Day 12: Last goodbye's and....my big Award

Last goodbye's

On the very last day I woke up later than usually as I had had an online meeting according to European time and therefore it finished at 6 in the morning in the end. However, I didn’t do anything special on my last day, just went for the last shopping and somehow this day turned to be special anyway: I met Marina, a nice Russian girl who loved travelling and was now living in America. After talking to her I found out that she was also supposed to come to work in the same village as me in Egypt…hmm, the world is really small…and I must say it was really like a destiny to meet her.

Last goodbye to Alex and Marina and I went to my dear friend and travel partner Tomoko to have the last dinner with her in her university café. The time to leave had come. I luckily spent all my Chinese money on delicious noodles and didn’t even save any single coin to keep as a souvenir. To be honest – I feel better carrying less stuff with me. It was hard once again to say bye to Tomoko. I really hope we will meet again. That is a true friendship and that is a nice feeling to go to a foreign country and find friends there…

My Award

These days in China were my award. My award in old and true friendship (Tomoko), in beautiful scenery, in famous touristic spots, in new information and knowledge, in new people, in high feelings and excitement (EXPO and Brainstorm), in delicious food, in souvenirs I bought…it all was my award after the hard working days in Egypt saving money for China every day, eating less than wanted, spending less than wanted and working much more than wanted. But it was worth it and I felt proud of myself after handling all visa and money issues to make this trip happen! Something big has been achieved and it’s a good feeling that makes it worth living and going though the same suffer again and again to deserve a sweet dessert afterwards.

China Day 11: Forbidden City and the rain

Forbidden City

Waking up at Alex place, my lovely host from the previous time in Beijing. I had a clear plan for today: finally to visit Forbidden city. Since it was national holidays’ time when I had just arrived in Beijing it wasn’t a good idea to do it that time. But now on my last full day in China I wanted to see the famous spot which is included in UNESCO World heritage. The visit was really impressive and I liked the feeling of really being in a small city with its walls, museums, arts and culture and even restaurants and shops. A city inside a city with its special cultural feeling and borders and tiny corners where to get lost.

Sudden meeting

After a few hours spent there it was time to leave not only because of my arranged meeting with my Chinese Couchsurfing friend, but also because it started raining. So, I was walking quite fast to Tiananmen metro station to meet her when suddenly a random Chinese girl joined me and asked how I had enjoyed my visit. My first impression was quite scary thinking “she probably wants something from me, to offer some services or booklets”. Otherwise, why do people start suddenly talking to you on a street and even joining my fast way of walking? And then I realized I am wrong. She was really interested in me. She started talking because she just wanted to get to know me. And that was something I had forgotten and hadn’t experienced in Europe. Moreover, I had avoided such situations in Egypt as it usually came from guys. But now this girl who was also tourist in Beijing came to me and started a conversation. After the first confusion moment I became open and it was interesting to find out that also for her who lives far away from Beijing it’s a great experience to come to her capital and visit the famous spots.  I would have loved to go for a coffee with her as she proposed, but I had a meeting and I had to say goodbye to her…however, it was a nice sudden meeting and a moment to think.

The next meeting was with my Couchsurfing friend. We were exploring the local bookstore and then had an ice cream in McDonalds. After that it started to rain heavily, and the day turned so wet and grey that I decided to go home while Sophie had to go for another meeting.

China Day 10 and 11: Shanghai Circus and 18 hours on a train

The day started early because we had just 1 day to see the main spots in Shanghai. Agenda went like this:

-Checking out of the hostel

- Visit of Yuyuan garden surroundings and the marketplace

- Sending postcards :)

- Lunch 

- Walk along the Bund

- The People’s Square

 - Sudden meeting in the rain with 2 other Chinese younsters and joining them for a Chinese tea tasting

- Sitting at McDonald’s

- Tomoko leaving to the airport to take her flight to Beijing, I am wandering around until the time to go to Shanghai Circus.

The Shanghai Circus was really a highlight of the day. It was professional performance with lots of amazing tricks and surprises. I hadn’t been to circus for a long time and this was something what was really good one and came on time.

Neverstopping train

After the circus it was time to leave Shanghai and take my night train to Beijing. That was another challenging experience as the trains there are not comfortable, rather opposite - they are a bit cold and damp and very crowded. However, I was expecting to be in Beijing in the morning, but…the morning came and the train was moving and moving and never stopped. Midday came, afternoon came and it was still moving and I started to get worried. I went to the man who seemed to be responsible there and he showed me 6 on his fingers; we couldn’t communicate as I didn’t speak Chinese. In the beginning I thought it was still six hours to go, but after contacting Tomoko she managed to find out that the train was late and it should arrive at 6pm in Beijing. So, it was 2 more hours left in the train. I was really exhausted and tired and a bit ill too. And the only thing I could do was sitting and waiting and looking out of the window…sometimes you need also such moments, however this wasn’t the right time as I felt sick and also started to get hungry…after all it was 18 hours spent in a train.

Chinese dinner, Japanese atmosphere

The train arrived and I was happy to feel my feet again. It was evening already, getting dark and Tomoko had invited me for dinner with her Japanese and Chinese classmates. It was a really nice restaurant and a nice atmosphere that reminded me of the times in Japan. This is nice thing what Asians have: eating together and sharing food, stories and becoming closer to each other. Also the interior of a restaurant is appropriate for gathering in groups as the rooms are separated. 

China Day 9: The last day in EXPO: from Asia to Middle East, then to Pacific and finally to Europe

Countries/Pavilions visited: Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Oman, Israel, Qatar, Morocco, Palestine, Pacific, Malaysia, Cambodia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, UN, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Norway, Ireland, Libya, The Netherlands, France

(1)Nepal: let’s start with Asia today! Nepal was nice with a tower that was leading up and up till the point where you could see the surrounding Pavilions from the top.

(2) India: nice feeling of India with videos and many bazaars over there.

(3)Sri Lanka: a man who is making an elephant.

(4)Oman: once again I got affirmation to visit this beautiful pearl in Indian Ocean. Very beautiful landscapes there and also presented in an appropriate way.

(5)Israel: the pavilion with the most pleasant and romantic time while queuing thanks to the loquacious birds under the trees. Inside pavilion there was a special lamp theatre.

(6)Qatar: I liked this Pavilion most of the Arab country pavilions I visited. The country was presented with a good current culture baggage, for example, henna drawings on hands.

(7)Morocco: a huge white 3-store building with something different in each floor. From music and video materials you go further and explore the local market with different traditional goods, after that you finish your visit with multimedia exhibition.

(8)Palestine: joint pavilion; it showed the traditional crafts work.

(9)Pacific: and now I started to enter a new world after Asia and Middle East and some European pavilions. It felt it to be greener, fresher and filled with a different passion and culture. 

(10) Malaysia: lots of greens, birds twittering, free chocolate to taste :)

(11) Cambodia: big stones and great attempts to show the country with its monuments. Nice souvenirs to buy in the end of the visit. 

(12) New Zealand: impressive dark tunnel with sounds of thunder and a real Christmas tree (not the one as for Xmas) in the end of the visit.

(13) Indonesia: large pavilion with lots of information for all kinds of needs: business, tourism etc.

(14) Singapore: video of daily life in Singapore.

(15) Australia: it will always have its uniqueness with the cute figures of kangaroos and koalas. 

(16)UN: a stop after finishing Pacific area and before going one more time to European area. No special comments here, lots of information.

(17)Finland: the impression of whiteness, purity and innocence as the Pavilion was all covered white with a magician in the middle making tables fly and doing other magical activities. Impressive landscapes of Finland and Helsinki on the background.

(18)Estonia: cute pavilion with many pigs inside. What’s happening there? You can give your vote for the issue that seems to be the most important for you to save our planet within ‘Better city, better life’ topic and leave your vote and win a trip to Tallinn.

(19) Norway: to be honest I was waiting in a line because of the cheerful and good-looking guy with a Norwegian flag in his hand taking care of the queue and after certain time letting new people in. Also, the nice Norwegian indie music on the background (like Royksopp) made me linger there. The Pavilion itself showed beautiful landscapes of the beautiful country.

(20)Ireland: you can see a real concert here or at least get a feeling of it while standing in front of the big screen and seeing U2 and other Irish bands playing live. There is also a very interesting way of comparing the living room now and many years ago. Nice way of showing how the lifestyles of people have changed thanks to the technologies.

 (21) Lithuania: similarly to the last Expo in Zaragoza, also here you can play basketball. :)

(22) Libya: time to sit and view landscape show.

(23) The Netherlands: lots of orange color, also smells so good there as it's possible to buy fries. Nice place for taking a rest.

(24) France: long queue to wait and impressive views in the Pavilion and the feeling you are in a green posh garden and later on - expensive city. 

This was my last Pavilion in the last day of Expo. It had been a long day with lots of information. I started with Latvia, my original country and ended with France which by coincidence was my next destination after China. But now on the late evening it was time to go back to the hostel and take some rest before exploring Shanghai the next day.

VIDEO: Robot playing violin @ Japanese pavilion in EXPO

See how robot is playing a violin at Japanese pavilion in World EXPO, Shanghai.

China Day 8: the Second Day in EXPO

Countries visited: Japan, UK, Canada, Brazil, USA, South Africa, Egypt, Italy, Africa Joint Pavilion

(1) Japan: what this unique country means first is waiting around 2-3 hours in a long queue before you get in. After that Japan gives a very rich impression. There’s everything: cute Japanese ladies, nature beauties, tea drinking traditions, technology achievements with a robot who is playing a violin and a stage performance in the end. It was worth waiting in the line as you spend a lot of time in the Pavilion itself.

(2) UK: the long lines were bigger than the actual value of the Pavilion. In the end the UK Pavilion attracted with the peculiar pavilion building which nobody could guess what it is made of and what it shows inside unless you come in. Once this truth had been found out, you appreciate the great work invested and the idea, but the Pavilion itself wasn’t that special. However, after exiting the pavilion it had a nice relaxation area given for people to take a rest as well as you could wave your goodbye to David Bekhem, or to be more precise – his statue.

(3) Romania

(4) Canada: it attracted me with some indie music inside pavilion, then it led further to green city life with opportunity to use bikes and cycle there. Lots of water and a very touchy movie of life in Canada.

(5) Brazil: the feeling of Rio was there! The live city is around you! And also a feeling that you are in the football stadium.

(6) USA: It attracted with a very informal presenter from the beginning which was kind of American style, then there were couple of videos to see: people from street trying to speak Chinese; important people in America (including the president Obama) speaking about the importance of EXPO and the topic it dealt with this year; a touch video of how dreams can come true through lots of failure, but with lots of struggling.

(7) South Africa: nice place to take a rest in the cozy armchairs

(8) Egypt: to be honest I was expecting more than just putting up the ancient Egyptian heroes probably taken from Egyptian Museum. No current culture there, all information based on ancient Egypt mainly. Even the salesperson seemed bored there listening to his iPod and not paying attention to the customers who might have wanted to buy something.

(9) Africa Joint Pavilion: so much tribes and culture. Sometimes the joint pavilions seem more successful than individual ones as they give more feeling of the country. And especially in Africa joint pavilion you really feel like in Africa meeting African people, seeing the traditional buildings and places for rest, buying traditional souvenirs in a market place.

(10) Italy: lots of small elements exposed in 2 floors, miniatures of life, all fields covered what present Italy: fashion, pasta, shoes, Italian restaurants etc.; all kinds of brands, nice and posh and in the end the advertisement of EXPO Milano 2015.

China Day 7: Welcome to Shanghai and the World EXPO

October, 5th, 2010
EXPO countries today: Latvia, Switzerland, EU, Belgium, Spain, North Korea, Iran, 
Lebanon, Mjanma/Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Kazakhstan

Right after the Brainstorm gig on the day before, we were heading for Tomoko’s dormitory to take our stuff and then to the train station to take a night train to Shanghai. Yes!! One challenge after another! The night at the train was really hard. We had bought sitting seats and were sitting/sleeping all night long for 13 hours. That wasn’t comfortable at all, of course, but this was a great part of the adventure. Especially, after seeing some people having standing “seats”, we felt lucky to have our places to sit.

The morning came while being in the train. I was trying to catch the sights of Chinese nature as much as I could apart from dosing after the sleepless night…this was also the time when I started feeling too much of sitting in my legs and wanted to stand up and move. But because the aisles were full of people, that was not that easy. Some of them were walking there and back to get some hot water for the morning noodles, some who had a standing “seat” were trying to find an object where to sit on…and finally the train arrived in Shanghai and all of us could get off.

The first thing I remember from Shanghai is long waiting for buying the ticket back to Beijing. The reason for waiting was a very angry and aggressive Chinese lady being served before us and being incredibly angry and stressed about something. A wrong ticket? Or no ticket at all? We don’t know the reason as she was speaking Chinese and speaking very rude to others. She was calling someone and shouting loud and the overall atmosphere had become really tense…but after buying my ticket, I was glad to go out in the streets of Shanghai and admire the city. It’s true that Shanghai gives us a different picture from Beijing. It’s so modern, multicultural and developed and more expensive than Beijing, of course. Somehow I got a similar feeling as last year in Japan…yes, it reminded me of modernization I found in Tokyo. 

After the first impressions, it was time to find our hostel, leave our stuff and get ready for the first day in EXPO. Finally the main aim of this trip is coming true though I can admit I was a bit tired on this first morning in Shanghai…but as a tourist you cannot be tired! A quick shower, change of clothes and ready to go and explore! :)

Even though I knew that EXPO will be flooded by crowds of people due to the national holidays, I never expected to visualize it in the number of 400’000 on our first day there. That was amazing! It becomes a small village and you are a part of it. After entering the area of EXPO you feel confused: where to go, what to choose first, how to manage in order not to waste your time, but see everything. But no – you will never see everything in EXPO if you come just for a couple of days. Therefore, my recommendation for the next years is to create a plan for each day: what to start with and how to proceed. Otherwise, thinking and planning during EXPO is wasting your time which could better be spent on visiting hundreds of pavilions. 

So, after getting a bit familiar with the territory and planning of the event, we decided to go to (1) Latvia Pavilion and try out flying. After all we had the important mission from Renārs Kaupers (from Brainstorm) to say hi to AERODIUM guys. We entered Latvia Pavilion, saw the flyers’ show and after that we did the promised mission. And by chance I asked how it is possible to fly. “Come downstairs!” was a simple answer from the AERODIUM guy. Me, Tomoko and her friend didn’t hesitate and in the next 10 minutes were already wearing the flying costumes. We also heard the instructions and after that waited for our flying time and here it was: the time to go into the wind tunnel and enjoy the unique opportunity. The first impression was lots of wind, around you and in your face. And you don’t understand if you are struggling with it or adapting to it. Somehow I had a feeling I am doing both and whatever it looked like I was also enjoying it. In the first round we were just trying to hold our flying position, but in the second one we were flying up and down and that feeling of rising up was really the best one! I didn’t want to exit the tunnel, but keep flying and flying and flying…and enjoying this miracle of humankind. 

Unfortunately, the dreamy experience came to an end and we said bye to Latvia Pavilion to keep our EXPO trip further to:

(2) Switzerland Pavilion: real, natural views and the feeling of being in the mountains of Switzerand

(3) EU: the round theatre on 1 day in Europe. Really fantastic to see EU countries from the early morning when they wake up till midnight when they go to sleep and get ready for the next day.

(4) Belgium: the pavilion where you get free Belgium chocolate and, of course, see the most famous Belgian – the Manneken Pis

(5) Spain: it starts with a wild Spanish dance by Spanish woman and ends with a huge baby nodding to you waiting to be captured in so many cameras.

(6) North Korea: 

(7) Iran: a mosque in the middle

(8) Lebanon: movie of the country that gives a good visual impression

(9) Mjanma/Burma

(10) Laos: this was inside joint Pavilion and I remember I liked it because of the coffee they were selling there and for rather a good price. That was a nice stop for coffee for me. Otherwise, there was no time to go and find it elsewhere while visiting pavilions.

(11) Vietnam: vases, so nice and huge

(12) Kazakhstan: long queue for waiting and in the beginning you don’t understand why, but then you get the point: they have a movie there, so they gather a certain amount of people and then let them in. Nice presentation with mentioning that the next Asian Olympic Games will take place in Kazakhstan. You can also find snow inside the Pavilion: cold in the late evening, but gives the real impression of the country.