Saturday's attendance hit a new record of over 500,000 people. There really wasn't any point in taking pictures, because there were just way too many people. The loudspeakers kept broadcasting wait times for the popular pavilions (4+ hours for Japan and US, 3+ hours for France and Germany, etc...). The European Square was especially insane. Even the wheelchair line for the Korean pavilion stretched around the block. Imagine if you can: several hundred thousand Chinese people, all doing Chinese things. Snacking on KFC, duck hearts or cucumbers; taking victory pose photos; napping on all of the benches; running towards the hybrid buses that are already packed to maximum capacity.
I don't know how the Expo workers do it. Gao laoshi and I just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, but I did get to see the Asian and Middle East pavilions, which we didn't do on Friday. We did our best with photos, despite all the people, and now I have a picture of almost every single pavilion...
Some of my favorites (at least the outside, didn't have time to visit the inside). First, the good:
Angola.
South Korea. Their hangul theme was beautifully successful.
UAE. I don't always like Norman Foster, but this one I did.The bad:
Belarus. This is what you literally get if you give 100 children crayons and told them to draw on a building. Literally.
Pakistan. It's simply a replica of the Lahore Fort. You can't tell here, but the top of the building is a giant Pakistani flag.And the inexplicable:
Macau. Giant bunny lantern. The architect says it represents childhood memories and Macau's small size but lively spirit. Ok.
Iran. I looked up the English phrase and apparently it's a Persian poem by Saadi. But the English translation...
North Korea. Whoever placed this next to Iran must have a sense of humor...all the other Asian countries are in an entirely different zone.
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