Better City, Better Life

This colourful sea of umbrellas was a common sight on the day we spent trekking around the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai! It was raining, gray and really not very warm at all.

We spent the entire day there and managed to visit approximately 5 pavillions, due to immense queues! We had a mixed experience...the German pavillion was a huge let-down following the crush of people just to join the queue and the subsequent 2.5hr queue itself! The Finnish pavillion was minimalist, as expected, but had a very nice display of interactive technology stuff alongside the usual Nokia, Marimekko and nature elements :) The UK pavillion was impressive and weird at the same time, with no Union Jacks in sight (thankfully)!

I'm glad we went there, it was certainly worth visiting, if just for the experience of it all. Most of the pavillions will be demolished after the Expo finishes in October this year, but there are a few permanent buildings.

Interestingly enough, there were virtually no other foreign visitors, or at least much fewer than I had expected! Whilst standing in the queues, my Russian friend and I became favourite photography subjects of the Chinese visitors! Very amusing :)