World Expo Menu

Today I went to the World Expo in Shanghai for the second time. Tomorrow I get to go on my own and for as long as I want. And depending on how much I see -- or don't see, I should say -- I may go yet again before I leave Shanghai to go back to Beijing.

The first day we went to the China pavilion. We bought reservations from a scalper and waited in line for 3 hours. The building is beautiful, but the inside leaves a bit to be desired.

(sorry for the lame, generic pictures. I can't get my pictures off my camera without a computer, which I don't have with me) 

Japan was the same, but the building didn't make up for the 2 hour wait.

Israel, despite being closed for Yom Kippur on our first attempt, gave a decent show. The building is pretty, and the show was alright. The best part was learning that "During the second world war about 30,000 Jewish people were given safe asylum in Shanghai by Chinese people and escaped the atrocities of the Holocaust in Europe." It's good to know I'm not the only honorary Jew.

Today we saw the Chinese railway exhibit. There are some very nice trains and stations that were just built and are being built. I get to ride on one of them when I leave for Beijing. We'll see if it's as good as the exhibit says they are. Either way, I'm really glad to see this kind of transportation, and I'm not the only one (http://www.two-shay.com/articles/the-coast-starlight). It's interesting to me that after 150 or so of trains, we're still using them. Not only that, even with the option to fly, trains seem like they're making a comeback, especially if you think about the oil situation in the world. And not just commuter trains. Subways have always been my favorite mode of public transportation. I'm sure this is a HUGE reason I love New York so much. But I digress. 

Oman was short, but enticing. Besides the building being so pretty, I was particularly curious about Oman because of its ties to Tanzania. There's a lot of history there. At one point, the sultan liked the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar so much, he made it the capital even though it was 3,000 miles away. It seems like a very nice place to visit, Oman that is.

The best pavilion so far has been the United Arab Emirates. They have a nice looking pavilion. It's not too flashy compared to China's, but surprisingly small for such a rich country. But the presentation was outstanding. The history of their rise from pearls and fall because of man-made pearls and rise again because of oil is very interesting. And the metro cities are gorgeous. The UAE may need to be moved up my priority list of places to visit.

Seeing all these wonderful places makes me want to drop everything, hop on a plane, and just go where the wind takes me. I have half the "drop everything" part done. The World Expo is like a menu for global travel, and I'm HUNGRY!!!