我的探险

[Dima02]

Hey guys, I found an alternative way to upload the images, so I'll start my travel blog... NOW!

After resting in Beijing for a few days, I flew to Shanghai to visit the world expo. After the painful plane ride, (Never riding an Airbus A320 again) I got the ride the maglev. http://y06.img-up.net/?up=IMG_0016158i8x.jpg
It actually didn't feel that much different from a regular train, but it was really fast. (Note the strange tracks)

After dropping off the baggage at the hotel, my mom and I went to the expo. First, we visited the CSSC pavillion. This design was supposed to look like a dockyard, and it was really authentic.
http://t82.img-up.net/?up=IMG_00191k4z3w.jpg
The line was really long, and we waited about one hour, but it was worth it.
http://h25.img-up.net/?up=IMG_00201mjzuj.jpg
They had a bunch of cool ship models. For a guy into machinery, like me, these are really interesting. Due to the slow uploading speed, I can only upload a few.
http://o30.img-up.net/?up=IMG_00251muk5x.jpg
This is supposed to be some "farm" ship.
http://r63.img-up.net/?up=IMG_00331lgkz6.jpg
more ships
http://l15.img-up.net/?up=IMG_00371zead8.jpg
my favorite--some sort of satellite control ship

Then, I visited a Earthquake simulation. Sorry, no photos.

Then, I visited the Shanghai Volkswagen pavilion
http://p85.img-up.net/?up=IMG_004015pn28.jpg
They had a really cool video about the cars of the future. They drive themselves and don't need humans. They're easy to store, and they never collide. I actually don't remember that much, but it was a really awesome video.
http://n22.img-up.net/?up=IMG_00171degu4.jpg
concept car

At night, I visited the China Aviation Pavaillion
http://a78.img-up.net/?up=IMG_00411heeeb.jpg
It was late, so I really didn't get to watch the movie. They had a bunch of model planes. For military plane enthusiasts like me, F-14 Ace, and F-22 Ace, this was paradise. They also sold models, but there were no American planes.

And this concludes my visit on the first day. I'll be uploading the other pics later.

[Pangaea]

Whoa! All of this in one day!? :! What a vacation!

The floating farm looks really interesting. Did any of the models represent “real” ships, or were they all concept designs of ships that may be built in the future?

Then, I visited a Earthquake simulation. Sorry, no photos.

I don’t think I’d ever want to be caught in a real earthquake (not under conditions in which I could get injured or killed, anyway), but that sounds awesome. Is there anything else you can tell us about it, like how the simulation was set up and/or what magnitude earthquake was simulated?

What’s the English translation of this thread’s title, by the way?

[Dima02]

Whoa! All of this in one day!? :! What a vacation!

The floating farm looks really interesting. Did any of the models represent “real” ships, or were they all concept designs of ships that may be built in the future?

Then, I visited a Earthquake simulation. Sorry, no photos.

I don’t think I’d ever want to be caught in a real earthquake (not under conditions in which I could get injured or killed, anyway), but that sounds awesome. Is there anything else you can tell us about it, like how the simulation was set up and/or what magnitude earthquake was simulated?

What’s the English translation of this thread’s title, by the way?

Some of the ships are real, and some of them are concepts. That farm ship was a concept.

About the earthquake part, my grandpa was a survivor of the 1976 Tangshan earthquake and gave my some pretty vivid (and disturbing) descriptions. Earthquakes are probably the worst natural disasters of all. You can't run, and you can't hide. Nothing causes more devastation in a such a short time.

The earthquake simulation was in a room that looks liked the inside of a subway car with seats taken out. There were handles everywhere. The magnitude slowly increased from 3 to 7, and there was a lot of vertical movement as well. To describe the experience in one sentence, I would say that it felt like a really bumpy ride on a bus without suspension.

The English Title is: My Adventure, Beijing and Shanghai

[Dima02]

Hey guys, ever since I got back, I've been having a little trouble with my laptop, so I wasn't able to upload the pictures, but I'll start as soon as possible.

About that teaching trip in Henan, one of my friends made a video about it. It's in Chinese, but it's still really moving. I'll be posting about my experience later.

[Kor]

No hurry, hope the problems with your laptop are fixed soon so you can use it with no problems.  Thanks for the video link.

[Dima02]

Hey guys,

First of all, I apologize for the late post. I tried posting this about a month ago, but my computer crashed, and i lost all my work. Also, I apologize for the lack of photos. For some reason, I can't seem to be able to copy their location (help?)

But on the bright side, let's continue with the World Fair story, shall we?

On the second day, my mom and I went to the European area. The first pavilion  was the German pavilion

It has a cool shape no? We didn't go inside, because the line was 4 hours long. Still, just getting to see the outside was pretty cool. I gotta say that the outer design, while futuristic-looking, doesn't really reflect any efforts to go "green" and can be a bit of an eyesore. However, whatever was inside was obviously really good, because the line was long.

So, then, we decided to go the the French pavilion, which had a shorter line. I was too close to take a picture of the building, but I did get a picture of the "France" sign.
here
Is is me, or are the portraits a little creepy?
The inside was a lot better. It had a lot of greenery, lots of glass, and a really cool mountain.
here
Inside the building were some valuable artworks and scenes of life in France. La culture francais est la mieux.
here

Spain was next on our list. The outer building was made out of some recycled mats, which I thought was pretty eco-friendly and artistic.
here
The inside had projections of the Spanish plains, ancient Spanish history, and videos of bullfighting and dancing. However, I was most impressed by a huge moving baby at the end.
here

After Spain, we visited the pavilions of some smaller European countries like Monaco and Greece. We really didn't find anything really interesting. We had Greek pizza for lunch.

Alright, so this concludes the morning of our second day at the World Fair. I'll be posing the rest later. Stay tuned, people, cause I have a story to tell.

[Kor]

Looks like an interesting place.  Also looks like it rained a bit.

[Pangaea]

No worries about the late post; I’m just glad you didn’t forget about this thread. (I have seriously lost track of how many threads I have forgotten to post in. ) Sorry about your computer problems.

I think the trick with posting photos is that you need to use the URL of the photo itself, not the page the photo is posted on. For example, the URL of your photo of the inside of the French pavilion (one of my two favorites; I like the decorative columns of ivy[?] along the walls ) is http://picasaweb.google.com/11390074665528...776377234721938. But if you right-click on the photo and select “Open Image in New Window/Tab”, bringing up a page that shows the image alone, it’ll have a different URL: http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qd0fIb3l590/TLoo0oel...12/IMG_0059.jpg. That’s the one you should use in the [IMG] tags. (Sorry if that explanation sounded awkward; I hope it helps. )

My other favorite photo is the one of the building with the recycled mats for a roof. I love it when discarded materials are reused like that!
Personally, I don’t think the portraits in the French pavilion look anywhere near as creepy as the giant baby. :blink: That thing was animatronic? Did it make sounds, too? (For me, that would be far scarier than any of the animatronic dinosaurs or giant insects I’ve ever seen. D8)

Will there be more photos after this?

[Dima02]

No worries about the late post; I’m just glad you didn’t forget about this thread. (I have seriously lost track of how many threads I have forgotten to post in. ) Sorry about your computer problems.

I think the trick with posting photos is that you need to use the URL of the photo itself, not the page the photo is posted on. For example, the URL of your photo of the inside of the French pavilion (one of my two favorites; I like the decorative columns of ivy[?] along the walls ) is http://picasaweb.google.com/11390074665528...776377234721938. But if you right-click on the photo and select “Open Image in New Window/Tab”, bringing up a page that shows the image alone, it’ll have a different URL: http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qd0fIb3l590/TLoo0oel...12/IMG_0059.jpg. That’s the one you should use in the

It kinda reminds you of the Kremlin, doesn't it?

The line for the Russian pavillion was too long, but we did visit some of the pavillions of some of the former Soviet States. Frankly, I did not enjoy them that much. Some of them had virtually nothing. The Ukranian pavillion only had a desktop model of a future city and a restaurant. The Estonian facility only had a voting poll where you vote for the most important issue you face today. Frankly, I was not impressed and did not take photos.

Next, we went to the Austrian pavillion:



Although the inside was largely made up of tiny text and images posted on the walls, they still had a live music performance at the end. The music was great.

Somehow, I lost the photos for the next part If I can find them, I'll add them later. I visited the Iranian pavillion. It was a large pavillion and had two floors. On the bottom floor were posters of Iranian technology and a live music performance. On the upper floor was an entire Perisan rug shop--yes, a rug shop. The place was popular too, and I was fairly impressed.

The North Korea facility was located right next to the Iranian pavillion. I wasn't really expecting much for this one, but I was completely stunned. The inside was impressive and way better than that of many other countries of the same size. It had a simulated river flowing through it with a small temple and a large marble fountian. I especially liked the fountain. It showed a group of kids holding up a dove into the air.

After that, the entire fair got crowded, and my mom and I just randomly went about. We went into the African pavillion and Caribean pavillion. There really wasn't anything that noticeable, and I took no photos.

Here's what the American Pavillion lookds like, if you're wondering:



It's not really that outstanding. The Canadian pavillion next to it completely deminished it.

At night, I visited my personally favorate pavillion--the Australian pavillion.



The outer design was both modern and natural. Rusted iron is always something that I have associated with nature, and the pavillion is shaped like a wave, an element of nature. However, if you can see the "tubes" sticking out, it looks futuristic and sort of resembles a hamster cage.

The inside was nice. First, there were figures showing Australian history.

Here's one portraying (and possibly mocking?) the British.



They animals in the next one are really cute.





Perhaps I would have enjoyed them more if I knew Australian history, but I know very little. Does anyone know what this is refering to?



Why are those people fighting over the dam?

This photo shows you how crowded it was:


There was a movie at the end showing a future world told from the viewpoint of three kids. Being a kid myself, I loved the point of view. The narrator was really funny too. The Australian pavillion is my personal favorite out of all the pavillions I visited.

[Pangaea]

Sorry for the delay in commenting, and I'm glad I could help with the photo posting issue.

I love the designs on the outside of the Eastern Europe pavilion. What are the big white things, exactly? And do you know what they're made of? For some reason they remind me of giant decorated origami bags with balconies(?) built out of uncooked spaghetti noodles.

Awesome design for the Austrian pavilion. Both the shape of the building and the gratiated red and white paint job look very cool.

Wow, the American pavilion looks pretty boring. That's all I have to say.

That's a shame about the Iranian and North Korean photos. They sound neat.

I agree with you that the Australian pavilion looks neat. A lot of those caricatured figures inside look creepy to me, though. (Those are probably the ugliest koalas I've ever seen. And there's something freaky about the forward-facing, bugged-out eyes on that bull. :blink:) I do like the sheep and the penguins, though, especially the one with the crossed flippers and the toothy snarl.

That stack of white triangles with the sail on top intrigues me, as does the thing next to it that looks like a cross between the top of a lighthouse and a War of the Worlds tripod. I'd ask you what they were, but you've already implied that you don't know. Oh well.

Unfortunately I doubt that I know any more about Australian history than you. I'm guessing one of the caricatures in the first picture might be Captain James Cook, a British explorer who I know visited Australia in the 18th century, but that's all I can say.