My Camera Speaks IV : Another Episode on Shanghai!!

I find it almost irresistible to avoid another photo-blog on my recent trip to Shanghai. This time i will be covering those pictures during the train journey & the later roam in and around the Huangpu River, the water front and the Shanghai Skyline!

…Entering the D-Train. The bullet train service from Nanjing to Shanghai…

 

…The outer view from inside the super-fast train…

…Another view inside…

…When the engines became the most vigorous…

…Various photos from the famous Nanjing Street in Shanghai. I swear, this was the 1st time in China, when i saw more foreigners than Chinese people…

…These buildings looked more European, than Chinese to me!…

…The Shanghai skyline from across the Huangpu River. One of the most AWESOME sights of my life. The camera failed to capture it cleanly though…

 

…The thing standing tall behind me is one of the epic buildings of Shanghai. The Oriental Pearl Towers. Now the 3rd tallest building in Shanghai…

 

…The arch shape reminded me of Marine Drive, Mumbai. Again, not the best of the snaps…

…From a ferry ride to across the river, even though a ordinary snap, i loved the background…

…I believe the best ones always comes at the end…the tallest structures in Shanghai, and the world. Jinmao Tower (left, 11th tallest in world)…

…And the Shanghai World Financial Center, the 3rd tallest building in the world and my personal favorite from Shanghai. The photo is taken from an open top bus…     

I hope you liked it. Leave a comment if you did. No copying without permission. In case you are interested in any of them, as me & i shall give you the full resolution ones.

My Camera Speaks III : Shanghai Expo Unplugged

Check the previous post if you haven’t, to get an idea what World Expo 2010 – Shanghai is all about. This is a continuation with some details.

Shanghai Expo started on the 1st of May this year and is about to finish in more than a months time, on the 31st of Oct. I was told that each day, the expo attracts anything between two hundred thousand to two million people. One day ticket allow you to stay inside the Expo site from 9 AM to 12 in the midnight, but if you felt that this 15 hours was good enough to see it all, you are terribly wrong. On a day’s ticket, it is not likely that you visit more than 5-6 pavilions. It took me some thing like one hour to get the security clearance to enter inside the Expo site. Our plans were to see all the pavilions  from outside, capture photos, and on the way visit the Indian, African & Aviation pavilions and see how the rest goes.

The Indian Pavilion

To be frank, Indian pavilion was a slight disappointment. Not that it looked bad, but considering the powerful nation we are, and considering the kind of Super Power we are supposed to be, they should have done better and invested better. The theme looked okay, the greenness and the structure of it displaying a bit of our culture, but there lacked something that attracts your eye like those of the European, American or even our neighboring Nepalese pavilion. We had to wait for something like an hour to enter the pavilion and inside it were a couple of stores, some antique shops, a food store, and a store of Incredible India & Air India together. The big dome seen at the center is an exhibition hall.

…Several photos from inside the Indian Pavilion are below…

What do you feel about the Indian Pavilion? Was enough work done? Didn’t it lack something from the other pavilions? Do share your views & thoughts through comments.

 

Some pavilion pictures that i missed last time…

…Russia & United States of America…

…Mauritius…

…the African Pavilion & Nepali Pavilion…

 

 

…Estonia…

 

…Romania…

…Germany…

…Winding off…

True, you have had to wait for 2-3 hours in queues to enter any major pavilion, but you can’t expect an easy passage when you know 500,000 people visit this place every day. And the 3 hour wait was made a comfortable one with various facilities and arrangements. Some of them included seating facility for the entire queue and fans every 5 meter or so, and then there was this innovative idea of spraying of water from the roof, every 30 seconds or so, which was nothing but a sudden escape from the humid, hot conditions.

To sum up the experience in a couple of sentences, engineering & organizing were all at their very bests, for this mega event. Pavilions that stole away your breaths, crowd control and voluntary works that made you jealous, free transportation services that made you feel home, an experience to cherish!

Walking through the Expo site, i was thinking how the Commonwealth Villages in New-Delhi would be looking like. Just like the Olympics 2008, this is sure to be a bench mark for any World Fairs from now on.

My Camera Speaks II : World Expo 2010 Unveiled

I am sure I messed up with the trust of my readers by faking an experience from a live football match, with out actually entering the stadium, but then this time is real and genuine and you wouldn’t want to miss this one.

The World Expo 2010 is a 6 month long carnival at Shanghai – China, one of the major economic centers of the world. Over 190 countries and 50 international companies have pavilions, which is also the largest World's Fair site ever at 5.28 square km. The exhibition which is to end in over a month’s time is expected to attracted around 70-100 million ( 7-10 crores ) visitors, the largest for a single event ever. An astounding 3 Lakhs visitors are told to be visiting the expo-site every single day.

These are some of the pictures from the Expo-site.

…At the entrance of the Shanghai World Expo Site…

…The Tricolor…

 

…The Long Queue, nearly 300,000 people pass through these queues every day…

…The pride of China, Chinese Pavilion ( two views )…

…This one’s a Chinese Cultural Pavilion ( my personal favorite from the site!)…

…The Expo Axis…

 

…Three outstanding buildings in Shanghai, as seen from Expo site, (left to right) the Oriental Pearl tower, the Jinmao Tower (11th tallest in world) & the Shanghai World Financial Center ( 3rd tallest in world)…

…Country Pavilions…

…Australia & Finland…

   

…Greece & Sweden…

…Iceland & Ukraine…

…Canada & United Kingdom…

…South Africa & Argentina…

…Inside the African Pavilion…

…The Lupu Bridge, adjacent to Expo site…

     

…The China Aviation Pavilion… 

These photos are entirely clicked by either me, or on me. Please do not copy any with out my consent.

Further photos from the trip & a detailed report about Expo & Indian Pavilion shall follow. Please subscribe to my blog, to receive alerts on my blog updates. (Check back at the right side – top, to subscribe)