Summer Trip (Part 3) : Shanghai World Expo 2010 (2)

This entry will cover Czech Republic Pavilion, Belarus Pavilion, Joint Eurpoean Pavilion 1, Hungary Pavilion & Joint Eurpoean Pavilion 2.
(continue from the previous entry please check out other related posts under Travel)

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After visiting Cambodia, we went around looking to see which other pavilion in the Southeast Asian we could enter... Malaysia is out of the question cos the queue is too long and not moving! So interesting inside meh? =P

Singapore was also another popular one... queue also not moving. Sian...

Actually as long as Singaporeans produce their passport, got priority queue.

But er... not very nice to ditch my colleague by going in myself alone also...

Hey! I'm a photobomber from the pic taken by Simon! lol

The musical fountain was also part of the feature.

Beside the pavilion was also a little food stall selling Bread Talk, Bee Cheng Hiang bak gua and other little Singaporean finger food. Even some Singapore brand cup noodles...haha I didn't take pics cos the items inside were commonly found in mama shop or 7-11 in Singapore! HAHA!

Walking further down.... with Australia Pavilion's CURVY BODY behind me...

Behind this Australian pavilion are mountains & mountains of queues.

We thought it was just in front few lines... but woahh... not possible to queue 4-5 hours!

When I was doing the expo pavilion articles, I'd already noticed the curvy architecture of Australia and wanted to visit but aiyo.... queue too long la. It's the kind of situation I wish I was a citizen of the world so I can have priority to enter!

Long queue at Philippines.... and Thailand.

We figured it was quite impossible to get in anymore Southeast Asian pavilions

and decided to head to Europe region

TADA!

Can only selectively choose a few but then again it doesn't mean you choose a country's pavilion means you'd get in.

Still have to check out the queue.... -.-

The first pavilion we saw at Europe pavilion was Portugal!!

Stylo architecture but =( same thing... long queue!

Slovakia! But long queue too! 国家的中文还真难念！

斯洛(I dunno what's the 3rd word)克, help somebody? =X

When I saw 波黑, I stun... simi country why so weird Chinese name one?

Haha then later it's actually Bosnia. Which part does it sound like Bohei? Hmm...

Czech Republic!

Wah can u see the short queue!!! OF COS FASTER QUEUE!!!

A statue of some saint greeting us upon entering.

That is probably a famous landmark in Czech Republic? Is that Prague? Anybody knows?

After entering, I got extremely sian... Cos the exhibits were all on top!

You see the boxes from the ceiling? The exhibits are displayed inside.

I think their theme is probably gravity defying?

As it turns out.... CR is famous for it's space works/discoveries, like designing space craft, statelittes etc.

Perhaps most of the astronauts & scients were produced in CR?

This is quite abstract. I know it's hard to find the horizontal point..

The above shot was taken from above... all the porcelain and stuff are probably glued/stuck really tight that's why it doesn't fall....

I didn't feel safe walking around CR pavilion afraid of anything that might fall. And it was a tiring affair to keep lifting your head up to check out the displays on the ceiling. Aishh...I got bored after a while, got my stamp and left! HAHA!

So we rested outside the CR pavilion!

I was actually yawning and Lisa caught this pic...

From our seat, we saw this Belarus pavilion opposite. Short queue! CHIONG!

白俄罗斯 is the country which the famous ang moh za bor, Margarette 玛格丽特 on 菲哥得综艺大哥大 is from right?

The pavilion isn't very big and very open, no hidden compartment going further or deeper. It looks like a round tent and the round thing above is a projected screen of what I believe to be some buildings.

On the lower rectangular screen is a video playing about some Olympic winners representing Belarus. At one look, I would say the pavilion clearly brought out its strength - Art & sports!

I love these kind of European illustrations!

There are little art pieces hanging all around the pavilion by possibly famous Belarusian artists.

Shots of the beautiful art pieces (fake, printed one though)

Beautiful! It was like entering an art gallery!

From this point in there were several changes:

1. K was walking around earlier trying to meet us but as the whole place was too damn big, we only gotten to meet outside Belarus pavilion and from then on we were together.

2. Half of the day was gone and being somewhat a kiasu person in terms of visiting a tourist spot, my goal would want to visit as many pavilions as possible. I didn't mind running around from place to place if the queue is short.

3. As we were in a big group, it was divided into 2 parts. The girls (Mayun, Lili & Candy) wanted to visit the other China cities pavilions while the rest of us (Simon, Lili, K & I) agreed to hang out around Europe. If time permits, we can go over to South American region or even Africa region.

With that in mind, we parted way and agreed to meet at 8pm at Gate 5 again when the bus would be traveling back to Suzhou.

OK! Continuing on with the quest!

Beside Belarus pavilion were Joint European Pavilion 1 & Pavilion 2. There were many other small European countries but they were too small to have their own pavilion so it was joint with the other small European countries.

So we queued for Armenia!

Background is Czech Republic pavilion!

The guy in front of the Armenia exit was quite cute, he's a real Armenian... looks Persian though so I'm not sure if this country is actually considered Europe?

He can speak Chinese too and was trying to 维持秩序 and said, "请大家不要推挤，马上就能进去了。" So cute can! But as we were just in front of him, very paiseh to snap a pic of him la =P

Upon entering, I really felt as though I was in a Persian empire!

I am not sure those historical photos are past or present?

There were also architecture models in the centre... Maybe famous buildings in Armenia?

Upon closer look I realised there are countries being mentioned.

In the pic below, it says Spain on the left and Sweden on the right.

Maybe these buildings were designed by Armenian architects/engineers or something?

Next we came by a beehive looking room.

It's actually Republic of Macedonia.

The only time I heard of this country was in Boys Over Flowers.

Gu Jun Pyo has an island in Macedonia and brought Guem Jandi there! Haha!

Can't really see shit cos it's filled will people. I thought this stair looks good....

But the lady who was posing for the pic spoilt it.. :P

I couldn't really tell the specialty of this country? Lovely views & scenes I guess?

Friendly Macedonian natives stamping for visitors. Not sure if they actually know Chinese? lol

Next up, Moldova....

I really haven't come across all these countries leh. I mean... I only heard of countries from global companies/brand, perhaps sports events like Olympics but is it cos these countries are too small to be heard of? If it wasn't for this Shanghai Expo, I never would have known these countries existed!

It looks so colourful inside!

Very cute Moldovan girl stamping for us! Hehe!

There was a wine tasting area for visitors to have a taste of their quality wine.

It doesn't come cheap though but definitely for wine lovers.

Next up, Albania...

It's a Persian country also too right?

It's Persian country right?? Probably situated near Turkey or something?

Next we went to Azerbaijan~ Very mouthful country name.

Another historical country...

Not much inside, very historical stuff...

but I found this girl posing as if she was on FHM magazine... MUAHAHAHAHA

Sorry it was super funny!! HAHAHAH!!

Ok, I think we were pretty much done here at the Joint European Pavilions.

Time to move on! And just nearby is Hungary Pavilion!

It's a pavilion with lots of sticks...

Transparent sticks on the outside of the pavilion...

... and wooden ones with lights...

This giant metal ball is the highlight of the Hungary Pavilion

I'm more fascinated with the wooden stick lights actually!

Later on I realised the specialty of that giant metal ball...

It's supposed to be a world-famous Hungarian scientific invention - a new geometric shape.

It's described to be a 3D yin yang.

Uh... to be honest, I'm not exactly sure about the whole thing? Is this maths or science? LOL!

We sat down and rest inside the Hungary for a while cos they have seating area for visitors! NICE! After that we went on and saw another Joint European Pavilion...

The prints on the wall looked damn 3D ah!

Good lord!

I didn't know the history of Malta was so long!!

Even longer than China? Egypt?? SERIOUS? o_0.

Actually, we just wanted to sit down and have something to drink and there was a cafe at Malta.

Lighting inside the cosy cafe was nice!!!

The guys had beer while Lisa & I had hot chocolate. It was on K!

Flash doesn't work with well inside.

But without flash it really did seem too dark cos it was under yellow light....

Quite grainy....

Apparently there was a lightbulb on the table when we arrive.

So K was trying to play with it... I was a bit -_-"

It's a very pretty place actually.

They made the effort to build this up which will be torn down after expo ended... so wasted.

They could very well be a running operating cafe!

Confirm earn money one! Patrons don't mind paying for the ambiance!

Flash a bit spoil picture but otherwise too dark...

Close up on the little design on the walls...

Nice! Posters, covers, products, matchsticks of the era back then~ Very retro/vintage!!!

Just beside Malta we saw Saint Marino with short queue so we hopped into the back of the queue!

Hehe, the smallest & oldest Republic in the world and I truly believe it!

It is said that they've got 1700 thousand years of history...

I didn't read the fine prints of this statue but it sure did look intimidating!

A little more information about the country...

With names of the important people who rule the country I guess...

This looks kinda scary to me actually... cos they're life size errm.. faceless mannequin.

And beside Saint Marino was this Liechtenstein country.

I can't even spell right without reference...

Upon entering, we saw this thing. Everyone can see this crystal ON the table but you can't touch it because it's reflected by mirrors. What you're seeing is only a hallucination created by this special device...

A better look, the actual crystal is the one at the lower bottom but you can't touch it as it's covered by a glass. The bigger partial crystal you see is a reflected image... It's probably physics... Not sure the mechanism. But it attracted a lot of woo-wah from the China tourists... haha!

A panoramic view of one of their famous lands?

They only have a population of 35,000!

I took a pic of the picture displayed there that depict the whole town of the country.

It's bordered by Switzerland.

Hmm.. what's this?

They're actually stamps!

Beautiful collection of stamps!

And then we were led into a Multimedia room where they have a presentation about the country's demographics. About it's population, geography, economy, people, lifestyle.

It was so so so interesting that such a small country with a small population is doing so well! I'd definitely love to visit this country some day!

After that, we were once again we're left roaming around the Europe region... SO MANY pavilions that was impossible to queue! It was getting dark and barely a couple of hours left. KAN CHIONG!

So I just anyhow snapped pictures of neighbouring pavilions!

Switzerland! So cute!!!