Shanghai Expo with Coca-Cola – Day 3 of 4 (noon)

After exploring the Puxi area in the morning, we headed to Pudong during noon. Pudong is where all the country pavilions are located and where all the crowd is headed.

It is impossible to tour the entire Shanghai Expo area in a day – there are over 240 pavilions spread over 4 zones, separated by the Huangpu River.

For tips on exploring the Expo if you are starved for time, you can read this article I wrote for my paper on 17 May 2010.

Some of the popular pavilions like China, USA and Japan takes hours to queue, just to get in. We figured we were better off marveling the varied architecture of the various pavilions from the outside, soaking in the expo atmosphere and only visiting those pavilions which look more interesting, with a manageable queue.

In this way, we were able to see practically all the pavilions from the outside and still enjoyed touring a select few on the inside.

The expo is great for shopping and food too, beyond pavilion hopping. Cuisines from around the world are available at the various country pavilions and there are over 100 restaurants distributed throughout the zones. Likewise for souvenir hunters, literally, the world is your market with each country pavilion offering unique local delights and exclusive expo mechandises.

Inside the Finland pavilion:

[youtube url=”http://www.youtube.com/v/nRJibzJbLOA&hl=en_US&fs=1″]

Inside the Canada pavilion:

[youtube url=”http://www.youtube.com/v/DoalJteBcrc&hl=en_US&fs=1″]

Inside the Brazil pavilion:

[youtube url=”http://www.youtube.com/v/GBuWh-zFP6I&hl=en_US&fs=1″]

After lunch, we headed to a Coca-Cola event designated area for their Founder’s Day Parade to celebrate Coca-Cola’s 124th birthday.

There were already a large crowd gathered when we arrived. Luckily, we had VIP passes and I was able to position myself close to the front.

The “Brrr-man”, Baruti, was there to warm up the crowd together with some Chinese dancers and acrobatic performers.

The parade started shortly after. It was a visual feast, much like a mini World-themed version of the Chingay Parade in Singapore. Check out the event photos and videos below.

Baruti singing Happy “Brrr-day” to Coca-Cola:

[youtube url=”http://www.youtube.com/v/x9sV_FP3ji8&hl=en_US&fs=1″]

The full video recording of the Coca-Cola Founder’s Day Parade:

[youtube url=”http://www.youtube.com/v/TGeQGLNiDeU&hl=en_US&fs=1″]

That ended our noon activities at the Expo. We will be doing more pavilion-hopping in the evening, including visiting the Singapore Pavilion and checking out the magnificent architecture of the China Pavilion. Stay tuned to my next post on all these and the star-studded Coca-Cola Celebration Concert. 🙂

My previous posts on Shanghai with Coca-Cola:

Shanghai Expo with Coca-Cola – A Preview

Day 1 – Arrive Shanghai, The Bund

Shanghai Expo Express (my paper travel story)

Day 2 (morning) – Coca-Cola’s Global Innovation & Technology Center, Bloggers Confernce

Day 2 (evening) – Xintiandi, meeting Expedition 206 crew

Day 3 (morning) – Coca-Cola Pavilion Launch, Puxi

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