The world expo is an event held around the world which gives opportunity for countries to promote their country & culture to the world. It is also known as the World’s Fair or Universal Exposition in certain countries it was held. Each participating country will be given chance to create their own national pavilion.

I was grateful to be given the opportunity to visit the 2010 expo last September which was held in Shanghai. Actually I was on a business trip and I need to meet someone inside the expo area. I didn’t waste that opportunity and made my way exploring the whole expo. However my visit was during Ramadan month which was fasting month for Muslim’s so there’s still limit for me to walk around as I wasn’t able to eat or drink.

I’m travelling with Zieman for this trip. We reached the expo at about 10am. My goodness the place was huge! The girl at the ticket counter recommended us to spend 3 days there in order to complete the whole expo. We only had one day to visit the expo so we had to skip certain parts.

security was tight at the entrance

Security at the entrance was really tight. We need to get through the scanner similar to the airport scanner. My bags were searched and they did query me because I was bringing a few camera lenses with me.

inside the African pavillion

Our first stop was the African pavilion. This pavilion is one big pavilion which combines a number of showcases from countries throughout the African continent. The cultural performance was one of the things that caught my eyes. Outside, there were few other African countries which had their own pavilion such as Tunisia, Morocco & Egypt.

some South American pavillion

Brazillian street dance

Next we went to the Argentina Pavillion which showcases the places of interest in Argentina. There was also a big picture of Diego Maradona and also their current superstar, Lionel Messi. We passed through several other South & North American countries pavilion nearby such as Brazil, USA, Mexico and others. Outside the Brazillian Pavilion there were a group of dancers performing the samba and they were inviting people to join the dance

The Dutch Pavillion

Romania, France, Britain & Italy

Croatian Pavillion

Among the pavilion that I found unique was the Dutch Pavilion which features the concept Happy Street. It was built like a street model where visitors will walk through stairs and along the street which features twenty over small houses. The pathway also seems like we are walking in a street that curves like the number 8.

Left : Interior of the Moroccan Pavilion Right : Uzbek traditional dress at the Uzbekistan Pavilion

Beijing & Tianjin exhibition area inside the China Pavilion

The largest pavilion was the China pavilion which also was the main icon at the expo. As the lines to enter certain pavilion are very long, I have to skip a lot of popular pavilions such as Japan, Korea, India, France and some other due to time constraint. Here are few more pics of other countries that I managed to visit.

UAE

A girl doing henna at the Afghan Pavillion

Next we continued my journey through the South East Asian countries pavilion. As we were walking to find the South East Asian pavilions, we bump into a parade. The parade was play a part by people from different countries from different part of the world. It lasted about half an hour.

The street parade

Malaysia & Brunei Pavillion

After nearly 8 hours of touring around, we stopped to have our iftar at the Brunei Pavillion, eating Nasi Katok. This is the only South East Asian pavilion selling halal food. Even the Malaysian Pavillion and Indonesian Pavilion doesn’t serve halal food!. Apart from Brunei, I read in the brochure they said that halal food was available in several Middle Eastern pavilion. One of the big food court at the expo also was serving halal food.

After that we head straight to the exit as it was nearly 10pm. Spending 12 hours at the expo was really tiring and my foot had a few blisters! Although it was tiring, the experience was worth the hassle.

The next World expo will be held in Yeosu, South Korea in 2012 and in 2015 it will be held in the Italian city of Milan. Have to start saving from now if you have plans to go.