We joined the China trip led by Radio FM 1003 DJ Luo Kemin this June holidays. There were 4 buses altogether, holding more than 130 people! As we extended our trip to Nanjing, we were put in the last group which happened to be the smallest group with only 18 people in the small bus. We were rather delighted as it always has its advantages travelling in small groups. As our entire group was rather big, we had the exception of having an additional tour leader coming with us even though the initial requirement was to have at least 20 people.
We were the youngest couple in our bus with a 15 year-old girl as the next youngest member who was travelling with her father. The rest were either senior citizens or more than 55 years old. These elders were rather nice to us and we got along very well.
In the afternoon, when watching “Yu Shanghai”, our tour guide arranged us to sit with DJ Luo Kemin, DJ Huang Wenhong as well as Zhang Zhenxiang (aka “Robert” in “Little Nonya”). We were delighted though uneasy at the same time. Below is a picture taken with them when the show ended.
Below is a surprise picture taken by DJ Luo Kemin with her handphone and put up on her Facebook Page when we were on the cruise at the Thousand Islands Lake.
At the Shanghai Expo on 17 June 2010, we decided to break the record of visiting at least 6 pavilions in a day and we succeeded! We had heard of good reviews about Switzerland, Denmark, UK, Germany and Japan but decided not to visit them as we had been in these countries before and the queues were pretty long (can be up to 5 hours or more!) so had to give them a miss. We used to plan to visit Greece 2 years ago but due to a forest fire, we switched our plans. Even though the pavilion wasn’t that great, we wanted to have a look. So, in general, we planned to visit the pavilions we had never been to, except for Singapore (give support) and China (the largest Pavilion and we had privilege to enter it).
As expected, there were long queues everywhere. Elderly above 80 years can use the Green lane for express entering certain Pavilions with the green lane.
We reached there at about 10 a.m. and left at about 5.30 p.m. We managed to visit 6 Pavilions, spending the longest time in China Pavilion because it’s the biggest.
Some people brought stools to sit on while queueing but personally I think it works only if the queue doesn’t move. Basically, the queues did move generally.
As we went with the tour group, we had priority to visit the Singapore Pavilion without having to queue. I’ve heard of the bad review about it so as a Singaporean, we feel that we really should go and have a look to see why the review’s so bad. Haha! There are 3 floors within the Singapore pavilion. 1st floor nothing much. 2nd floor is to watch a show in a mini theatre. 3rd floor is the mini botanic garden.
Verdict: Visit if you want to support Singapore and see what they’re showing.
We visited the Spain Pavilion immediately after this. Since it was early, queueing only took about 30 min. It was nice! There was an enormous animated baby whose expression was so natural.
Verdict: Good! Worth a visit!
To visit the China Pavilion, they didn’t allow queueing so you will need reservation passes. However, even the reservation passes had all been given out so it was almost impossible to enter it. Fortunately, we went with the tour so they managed to make prior reservations for us to enter way before. Even with reservation, we still had to queue for 45 min inside the pavilion. It is really worth watching but if you intend to visit China again and don’t want to miss the other Pavilions, you may want to come back another time. There are many floors and sections within the pavilion. There are also train rides (like rides in Fantasy Land in Disneyland). Once you leave a section, it’s not possible to go back to the next section. Visit the toilets in there. Definitely cleaner than the mobile toilets outside.
Verdict: Fantastic!
We visited the Greece Pavilion and queued for 15 min. Some displays here and there and a small theatre to listen to their orchestra music. Had lunch there as well since it would be crowded everywhere else during lunch time outside. There are fast food restaurants like pizza hut and KFC.
Verdict: Ok
We also visited the Iceland Pavilion and queued for 40 min. As it was their National Day, they closed after 2 p.m. They screened a show that lasted about 10 min and they only allowed big groups of people in every 15-20 min.
Vedict: The longest queueing time we had spent and the most not worthwhile.
We haven’t been to Cambodia so we decided to drop by the Cambodia Pavilion to have a look before meeting our tour group at 5.30 p.m. No need to queue at all.
Verdict: Ok
Another couple in our tour group stayed till 9 p.m. and said that the queues were much faster. So if you have the stamina, you may want to stay longer. For us, we were just too tired by 5 p.m. so decided to retire.
On the whole, we had a really enjoyable and relaxing trip although our schedule was a little changed from the original itinerary to suit the first 3 buses. Reached Nanjing only in the evening and had only 1.5 hour to shop on our last night. So disappointed. We could have got the whole day there! Nevertheless, we miss the company we had but definitely not the toilets! ;)