well, i did not have the chance to thank yi wei properly today when she gave me this box of 2 mooncakes...so here goes-thank you ;P
i will make sure i eat them since it is my gift. been eating very little mooncake this year because mom did not get those cheap ones from the market. miss my cheap redbean and greenbean mooncake.

nobody encore

i drove the whole lot (atticus, aunt cf, mom, uncle, ginny) from tg malim back to bidor yesterday night for the mid-autumn celebration.
it rained heavily in the evening and it still drizzled when the event started.
the attendance was quite bad with the hall not even half full.
but the performances lined up for the night were still quite good. we had quizzes, magic show, indian drum, indian dance, songs and of course the only modern influence of the night- nobody dance.

atticus' favourite was magic followed by nobody. the kids were really impressive in all their performances.
as for mine.......well, it was not as good as the morning's. the atmosphere was more subdued and more relax and i actually forgot a very small part. i wasn't as psyched as this morning. partly because of the thin crowd too. now i understand why the singers on stage always ask for louder cheers and louder claps from the audience. they really make a difference to lift your spirit and energy level.
i think i have had enough with nobody. anyone wanna teach me another dance??

day 5 and good bye expo

the last day at expo!!!! aarrghh.....we were planning for a slow slow day. no pavilion chasing...just need to cover 2 or 3 big ones and let the queue decide the rest.

first stop.....RUSH!!!!........japan pavilion!!! don't have a photo to show because we were rushing and by the time we arrived at the queue, the sign said we were 2 hours away from the entrance. sigh....first thing in the morning also already so congested.

i had my breakfast of bread while in the queue and then managed to cover a few chapters of the novel i brought along.

the japanese staff on duty were so kawaii in their outfit. theirs was cute while italian's were chic (head to toe in prada!!). i love the outfits of the staff in these two pavilions.
japan's pavilion showcased their futuristic robot which can play the violin and canon's futuristic camera (i want one!!!) and also a story of red crest ibis (a bird) conservation. very interesting. ooh...and there is the toyota one-seater vehicle.

there is no shop or restaurant attached to japan's pavilion.....disappointed....i was getting ready to buy some cute stuff actually.

well, after japan, we decided to go and check south korea's which is next door, but decided to skip. the queue was too long.

we decided to go over to puxi side of the expo area then to explore those corporate pavilions.
so we went across the river in this:

free ferry to cross huangpu river.

we entered republic of korea business pavilion and then laze around. wanted to go into japan's business pavilion...but the queue was damn long. i think they also showcased robots inside.

so we took a bus and went to those urban planning cases where they exhibit energy-saving lifestyle in the city.

hamburg house.
i think this is london's ubpa case.
coca-cola pavilion.
there was nothing much to see inside actually. just 2 videos like the cheezel commercial you see in the cinema. animation of how you get coca-cola once you put the coin into the vending machine.
dad said this was the only pavilion where no one cut queue. the queue was not long and there was a lot of space so i guess everyone was in a more relaxed mood.
aaahh.....refreshingly icy coca-cola for each visitor to coke pavilion. yes, the foam formed when air gets into the coke bottle really turns into ice when you twist open the cap and then quickly close it again. that was what we were told to do. is it a new coke?? i dont think so. maybe it is the temperature in which the bottle is kept. 2.2 degree celcius???

went back to pudong site on ferry again an 7 plus to see which pavilion has short queue.

south korea pavilion.
had a funny story here.
we were queuing halfway when the korean staff pushed us into the green lane specially for disabled and those above 75 years old. we have uncle pek to thank for this short cut. they thought he was that old as he was hobbling along because of his bad knee. we of course did not protest and managed to cut our queuing time by more than 30 mins.
korean characters form the facade of the pavilion.
inside korea pavilion.
united arab emirates pavilion.
the last pavilion we entered and we were in the last batch who queued up too. uncle pek did not join because he had had enough for the day. dad and i only queued for about 20 mins. during the daytime, the queue can reach more than 2 hours for this pavilion.
so this marks the end of my adventure at shanghai world expo 2010. it is definitely a memorable one. some of the pavilions really did a good job in promoting sustainable energy and promoting a better living environment for the future generation. i will constantly remind myself to help sustain our beautiful earth too. keeping my fingers crossed that whatever i see are not only for show and tell but are actually done in practice in the respective countries.

my first public performance ;)

yeay!!!! i did not forget my dance moves!!!! am i stiff??? for someone who cannot really dance...ok lah kan??? can't believe that i managed to do it in my heels. muahahaha.....

have an encore request for another performance tonight- mid-autumn celebration. won't be dressed so formally. will be a more casual and relaxed affair. must not forget move!!!

day 4 at the expo

aaa day 4. was getting a little and little more jaded each day. but still the expo was still waiting to be explored and today, was straight to the middle-east zone.

hai bao, the mascot of the expo.
the pavilions at middle-east zone are all smaller than those at the other zones.

iran pavilion
lebanon pavilion
sri lanka pavilion
israel pavilion. the queue was long for this one so i did not enter. man it was hot that day. i felt like walking in the dessert!! it was so dry and bright!!
morocco pavilion
inside morocco
oman pavilion
inside oman
pakistan pavilion
inside pakistan
turkmenistan pavilion
inside turkmenistan

after the middle east zone we went to asia zone then. it was walk walk walk again but it was a traffic free one. we passed by the middle axis and the pavilion of urban planning.
this symbolises the spirit of volunteerism. they call the volunteers little cabbage and their tee shirt is green in colour too.
brunei pavilion. a very small one.
cambodia pavilion. also a small one, showing replica of angkor wat inside and more stones.
thailand pavilion. lcd show....not bad. and the queue was about 30 mins
australia pavilion. very long and i think they did a good job. the exhibits were interesting and enjoyable.
inside australia
new zealand pavilion. lots of greeneryinside nz pavilion.
indonesia pavilion. quite an imposing one in this area and i think the tallest.
this map was shown on the wall. mana patut? where is the dot to show kuala lumpur?? you can see brunei and singapore there right???
inside indonesia pavilion. they sell satay outside....very very fragrant! they also sell cafe luwak, the most expensive coffee in the world and only 6 cups per day. i think it is priced at rmb120 a cup. their shop sells indomie too but i could not see the price.
malaysia, oh malaysia. our very own now.
traditional clothes, genting highlands, baba and nyonya heritage, unesco heritage and ogawa massage chair. yup, it is ogawa massage chair. many ppl said it is like pasar inside, but i won't go as far as that lah. nothing hi-tech about ours.
batik, orang-utan, mute staff and overseas mooncake. and some beautiful paintings from the national gallery. the workers inside our pavilion are not friendly at all. the others that i went were very eager to explain to you everything in mandarin. yes, africans, americans, europeans, middle-eastern, australians, etc....all of them can speak mandarin fluently.
cocoa powder beverage drink for sale, exhibition on rubber product and one malaysia dance outside the pavilion. the dance comes almost every 2 hour i think.
the phillippines pavilion.
this one is a bit like a night market. i don't see any exhibits except these 2 singers. and the rest were all products of the phillippines for shoppers. they have a small cafe inside too.
singapore pavilion, shaped like a music box. much better than malaysia's ah. i feel that they do put effort into showing the best of singapore.

a ballet performance outside singapore pavilion.

malaysia pavilion has ogawa, singapore pavilion has osim (bottom left). they also have a long music video presentation featuring their famous singers- sun yanzi, tanya chua, ah do, and jj lin. i think the mtv is available on tv too. they also have an orchid garden on the rooftop.

our only motive that day was to get into saudi arabia pavilion. however, we chose not to do it first thing in the morning because when we saw the queue, it was already reaching 5 hours mark....that was at 9a.m.! madness!!! hence, we went to all the above first.

we returned to check the queue at 7.30p.m. and phew, we were lucky, the line was going to be closed at 7.45. uncle pek did not join us because he could not take it anymore. the saudi pavilion was HUGE!!! it was called the moonboat.
one of the tallest pavilions here- the saudi arabia pavilion and also one of the most popular ones. some ppl queued 7 hours!!! me? i queued for 2 hours to get inside. i made my way into the pavilion at 9.30p.m. what a wait!!!

that was where i saw how conniving a chinese woman can be.

she just climbed over the barricade right next to mine and kicked my arms while screaming 'my child, my child, he is inside and i have lost him!' the security on duty did not see her and she quickly made herself quiet and invinsible when they passed by. in the queue, she started chatting with others and there was no child to look for. later, she tried getting her husband to join her too by saying, 'hubby, you better come in quick, our son, we have to look for our son!' the hubby was more cowardice than her so he just stood there outside the barricade while handing her a bottle. that was when the security guard came and block the lady. yipppeee!!! justice!! they stood in front of her and refused to let her move with the line and all i could hear was shouting and more shouting from the lady while the husband just stood next to her quietly. some drama was entertaining in a boring queue ;P

there was more walking once inside the pavilion....spiraling all the way to the top. i dunno how many storeys we turned. everyone got some postcards, a cd and a glass cube with the moonboat etched inside.
i curi-curi took this photo with my handphone. you were not supposed to take any photo inside. this definitely is the main draw for everyone who visited this pavilion. a 1600 square metre screen showing bird's eye view of saudi arabia's geography. there was a warning while queuing that the video might cause dizziness and i had to agree. you felt as if you were a bird on the travellator observing the changing scenes. it was magnificent. can you see those figures of humans on the travellator and how tiny they are? then try to imagine how big the screen is.

well, that concluded day 4. one more day to go.