I discovered the downside of poorly planned trips when I went to the Expo 2010 world fair that is held through October 31 in Shanghai. After seeing an ad in the expo, I skimmed an article on the subject, paid a fee of $ 30 rush to secure a visa in a hurry, booked a hotel that was near the metro and went to China.
My sloppy spontaneity was no match for the expo, a growing business, requiring massive precision of a military campaign to conquer. I had no plan and no idea what to expect. Vaguely in the picture a larger version of taste “in” every town has festivals. What I found was more like a larger version of an exhibition of the geography of fourth grade, which tells each student to do a booth with information about their assigned country and its environmental efforts. Some children (Sweden) spend weeks on the elaborate displays that go beyond the subject, while others (Netherlands) print a list of facts from the tourist office the night before, and some just write the country name in glitter glue on a card. (Flag of Cuba consists only of a bar selling drinks Havana Club rum.)
Because I was so clueless about how the exposure really look, I made lots of mistakes in preparing for my trip. But, hey, I make mistakes so you do not have to. Here are my lessons learned:
Buy your tickets in advance. ticket lines at the gates of the exhibition are a long, long walk from the entrances. authorized ticket sellers can be found here: http://en.expo2010.cn/a/20090327/000001.htm
Investigation of the pavilions. I figured, with my ticket, I would like a glossy brochure and multilingual with a description of what each pavilion had to offer. What I have in hand, was a pictorial map in Chinese. Unless you are thinking about spending the rest of the summer at the Expo, will have to decide in advance which ones are worth your time. Expo website has a page listing the highlights of each pavilion: http://en.expo2010/. cn / pavilions / hqzg.htm
Make a plan. Deprived of my pamphlet imaginary, opted instead to just wander around for a while and see what it looked interesting. While I enjoyed seeing the wide variety of architectural styles and decoration of the pavilion, I quickly realized this approach was long and tiring. The site displays covering more than five square kilometers, so we need a strategy. My advice: Range of flags in the levels of “must see” and “would be good to see,” and then draw a route. Allot at least 90 minutes for the flag, and grouped by location – the site is so great that it is not feasible to hopscotch around.
Protect your skin. My sunscreen every day was about as effective as the defense of the Washington Generals. I thought I spend most of my time in halls with air conditioning, but the reality is, the waiting time for most of the pavilions at least one hour, and only a small part of each line is covered by awnings. With little shade and temperatures hovering around 100 degrees, it is easy to become dehydrated or sick. Use a sunscreen with high SPF water-resistant, and take an umbrella or umbrella to block the hot sun above. Also, you can not bring in bottled water, so the budget to buy a few bottles a day at the expo.
Note that the Chinese and Americans have different rules for the tail. The Chinese consider fellow line standers how Danica Patrick refers to the other drivers on the track – as obstacles to maneuver around by any means necessary. Queue jumping is a common place, people just step in front of you. Not in front of them. Instead, standing close to the people in front of you, physically block cutters potential (an elbow works well), and accept that will happen sometimes.
Do not bring young children. Did I mention the time lines? The heat? The fact that most buildings are multi-level and involve stairs? Children and parents alike would probably be happier with a trip to the park. And speaking of that …
Do not get trapped by drum expo. I waited nearly two hours to see the flag of Sweden because he had heard it was great fun – there’s a slide! And swing! Then I was inside, and saw the slide was about 15 feet long (and is open only three hours a day). You know where else I can find a playground and a 10? The park is five minutes from my house. There once in a lifetime, experiences they have had here, but riding a bike (Denmark) in the expo is no different from riding a home. Find news, otherwise, you’ll be disappointed.
Do not expect to expand their culinary horizons. I thought they flit from one booth to buy better food samples in each country. Reality: We are feeding half a million people per day. The dining halls have fast food, some of the national pavilions are above, but are forced to focus on quantity over quality, and most can not access without going through the input line flag.
Consider going in the evening. After 4 hours, the ticket price drops by half, and the sun drops to a point where you the warming, do not fry. In addition, many people have already been and gone. One caveat: At this point, some of the lines have become unwieldy length, with waiting times at popular pavilions (Japan, China, USA) Superior to four hours.
Do not be afraid to cut your losses. Six hours on my first day at the expo, I realized … the highlight of my day had been taking a nap on the fake grass in the Netherlands. He was exhausted, sunburned, and I was afraid to return the next day.
So I went back to what works for me. I went down to chance the subway at the Plaza del Pueblo, which is a hop-on bus tour, hop-off, and spent two days exploring Shanghai. And as night approached, I saw a small amusement park, with only seven games. I bought a ticket for a trip that revolved in circles because it became more and more top of the square. The next three minutes were pure, spontaneous joy: the wind blowing through his hair, the thrill of quick drops, camaraderie, to scream along with the Chinese girls who rode with me – another unexpected delight my best memories of trip.
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