Expo, Expo, Expo. I don't know about you but all we have been hearing for the past, um, three years is how great everything will be when the Shanghai Expo comes. Neighborhoods have been cleaned up, all stores have new signs, people have been told to dry their clothing inside their apartment (no unsightly laundry hanging from the windows) and most importantly, neighborhood watchdogs are keeping a close eye on the worst offenders; people walking on the streets with nothing more than their PJs on. No more, the Expo is here.

The Expo of course is the biggest thing since the Beijing Olympics but instead of two weeks of inconvenient traffic patters (remember how cars with even and odd numbered register plates took turns driving into the city on certain days of the week), the Shanghai Expo lasts for six months. Roads have been built, tunnels have been dug and airports have been expanded to enable 70 million people to visit. One hundred and eighty days divided by 70 million is about 2.6 million extra people per day in the city. Or more accurately, trying to get in and out of the Expo site which straddles both sides of the Pu river just south of downtown.  Oh, I can't wait.

Which is why I volunteered to go visit the Expo site yesterday during the first "soft opening" day - The official opening day is May 1st. I figured I'd still see some of the buildings and exhibits sans the hoads of people. The catch? You had to go with a busload of 4 year olds. Oh, what the heck.

Kai's classmate's mother works for the U.K. Pavillion so she had managed to get tickets for the K4A class and their parents. It seemed like the entire school was jealously watching us board the bus and head out to be some of the very first to officially enter the Expo site. I use the word "some" loosely here because after the first 200,000 people, the Expo officials actually stopped allowing other ticket holders enter the grounds. 

Security was tight. Everyone had to go through metal detectors, have bags scanned, be wanded down, turn on all electronics (cell phones, mp3 players, cameras) and take a sip from open water bottles. We got wisked through a group gate but it looked like the regular gates were moving very, very slowly.

Once we were inside the grounds, we took a bit of a snack break before heading out to the U.K. Pavillion. The smell of glue was pretty strong as many of the buildings were still being worked on but there were also lots of ready exhibits and tons of toilets. Each toilet stall had a light installed above it - red for occupied and no light for available. Pretty cool. Everything was clean and new; toilets even had paper!

After the snack and potty break, we started walking towards the U.K. Pavillion. We passed a few others, Luxemburg, Russia and The EU building. At 10am, there were already long lines in front of all the buildings that were open. We were told that for the most popular ones (like the China Pavillion), one will need to order a separate entry ticket from a ticket machine outside the building which will give an entry time into the Pavillion. By 11am, all tickets to the China Pavillion (until 10pm when the gates close) had been taken. 

Russian Pavillion

We were taken inside through a VIP entrance as it was becoming more and more apparent that our group of 4 year olds was pretty tough to keep together and moving through the Expo crowds, including the main entrance. We were then taken into the inner sanctum of the UK building that looks like a space ship with spickey rods that have various types of seeds and leaves inside. It was really cool; the kids thought they were in a science fiction movie. 

Outside the UK Pavillion "Spikes".

"Space ship" with rods.

A close-up of a rod with seeds inside.

After our tour, it was time to head back to the bus. It started raining and unfortunately by the time the bus made it back to the pick up point, the whole gang was soaked. Good thing the kids didn't seem to mind it too much. An hour and a half ride back to school and the adventure was completed.

Even the man whole covers at the Expo are stamped with "Expo".

Overall, I was quite impressed with the buildings. They are so much better than the pictures we have been seeing. I am now seriously considering going back with David...I know, I know. We only had 200,000 people out there yesterday whereas on a "real" day you could have over a million. Still, the site is huge and if you stay outside and don't try to queue inside a pavillion, you might be ok. 

Am I saying large crowds are starting to grow on me???????