In 1988 I took my daughter, then aged 12, to World Expo 88 in Brisbane. It was one of the best experiences that both of us can remember and my daughter still raves about it to this day. The city of Brisbane came alive for 6 months and the feel of the city was fantastic with lots of smiles all round in and out of the Expo site. We stayed with friends close to the Expo site and I think we spent nearly 10 full days from opening to closing looking through pavilions and enjoying all the entertainment in and around the site. So when I heard about the Shanghai 2010 Expo a few years ago I thought it's about time to revisit a world expo and see what it would be like.
My partner Edna, who has been with me for around 15 years now, said lets go. The reason being that I had raved about the 88 Expo to her for years.
So in September 2010 we headed up to Shanghai, booked into a nice clean and cheap hostel for 2 weeks, and we headed to the site next day to have a look see. It was no 88 Expo!
The first day we were there, and after waiting nearly 2 hours just to get through the gate, we joined the other 560,000 who attended that day.
To say that the whole experience was crap would be an understatement. Long lines into pavilions, 2 to 6 hour waits to get into many, hot, dusty, smelly, garbage everywhere, pushing and shoving . . . it was a shithole. We were going to go every day . . . 3 days was more than enough for us.
We bumped into a couple from Brisbane who went to the 88 Expo 40 times and they were expecting to spend every day of their stay at Expo this time. They gave up after 1 day.
To be fair though we did have a look at a lot of obscure pavilions and now know the names of countries that we had never even heard of before. These of course were pavilions that had next to no line up at all. Australian pavilion was OK and because we had our passport we were able to go right in. The Moroccan pavilion was fantastic and I now know that Latvia has great beer.
Apart from the Expo we spent a lot of time exploring Shanghai and especially the Bund. The Bund close to the CBD and on the river and consists of old colonial buildings dating back to the 18th century. With all the tearing down of buildings around Shanghai it was good to see that they left these well preserved examples of a bygone era. Directly across on the other side is Pudong where they have stacked a mob of skyscrapers. The standouts are the Bell Tower and a building with what seems to be a large bottle opener at the top. Very different indeed.
While exploring Shanghai one of the things that you really can't help noticing is the divide of rich and poor. Among the battered old push bikes and push carts dart flash BMW's and Mercedes Benz cars. And even the way people dress, from expensive suits and skirts with hundred dollar shoes right down to well worn attire and sandles. Not only is there a divide amongst humans but between dogs. Away from poor old mutts scavaging in bins are blow dried and manicured canines being pampered by their owners. Yes, Shanghai has got it all and if you stay there long enough you will see it all.
Another curiosity is how people use the local metro or subway train system. They are always packed to the rafters inside and getting out can be quite a feat. When a train stops and the door opens the people from the platform rush to get inside making it very difficult for people getting off. Sometimes they miss their stop completely because they are crammed back to the other side of the open door and can't move. Once we were in a train at the door and people just shoved themselves in and out of the door. Some poor bloke missed getting in and with a thump he hit the window in disgust. He was not a happy chappy. One time while Edna and I were getting onto a train, I got on but Edna couldn't because there was a washing machine blocking the door! She had to wait for the next train, which fortunately, because of the huge population of Shanghai, comes along every 3-4 minutes.
Observing such a dense population in a small area in and around Shanghai Edna got very angry inside at times. The reason being was when we had left Australia the then PM Kevin Rudd was blabbering on about the 'Big Australia' and increasing population growth. 'F#*k population growth' said Edna. 'If this is what f$&*ing population growth does to a country they can stick it up their a#!e'. I then asked Edna to tell me what she really thought!
