearby Chinese Provinces Pavilion. This was a huge building with a display room for each of China's provinces and special administrative areas. Each province proudly presented its unique culture and history with a creative performances, models, and interactive displays. Since the place was so large there were barely any lines.

Then we explored some of the "smaller" countries' pavilions in the Asia Square which did not have too many crowds. Inside each pavilion are displays and exhibitions which present the country's unique characteristics and culture. Some of them also have gift shops. Here's Iran.

Oman.

Pakistan.

Lebanon.

Myanmar.

I'm really glad we went at night because it is gorgeous with all the lights!

Here are some of the more popular pavilions that we did not have a hope of getting into without waiting in line for hours. It was still nice to look at them from the outside though - the architecture is so amazing.

Here's UAE.

South Korea.

I'm not sure if Qatar had a line or not but we passed it on the way out and realized we hadn't seen it!

Oh well, there was no way we could have seen everything. It would have taken at least a week - and this was just for the Asia Square!

Okay, I'll Try My Best...

This is random, but I saw the funniest "Chinglish" tonight in a rather fancy restaurant. I wish I had my camera then.

In the bathroom stall, on a neat little sign:

"Please avoid being thrown into the toilet to avoid flushing debris."

A Tale of Two Koreas

I'm in Shanghai! Right now it's really late and we are waking up early to go back to the Expo tomorrow, so I can't write up a full recap of the first day. But there were some interesting things that happened...

Our flight from Shenzhen to Shanghai was delayed - and it was not just any ordinary delay. It was caused by the military exercises that South Korea and the U.S. are jointly practicing just off the Korean peninsula. Here's a link to an article about this.

I think this is the first time such an international incident directly affected a part of my life, albeit not in a very drastic way. Still, I can understand now why China feels threatened sometimes by the U.S., even though the military drills are supposed to be defensive. They are happening right by the coast, and if anything were to happen China would definitely be affected.

So we didn't make it to the Expo until 5PM, which was just as well since then we were able to purchase the half-day tickets. I will recap everything that we saw and did in the next post. There were crowds at all of the major pavilions, such as China and Saudi Arabia. I decided to go view some of the not-so-popular pavilions. The first that popped to mind was North Korea.

Yep, it was pretty empty compared to the other pavilions. So it was late at night, but many other pavilions still had lines waiting outside. The North Korean pavilion was also really small, with only one room and one floor, and there was not too much to look at. Oh well, at least I can say I went to the North Korean pavilion.

Okay, more tomorrow!

Goodbye, Changsha

So I'm actually back in Shenzhen for a few days before heading to the World Expo in Shanghai. I left Changsha by train on Sunday night. On my camera there still are many random pictures of my Changsha days.

Does this above dish look familiar? It is hotpot, and I had it once in Beijing here. Only this time, I remembered to take pictures of the many different foods that we cooked in the soup.

For example, we had fish balls, noodles, cabbage, hot dogs...

...bok choy, more fish balls, more cabbage, imitation crab...

...and second helpings of all of the above. Blame my cousin, who ordered 2 portions of every single dish. Still, it was really cheap! Including drinks, the whole meal added up to about 50 Yuan, which is about $8. Insane!

Here is a hole-in-the-wall place that my cousin and her friends like to frequent in downtown Changsha. It specializes in hot and sour noodles.

On another day, my oldest cousin treated us to lunch at a Japanese sushi place. It was a really fun restaurant where the sushi is plated and placed upon a conveyor belt. When we saw something we liked we would remove it from the belt. Each plate was colored differently to indicate a different price. After we were finished eating the waitress calculated the price by looking at the number and type of empty plates we had.

This next photo was actually not taken in Changsha but Xiangyin, the little town where my paternal grandparents live. It's a billboard proudly showing off the three students in the town who got accepted into the top two Chinese universities. One is Qinghua University and the other is Beijing University. Underneath their photo are their examination scores. I think this really shows not only the importance of education but also the closeness of the citizens of this small town.

I just thought this next sign was strange but witty. "Save Maoney Everyday." It's in a large Wal-mart in Changsha.

Well, I'm off to see the Expo! Wish me luck that I won't have to wait in lines for eight hours each day!

Beijing, Part V

On Sunday, I headed to my last and some would say most important destination - The Great Wall. However, the weather was not the best for viewing this national treasure. It was extremely foggy. Even though it was early Sunday morning at 8 AM, and even though the weather was bad, there were still tons of tourists.

We went to the Badaling section of the Wall.

The Great Wall is divided up into sections by these guard towers. In case you did not know, the Wall was built to protect China from the Mongol invaders of the north. Many people died while building the wall, and apparently it was not too effective in warding off invasions.

It started becoming even foggier...

I really couldn't see much beyond the walls, which was a shame. I hear that the scenery is usually very beautiful.

Then it started raining! The only thing worse than being stuck in a huge crowd of eager and impatient tourists is being stuck in a huge crowd of eager and impatient tourists with umbrellas. Each person took up twice as much space.

It became really crowded. There was a roadblock ahead at one of the towers so sadly I did not make it to the top. Apparently, there is a Chinese saying that you aren't a real man until you climb to the top of the Great Wall. Hey, I climbed to the peak of Hua Mountain, which was much more physically exerting!

Oh well, there's always next time! Next time, I will make sure to journey to the Wall at an odd hour such as 4 AM Wednesday morning to avoid the crowds. Hopefully the sun will be shining then as well.