To Expo or not to Expo... That's the question...

I must have mentioned to you before... What I saw most in the World Expo was... people.... What I did most there was waiting in line....

The people mountain people sea (人山人海) in the World Expo in Shanghai... and for some pavilions... hours of waiting in line... 

Like what a friend of mine had put it, it takes longer time to wait in line than to fly directly to the country... for instance... it took me 2 hours to fly from Seoul, Korea to Shanghai... but it could take you 3,4 hours to get into the Korean Pavilion... Similarly, it took me less than 2 hours to ge from Shanghai back to Taipei... It would have taken me more than 2 hours to get the ticket to Taiwan Pavilion.... Also... might as well travel around in Taiwan now that I am seeing Taipei 101 everyday..... 8-O lol

Korean Pavilion

Yours truly, of course, like many others, took the strategy called visiting only the pavilions without or with only short lines....

Uzbekistan Pavilion

Moreover, even the small pavilions with shorter or no line were crowded with people... which made it pretty difficult to see much...

I did not have the courage, not to mention the strength, to even attempt the path towards the Saudi Arabia pavilion...  Please be reminded... what you see below is only a "small fraction" of the line for the Saudi Arabia pavilion.

All these people in these pictures were waiting in line for the Saudi Arabia Pavilion. The sigh said... over 5 hour waiting time. In reality- on a day when I almost got heat stroke (and perhaps really got it since I was so overcome by my expo experiences that I stayed in all day the second day) and almost passed out due to the heat--- provided me being sick already- these people in the picture had to wait over 6 hours to get in. According to hearsay, it took some people 9 hours to get in.  Such dedication... I have to say... heroic....

Only about 3 hours after I arrived, I had already thrown the white towel in to the world expo.

Sitting on the bench underneath the overpass, feeling the cold water sprinkling down, and in my vacuous head, I must be thinking... too hot, too humid, I am getting sick and I am feverish..... I am about to pass out... Oh, Lord...

Perhaps, also pondering about the clouds overcasting the sky of Pu-Xi... when are you gonna rain down?  God... please let it rain down.... (and, it finally did rain down.  9-10 o'clock in the evening when I finally made it back to my brother in law's...  finally back to the comfort of the AC-ed living room... sipping my water... waiting for the leading character of my life to show up.... and it poured.  Guess my wish really was granted except for quite a few hours too late... 8-O lol)

Back to 2-3 o'clock in the afternoon... just when yours truly-- the self-proclaimed determined disabled and sick traveler-- was there self-pitying while staring at them crowds in awe... gotta be really hot in there.... body heat and stinky sweat.... while still over 6 hours to go.... My God... some real dedication.... I would not be able to survive it for even 5 minutes... 3 minutes... or maybe not even 30 seconds..

It was then when I heard commotion...

You see, even the military were brought in to manage the waiting lines, which were actually were physically divided into sections.

When the time comes for people to move from one segment to the next, the soldiers lined up, arm in arm, building a line or a wall, at the front of the crowd... moving one step at a time in unity... to prevent the crowds from pushing etc and causing accidents.  Over the air, they kept on broadcasting... "Don't push... Don't push...."

I had intended to take video clips of the scene except for... my head was already moving slow and my body moved even slower... All that I had caught was a picture that shows the "outcome" of the event... People already arriving at the next "benchmark"... Continuing to wait...

Days later, as I continued to speak to people about the amazing dedication I observed and my cowardliness, someone told me that... so they said in the news... a lot of people really got heat stroke and needed ER services... (oops... the problem of watching soap opera only but not news... 8-O 8-X)

This was when it clicked... something else I heard in the broadcast over the air... something like... "Your health is very important."

So... I did make it to stay at the Expo for over 8 hours... when I eventually move from zone A, B to section C.... where pavilions for England, America, France, Germany... etc... reside... Though I was already in a state when I was not even sure whether I could make it home in one piece... let along taking any picture.... You might as well check the official website of World Expo for professional photography....　

Before I went to the World Expo, people had me told... this is an event that is... "不去可惜,去了後悔".. essentially, you will regret it whether you go or not... 

Yet, those who have been there also insisted that I should go to the expo since I would be in Shanghai anyways...

After I went to the world expo, I fully came to grasp the essence of the comment... "不去可惜,去了後悔"..

I suppose, like many other things in life... it is better to have lived than to ponder what it would have been like should I have been there and lived it...

Sort of like... das dasein could be declared or made understood but such attempts could never fully recapitulate the dasein itself...

Also, sort of like... 어떡하죠 如何是好 What should I do?....

In addition, some times I wonder... the day I went to the expo, there were supposed to have been something over 400 thousand people at the expo site as well...  Perhaps... within those hours, I might have encountered Chinese coming from all provinces and special area/districts... Well, a kind of added value... so to speak...

Maybe... had I not been sick and disabled, provided there were not over 400000 people in the event and it did not feel like 120 degree on the outside... I would have given you a different story and I might have come up with the same conclusion I overheard as I was struggling to get to the bus stop on my way home...

"What a wonderful and fruitful day!" So said this young lady, perhaps on high heels, to her companions while yours truly was dragging herself one step at a time trying to prevent the feverish me from throwing up in public or from scaring people by the disgusting sound I make when trying to get mucus out (you know that sound....... 8-O lol)

Yet, same event, same environmental condition.... How could the perception be so drastically different between the grunpy old me and da youthful beauty?

Perhaps, the confounding variable... my fortunately unfortune circumstances?  And, looking at the bright side, maybe it was these fortunately unfortunate circumstances that would make this visit memorable-- otherwise... in 10 years... it might simply be... ya... that world expo... think I might have been there before but mostly forgotten? 8-O lol

The one-day visit to the world expo does have its repercussion....

Days after, a friend of my brother-in-law told me that she might be able to get me into the Saudi pavilion through "VIP" kinda entrance...  thinking of the people mountain people sea in the Shanghai heat... and the fact that I took the entire day off the second day after overcome by the expo.... I couldn't not even imagine myself revisit the place again...

In addition, my brother-in-law found out later that his wife's sister-in-law is coming to Taipei for a concert... though, unfortunately, with THAT woman... (Is that jealousy?  OMG... God.. I have sinned... Also, ok.. this is a dream or illusion... not delusion... 8-O lol) The thought of having to be in the "people mountain people sea" already scares the hell out of me... not to mention that tickets might have already been sold out....

Yet, if you happen to be going to Shanghai before the closing of the World expo and would like my opinion on whether to attend the event or not...

My comment would be... the world expo is an event that is... "不去可惜,去了後悔".  However, personally, I believe it is better to regret about having been there than regretting about not even know what to regret about.... (sounds like some real run-on sentence... 8-O lol)

Sort of like... if you have never experience 어떡하죠.... regardless how well the lyrics describes 어떡하죠.... you would still not really understand 어떡하죠- 如何是好- What should I do?.... I guess... Also, just because I tell you that it had always been a tiring and futile event for me to be in love or in a relationship, considering my single status... does it mean that you will then never be in love or be in a relationship? 8-O 8-X lol