To Expo Or Not
paulinurus
April 11, 2010, 11:14 PM posted in General Discussion
Well, I'm finally able to take a whole 5 weeks vacation in September/October and looking forward to travel to some countries in Asia including my first trip to China. At this time I'm planning 7 to 10 days for China. Beijing and Shanghai are on my preliminary itinerary. The Shanghai Expo will still be around in the first week of September, however some friends of mine are telling me to avoid the Expo and save the day for other sights. They say that the Expo is merely pavilions showcasing businesses from countries all over the world. It is more suited for people planning or currently doing business in China rather than for sight seeing visitors. I'm not sure what to make of the my friends suggestion since I've not been to China before and there is so much buzz about the Expo and that I should not miss it.
So should I skip the Expo? Or maybe even save Shanghai for another trip and avoid the congestion? Then I hear I should not miss "Shangrila" Yunnan. Where should the priorities be for one interested in seeing scenic China in 10 days?
rkraft
May 09, 2010, 04:37 AMI'm leaving for my big vacation next weekend and will start my trip in Shanghai. It'll be my first time to Asia, too. We'll visit Expo for a day or two; I'll post my impressions as soon as I get a chance. Until then...
changye
May 09, 2010, 06:17 AMHi paulinurus
If you have interest in Expo, please visit Shanghai and enjoy seeing pavillions as many as possible. If you have interest in Shanghai, which is one of the biggest and advanced cities in the PRC, please spend a few days in the metropolis, and I think it won't hurt you much to "waste" one day seeing the Expo. In any case, please don't miss more "Chinese" places (?), such as 苏州，杭州，and so on.
ma_tai
May 09, 2010, 06:20 AMI'm coming to China at the end of September for about a year, but am starting with 4 days in Shanghai to see the expo.
I have a friend that went to the expo in Japan and she said it was awesome. She said she went to two days of it and didn't manage to see everything that was there. Hence, I'm planning to get a three day pass to the expo.
Part of reason I also want to come back to Shanghai is that I went last year and felt a bit ripped off because the Bund was closed for renovations (in preparation for the Expo). That was supposed to be a highlight, but instead was just an ugly looking high fence.
ma_tai
May 11, 2010, 11:57 PMTwo interesting reviews of the World Expo
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hkBzI6xbLEsj6-GS0mVuqOJ0jeTg
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jLE348-94jF30ZSq9qqI5uhm5kIAD9FK7KIG0
jen_not_jenny
Thanks for posting those links!
From the first article: "The Spanish pavilion opens with a live, sexy, flamenco-esque dancer, and ends with a freaky, gigantic, blue-eyed baby mannequin."
I've seen the enormous baby featured several times on news reports here and still have no idea what purpose it serves. It's quite unnerving.
bababardwan
April 11, 2010, 11:44 PMWell Paul, I reckon 1 day out of 5 weeks isn't too much to risk [and could add variety to your trip],and you'll only know for sure by checking it out,and these things only come around so often..and it's a one off in Shanghai.Speaking from having experienced the Expo here in 1988 the atmosphere is awesome...like one big international multicultural party...if that sounds appealing then I'd say go for it,but horses for courses of course.However,if you are really averse to crowds that may be an issue ,then again that could be an issue in many parts of China anyway,though of course more so around the Expo.Anyway,bon voyage :)
ps you should ask bodawei about 所谓 Shangrila...he has some opinions on that one [which were touched on in the regions of china group...yunnan]