Iceland Pavilion at Expo 2010 - Small is Beautiful

Iceland Pavilion

Iceland Pavilion is one of my favorite programs in Shanghai Expo 2010. It has a comparatively shorter waiting queue when comparing with most popular pavilions. Iceland was seriously affected by the global financial crisis in 2008, and it was threatened by a volcano eruption early this year. The Iceland Pavilion has a mediocre outlook. Therefore, people don't expect that the Icelandic government puts much resources in the current world exposition. In fact, the financial cost is partially supported by business companies. The Expo is a bridge for the Icelandic business entities to land China. The Iceland Pavilion is small but beautiful in the presentation. All my friends who have been there also highly praise it. When entering the pavilion, we immediately developed an Icelandic feel because the hall was very cold. This was a very pleasant refreshing sensation after waiting for half an hour in the very hot weather at the pavilion entrance. With limited resources, the pavilion provides visitors with the best entertaining program.

There is solely a cubic hall inside the pavilion, and there are no decorations at all. All around the four sides of the hall are white screens. In a small area, the pavilion provides visitors with a stunning effect by making movie projections on the four sides as well as the ceiling of the hall. The movie mainly presents the Icelandic natural landscapes and disturbances including glaciers, waterfalls, oceans, geysers, and volcanic eruptions and explosions. When the waterfall image was projecting on the ceiling of the theater hall, we developed an on-site feel that the waterfall ran over our heads. When there were millions of fishes swimming over us, we had an illusion that we were under the deep sea. The amazing visual effect was reflected by the bizarre applause from the audience. 

The Iceland Pavilion is always full of visitors. The monthly number of visitors to the Iceland Pavilion at Expo Shanghai on June 1, 2010 has exceeded the total population of the Icelandic nation.

An amazing visual effect is developed when the movie is also projecting on the ceiling of the theater hall.

World Exposition Museum in Expo 2010

Preface-Expo City of Mascots

The first world exposition was initiated in London, United Kingdom, in 1851. It was soon held in turns by various cities in the world. Such world fairs provide countries with good opportunities to learn from one another the progress and achievement in new concepts, new inventions, new technologies, new cultures, and new lifestyles. Universal expositions are the showcases where technological advancement could be shown, as well as the platforms where innovative ideas could be brought together.

It would be great if we could learn more about what people thought when firstly seeing the display of the Otis elevator in New York City's World Fair in 1853. Did people feel amazing at the very first time talking via a telephone line in Paris' World Fair in 1878? The juicy fruit gum came up in Chicago's World Fair in 1893. Ice-cream cones and aircraft showed up in St Louis' World Fair in 1904. Tape recorders and televisions appeared in New York's World Fair in 1939.

I expected the above would be found in the current World Exposition Museum in the Shanghai Expo, but I was wrong. Instead, we saw both eastern and western human history in the Museum. There was a display of the Preface-Expo City of Mascots. If you ask me whether it is worth to pay a visit to the World Exposition Museum, I would say yes. It is because there is a display of the most precious oil painting of the first World Expo at London. After all, we had only spent 10 minutes for the entire visit. There was not any queue at the entrance. The World Exposition Museum is opposite to the Pavilion of Footprint at Zone D in Puxi. If you are going to the Pavilion of Footprint, you may consider going to the World Exposition Museum too.

Did China participate in the first World Exposition?

World Exposition Museum

I am now at London. Regarding the 2010 Expo news, it is quiet here. Many British people answered me that they knew nothing about the world exposition being held in China at the moment. My London friend who is a Chinese said, "There are not any posters or advertisement telling us about the Shanghai Expo. We could hardly hear it from our TV!" I do not feel surprised because London is far away from Shanghai. It is logical that Asian news will only occasionally come up on their topics of interest.

The 2010 Expo is expecting 70,000,000 visitors. In other words, there will only be a handful of people in the world having the chance to visit the Expo site. That is the reason supporting my initiation of a blog in sharing my Expo experience. I am proud of being one of the visitors. I hope that more people will be sharing this important event. World expositions record human wisdoms. Let's imagine. If people visiting the first world exposition in 1851 had written down their personal experiences, we would have surely understood more about the event. In those days, people recorded things by painting pictures. The to-day technology has allowed us to record things lively in various ways. Why can't we squeeze a little bit of our time to write something? Although there is an official Expo website, it is good to hear from the voices of visitors. 

Did China participate in the first Expo in 1851? The answer is yes because from an oil painting we find a Chinese standing among the participants. According to his dresses, we understand that he is a government official. This invaluable painting, which is originally stored in the Victoria and Albert Museum of London, is now being displayed in Shanghai. After the exhibition, it will get back to London. Will you take this opportunity to see the picture? It is now being exhibited in the World Exposition Museum at Zone D of the Shanghai Expo. No photographing is allowed.

World Expo 2010 Entertainment and Events

Expo roadshow parade

Various entertainment programs and art performances are held in the Expo Culture Center everyday. During the period of my visit to the Expo, there was a grand show running by the top-class local singers and dancers. Their routine shows in Beijing usually cost people a few hundred yuans for a ticket. The show is now free of charge. What people need to pay is just the admission fee for the Expo. If people would like to watch the free shows, it is better for them to check the performance program from the Expo official website http://en.expo2010.cn. There are various types of shows taken place in almost every square within the Expo site. When I was lining up for the entry of the Germany Pavilion, there was a roadshow parade passing by. After I had finished my dinner in the evening, I met the parade again. This was an unexpected entertainment.

Expo roadshow parade at nighttime

One of the Hong Kong newspapers reported that there was a mess in the Shanghai Expo. After I had been to the Expo 2010, I did not agree with this report. I found the Expo site a fantastic place for touring. The Shanghai Expo had given me a beautiful memory.  I heard that thousands of fans rushed to the Culture Center for the free tickets of the show conducted by a South Korea Singing Group. Same as everywhere over the world, fans could become crazy when they are eager to see their idols. My impression to the Shanghai Expo is very good.  I highly praise it. After all, it is not easy to manage a few hundred thousands of people every day. Unfortunately, some people create chaos by jumping into the queues. 

Night Parade show at Expo 2010

Tips for Joining Shanghai Expo Group Tours

Expo site

Various traveling packages are available for the Shanghai Expo in the market. Most group tours include Expo admission tickets and round trip transportation. The following questions are perhaps worth to be clarified when considering a group tour:

(1) Is the staying hotel located in Shanghai downtown?

The Expo site is located at downtown of Shanghai. However, some tours arrange hotel accommodations in Shanghai suburb or cities nearby. The traffic of Shanghai is always very busy with heavy traffic congestion in peak hours. Due to the far distance between the Expo site and hotel accommodation, tremendous time will be spent on transportation. To get into Shanghai city from the outlying areas, all vehicles have to go through check points for security purposes.

(2) How many days will be spent on Expo?

The Expo area is immense and there are a number of pavilions to where you may wish to pay a visit. As much time will be expected to be spent on lining up for popular pavilions, you may only be able to achieve a few pavilions in a day. It is recommended that you spend at least 3 days in the Expo  park. Sufficient time will make you feel relaxed and thus have more fun. 

(3) Will the travel agent arrange reservation tickets for group members?

The China pavilions and the five theme pavilions, namely Urbanian Pavilion, Pavilion of City Being, Pavilion of Urban Planet, Pavilion of Footprint, and Pavilion of Future, are the most popular visiting points. Reservation tickets are required for the entries into these pavilions. In the past few days, many people felt disappointed because they failed to get a reservation ticket for the China Pavilion. It would be great if the travel agent could arrange reservation tickets for clients.

(4) Will the tour include factory outlet shopping?

It is better to ask whether the tour will arrange any factory outlet shopping if other Shanghai attractions are also included in the package. If the purpose of the Shanghai visit is not for shopping, you may feel disappointed after you have found out that you can’t fully utilize all your precious time in sightseeing. 

Although it is not yet the peak season for traveling, all quality tours for the Shanghai Expo have been fully booked for May in Hong Kong. There are great variations among tour prices. The cost for a luxury tour can be more than 1.5 fold as that for a budget tour. I have booked a 5-day luxury Expo tour in May.  I will further make a report and share my experience with you.

The First Day of Exp 2010 (May 1, 2010)

Expo logo

I had some experiences visiting world expositions in previous years.  I remembered that I was so happy and excited to see new things. There was so much to see that I couldn’t finish them.

Expo 2010 is now being held in my own country, China. I and my family certainly won’t let this opportunity go. This is the first world exposition held in China. The number of pavilions in the Shanghai Expo exhibition is the largest ever since. In order to be able to make good use of time for the visits, we must firstly search relevant information and get things fully prepared. I will record what I have seen and heard about the Expo on my blog and would like share my experience with those who are interested in it, no matter they are going to the Expo or not.

Yesterday (May 1) was the first day of the Expo 2010. There were about 200,000 people visiting the exhibitions. For the popular pavilions, people need to firstly get reservation tickets or queue up for the entries.