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The Expo (I)
Oct. 19th, 2010 07:16 pmIt's huge. o_O I mean, I've been to something similar - Disney World-Epcot-MGM - but the whole thing will be taken down in a month, which is a very odd thought. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cynic_in_charge called while I was there and informed me that her volunteer friends said the best times to queue up were 10AM and 2PM. This is because 10AM is the earliest one can arrive at the pavilion of one's choice, and 2PM is when the ppl who came in at 9AM (like me) suddenly run out of steam. XD; I'm not quite sure whether it was dehydration, jet lag (in Montreal 2AM would be my upper-bound bedtime), lack of caffeine, or indigestion (PROTIP don't go into a conveyor-belt-style dimsum diner experience while extremely hungry, you will end up loading up on dodgy fried things and beer) - actually, it was probably all of the above - but it took me weirdly, in the form of vague nausea and a sudden catastrophic failing of my Crowd Filter (that is the thing in your brain that keeps you from fully registering the fact that you are surrounded by a million people all making noise and pressing down on you with their thoughts on every side). I have a robust, made-in-China Crowd Filter, and typically only see it fail in other ppl, usually as a prelude to a fainting spell, but it has actually gotten worse as I get older - and if there is one place and time where you don't want the thing to give out, it is in the dead centre of the Shanghai World Expo. XD;; I went up to the skywalk and lay down on a bench (expressly forbidden as of course Chinese ppl will siesta everywhere, volunteers come and tsk at you) and made myself drink water and listened to dubstep very loudly so I couldn't hear other people. It mitigated and after I managed to obtain coffee I was right as rain again. But still, very odd.
Pavilions visited (apart from the urban-themed ones):
* Argentina
* New Zealand
* India
* The Sultanate of Oman
I tried for countries I was curious about, probably won't be visiting soon, and had short queues. XD Dude if I stand in line for five hours there had better be the entire Uffizi Palace or something at the end of it... The Indian pavilion smelled rather comfortingly Indian even from the outside haaa. I thought it would be the only one to smell like anything, but they were burning frankincense in Oman's. I didn't know frankincense was an Oman thing (... I now know 250% more about the Sultanate of Oman than I used to).
The rule seems to be Everyone Gets A Pavilion. Even Taiwan has a perfectly nice pavilion, on the other side of the big red Chinese one from HK and Macau. It was Palestine Pavilion Day yesterday, with dancing, although idk that the dancers looked all that Palestinian /rolls There is a massive lovely South Korea pavilion that looks like it's made out of the stuff of cyberspace in Summer Wars, and a bit further along (beyond Oman) a scary-looking North Korea one skulking behind Iran's /rollssomemore Actually, USA/Canada are way at the other end right next to Door 8 where I came in, as if physically separating the pavilions by the length of the Expo grounds would keep them from threatening to bomb each other. Canada is right opposite Russia, though! They are both much nicer than the American one ahahaha.
cynic_in_charge called while I was there and informed me that her volunteer friends said the best times to queue up were 10AM and 2PM. This is because 10AM is the earliest one can arrive at the pavilion of one's choice, and 2PM is when the ppl who came in at 9AM (like me) suddenly run out of steam. XD; I'm not quite sure whether it was dehydration, jet lag (in Montreal 2AM would be my upper-bound bedtime), lack of caffeine, or indigestion (PROTIP don't go into a conveyor-belt-style dimsum diner experience while extremely hungry, you will end up loading up on dodgy fried things and beer) - actually, it was probably all of the above - but it took me weirdly, in the form of vague nausea and a sudden catastrophic failing of my Crowd Filter (that is the thing in your brain that keeps you from fully registering the fact that you are surrounded by a million people all making noise and pressing down on you with their thoughts on every side). I have a robust, made-in-China Crowd Filter, and typically only see it fail in other ppl, usually as a prelude to a fainting spell, but it has actually gotten worse as I get older - and if there is one place and time where you don't want the thing to give out, it is in the dead centre of the Shanghai World Expo. XD;; I went up to the skywalk and lay down on a bench (expressly forbidden as of course Chinese ppl will siesta everywhere, volunteers come and tsk at you) and made myself drink water and listened to dubstep very loudly so I couldn't hear other people. It mitigated and after I managed to obtain coffee I was right as rain again. But still, very odd.Pavilions visited (apart from the urban-themed ones):
* Argentina
* New Zealand
* India
* The Sultanate of Oman
I tried for countries I was curious about, probably won't be visiting soon, and had short queues. XD Dude if I stand in line for five hours there had better be the entire Uffizi Palace or something at the end of it... The Indian pavilion smelled rather comfortingly Indian even from the outside haaa. I thought it would be the only one to smell like anything, but they were burning frankincense in Oman's. I didn't know frankincense was an Oman thing (... I now know 250% more about the Sultanate of Oman than I used to).
The rule seems to be Everyone Gets A Pavilion. Even Taiwan has a perfectly nice pavilion, on the other side of the big red Chinese one from HK and Macau. It was Palestine Pavilion Day yesterday, with dancing, although idk that the dancers looked all that Palestinian /rolls There is a massive lovely South Korea pavilion that looks like it's made out of the stuff of cyberspace in Summer Wars, and a bit further along (beyond Oman) a scary-looking North Korea one skulking behind Iran's /rollssomemore Actually, USA/Canada are way at the other end right next to Door 8 where I came in, as if physically separating the pavilions by the length of the Expo grounds would keep them from threatening to bomb each other. Canada is right opposite Russia, though! They are both much nicer than the American one ahahaha.
