Axis of Expo

I still had a lot to see at the Expo, so I went back the next day. This was my first go at getting there myself, and paying for entry. Taking the subway there wasn't too bad, but slow. You can take the subway to a particular station, enter the expo zone there (with security check and all), then take the special free Expo subway line from there to the actual site. I was able to get a student price for my ticket, and there weren't any lines (on a Saturday morning!), so there were no problems.

I decided to go to Asia, which is at the opposite end of the site from Europe and Africa. I passed the impressive China pavilion, which is of course featured in all the Expo advertising and has the longest line. Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau each have their own pavilions, which is interesting (although Palestine also has a pavilion, so I guess this isnt too strange). All of these, and India and Sri Lanka, had long lines. I saw something else interesting and decided to have a look.


China


Sri Lanka


The aliens from Independence Day?

The starship was in fact the World Expo Culture Centre, and of course, had a long line. So I kept looking around.


Aliens, India, Pakistan

Eventually I found one of the Asian joint pavilions - there are three. This one had such interesting countries (or otherwise) as Afghanistan, Syria and Palestine. I went to Afghanistan first, which was pretty nice. There were examples of Afghan art, such as clothing and decorated rifles from the 19th century. There was also a tent with Afghan carpets and another dummy in it. There was a man there selling carpets, and a big poster advertising his store at the Iqbal Market in Herat. There were also some nuts from Saeid Karem & Bros. and dried fruits from Aziz Baset Co. for sale.


I imagine it looks like the Iqbal market.



Palestine was next, and it had a reasonably long line too, possibly because of its fortress-style gate. Naturally, there were plenty of pictures of Yasser Arafat, and local handicrafts were on display. The capital of Palestine is Jerusalem, City of Peace, and there are wood carvings on sale with Christian, Jewish and Islamic motifs. There are posters about Palestine's investment environment (no mention of walls or blockades of course) and the whole pavilion is designed based on the sort of architecture I imagine is common in Jerusalem. It was a well-done pavilion and definitely worth visiting.







Next, I started my Axis of Evil tour with the Syrian Arab Republic. More nice architecture here, Arabic calligraphy, and the ubiquitous dummies. Syrian tourism is promoted with pictures of ancient castles and other archaeological sites around Damascus. Another well-done pavilion.







The Expo draws tourists from all over China, including places like Anhui or Hunan which are a bit out of the way and where they don't see many foreigners. Being so handsome, and a rare sight for some of these people, I had a lot of people want to get photos with me. Two kids from Chongqing wanted a photo in Syria, and we walked out together and chatted for a bit. I wanted to go to Iran next, but they'd already been, so we separated. It is interesting to consider the different viewpoints on these countries here - China and Iran are relatively friendly. The Iran pavilion seems to be quite popular, and not just because of the name.





It looked quite nice going in, with arches and decorated doors. Pictures of their President and religious leaders (ayatollahs?) adorn the entrance hall. Going inside, there were some ancient statues, and more unusual displays like Iran's first cloned goat, surrounding a huge hall. In the centre of the hall, a man was belting out Persian songs nonstop.



Upstairs there were Persian carpets for sale and a stall selling "Iran juice". You can get a different view of the singer upstairs as well, but it's a bit crowded. Going back downstairs are some pictures of historical sites in Iran, like Persepolis. By the exit is a mural of Iranian life, of course including Dr. Ahmadinejad.





Conveniently situated next door was the North Korean pavilion. The outside is square, with a DPRK flag on one side and a blue sky on another, so not much to look at.



Inside one wall is a photo of Pyongyang backing a miniature of the Juche Tower. On the other side are some caves and a small Korean-style pagoda. The centrepiece of the pavilion is a fountain, which has coloured lights and a statue of happy children dancing around and releasing a dove. Naturally, the DPRK is sold as a "Paradise for People". Judging by other countries, I'd expected to see a portrait of the Dear Leader here. There wasn't one, but there was a collection of his writings, some of which were for sale. There were also images of Pyongyang, and more traditional Korean art for sale.






There was a really cool looking one on a back shelf with an old picture of Kim Jong Il on the cover, but they wouldn't let me have it.

After finishing my Axis of Evil tour, I had a look around. I managed to find the South Korean pavilion, though it's not visible from the North Korean one they are not far from each other. It is a big blocky thing covered in Korean characters. It looked pretty cool. There was a long line to get into the pavilion, and an even longer one for the Japan pavilion next door, which was an enormous pink blob. I had some Pakistani food for lunch, which wasn't as good as I hoped.







I decided to line up for Kazakhstan. It's a place I'm interested in, I have a few friends from there, and I had no idea what could be in there. I had to line up for a while to get in, but it was definitely worth it. Everyone coming out the other end had huge grins on their faces which kept me in the line (quite a few people gave up in the heat). The first section was fully interactive - you can wave your arms around to control a bird flying around Almaty on a screen, and there are guides showing information about parts of Kazakhstan on table screens (MS Surface or something similar). They only let 50 people in at a time which is why the line moved so slowly, but it made it possible to enjoy this section. Next was a big 3D movie showing the natural beauty of Kazakhstan, traditional horsemen and falcons. Very cool. Finally, probably the most surprising and impressive thing I saw at the whole expo. We went into a room where they made it snow. It was all made to look like the mountains of Kazakhstan, and all the guides were dressed in furs. This was one of the best pavilions I went to, not least because it was completely unexpected. Clearly no expense has been spared to promote Kazakhstan tourism. It didn't end there, but with a woman singing Kazakh songs and playing a small guitar-like instrument.




The screen above her has greetings from around the world.

After the Kazakh experience, I walked around and had a closer look at the Korean pavilion. The line wasn't shrinking at all, but there was a display of Korean food, a restaurant and a balcony which could be accessed without lining up. I didn't go for the restaurant, but there were some nice views from upstairs.







Next was another joint pavilion, since I felt I'd stood in line long enough for Kazakhstan. More interesting countries in this one. I went into Laos first, which had some nice architecture and wood carvings.



Next was Myanmar, known as Burma before the coup if I'm not mistaken. This one was almost all wood carvings and traditional musical instruments. Both Myanmar and Laos have xylophones.



I continued to a well-presented, interesting looking section - Iraq. The line for this one went out the building and around the corner. They had some posters on the wall for the people lining up, about Iraq's ancient history - the city of Ur and cuneiform script. Inside, a lot of inspiration is taken from the One Thousand and One Nights, with a sultan reclining in the centre of the room, and the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Theives told in Chinese and pictures on the walls. Items for sale included the type of lamps you might expect a genie to come out of, and Aladdin DVDs.







I was enjoying these joint pavilions, so I went to the third Asian one. The first place I saw in here was Mongolia. There were pictures of Genghis Khan and a giant dinosaur egg. Fossils from the Gobi desert were on display. This is a rich area for dinosaur fossils, lots of finds are on display at the Inner Mongolia museum in Hohhot as well. They were selling Chinggis vodka.





Across from Mongolia was the People's Republic of Bangladesh. This was nice, focusing on animals and tourism, and they had a stand selling ice cream and mango juice. There was a very popular woman doing henna tattoos as well.



Next to Bangladesh was the Kyrgyz Republic. This one was strange and interesting. In the centre were five very old-looking stone figures, with old Kyrgyz art above them, lit in blue for an eerie feel. More traditional handicrafts including dolls, and a Kyrgyz dwelling which looks like a yurt (they may have their own name for it).





Next along was Tajikistan. Another nice display of architecture and history. Many pavilions try to emphasize their country's connection with China, one of the characters in the show at the end of the Australian pavilion is a descendant of Chinese immigrants. Tajikistan chooses to show its connection with some photos of their president meeting Hu Jintao.





The next pavilion, East Timor, was interesting to see. It's a small country which Australia has contributed a lot of support to since they gained independence from Indonesia in the 90s. They had tribal art and videos on display in their relatively small area. It was a great example of how even a small, poor country like this can be relatively popular at the Expo easily, by being one of the few places with seats.



I then went into Lebanon, which has its own separate pavilion, hoping for some Lebanese food. Unfortunately it was quite similar to the Egypt pavilion and didn't have food. I left searching for something interesting to eat, but ran into an unexpected stroke of luck. I ran into two girls who had wanted a photo with me earlier, and one of them asked if I wanted to see the China pavilion. She was a tour guide, and had a reservation she didn't want to use, so she gave it to me. Of course I was very thankful for this. I wasn't expecting to see it as it was the most popular pavilion in the Expo and thus at times had a 6 hour wait attached to it. The reserved ticket doesn't get you straight in, but cuts the line down to half an hour. The pavilion is an inverted ziggurat on four large supports - lining up is done underneath the massive structure, then you are taken up in lifts in the support columns.




The lifts are styled as Chinese high-speed trains.

You are given a genuine Chinese experience right from the start, as as many people as possible are jammed into the lifts. First everyone is gathered in a hall, with video scenes on the ceiling showing scenes from Chinese city life, and sparkly lights on the walls. The next part is "Reminiscence", showing how Chinese homes have changed in 30 years through furniture styles and technology (change over the last 30 years is the focus throughout).





After this, we were taken to see a movie, projected on an almost 360-degree screen. There were more people than seats, of course. I sat on the floor to enjoy this epic tale of China over the last 30 years. It of course contained all the favourite Chinese motifs - great industry and comradeship, coming together to help after the Sichuan earthquake (which could be described as China's 9/11), and of course a love story to frame the whole thing. The message is basically "look how far we have come".

Next is a tunnel, on the side of which is a projection of a Song-dynasty scroll (which traditionally are very long and show very large and complex scenes), which has been animated, so throughout the scenes of traditional life, people are moving around and going about their daily business. This was very nice and impressive. There was a side path in the tunnel through which you can see a terracotta chariot with four horses which guarded the tomb of Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of China (the chariot, in turn, was guarded by two of Beijing's finest).



Next was the Land of Hope, which had a green focus, so perhaps reflecting a hope that Chinese cities will become greener. Flourescent trees give way to real plants forming part of a concept of how a Chinese home might look in a future green city. There are also examples of current innovations in agriculture, like super rice.

Then we were shepherded through to Children's Aspiration, which shows paintings by children from all over China, imagining the future. This is a path leading to the Dialogue, which starts with some text scrolling on LED signs (the Chinese love their LED signs), before everyone is herded onto a train. The train goes through an odd landscape full of flashing lights. There are bridges, and then a strange forest, city scenes and rock formations. I have no idea what it was supposed to be about, but it was nice.

After this was The Vision, which was essentially all about reducing carbon emissions and use of fossil fuels. Wind turbines, biodiesel production, solar panels and electric cars were on display. More LED displays as well, showing statistics (wonder how much power those things are using?).





This was the last section, and an escalator dumps you next to the base of the pavilion. There is a garden here, and a gift shop. I had a bit more of a look at the pavilion, and a sit down before leaving.





I finally had my dinner at the back of the Sri Lanka pavilion, some nice samosas. The Chinese people I sat with didn't agree. I then headed back, and got significantly further than the last time before I ran out of trains. This seems to be common as there are taxi ranks set up outside that station, and plenty of locals lining up for cabs. I managed to find some others going to the university where I was staying, so shared a cab with them.