At the Shanghai World Expo 2010, the country pavilions are especially significant as they are iconic representations of what each country has to offer. After visiting those from Europe and the Americas, as well as those closer to home in China, Australia and Southeast Asia, how does Singapore’s Pavilion compare?
Join me for an in-depth tour of the Singapore Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo.
Designed by architect Tan Kay Ngee, the Singapore Pavilion’s theme is Urban Symphony. Evoking images of a music box, it “forms an orchestra of elements and a symphony for the senses – from the choreography of the plaza’s water fountain, the rhythm of fenestrations on the façade, the interplay of sounds and visuals, to the mélange of flora on the roof garden.”href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/coolinsights/4596191290/” title=”P1160296 by coolinsights, on Flickr”>
After getting around the rather long and and snaky queue, we saw videos of expatriate families who became permanent residents and loved it there. They include this cute caucasian girl who spoke brilliant Chinese.
We’re one of the few pavilions with a fan as a gift to all visitors, shaped like an artist’s palatte.
There were a total of four interactive stations on level one, which had trampolines for people to jump on. The pattern in the middle shaped from kwalis (or woks) was supposed to react to these actions.
Unfortunately, most of them weren’t working due to wear and tear. 🙁
Displays like this helped to showcase the city’s urban skyscraping splendour. Notice the prominent Far East Organisation logo in the exhibit – one of the pavilion’s major sponsors.
These colourfully dressed performers were certainly a sight for sore eyes and provided an attractive visual break.
More queues, this time going up and around the pavilion to the second section (or movement).
Hmmm…. what are these unusual looking blotches on the wall? Let’s look closer at the texts.
Ahhh…. these are vital statistics and figures of all the important things that we Singaporeans measure. One could consider them as a giant KPI board.
More performers greeted us with pleasant smiles along the way, this time decked in chilli-red fusion Malay costumes.
After at least 15 minutes or so, we finally got into the experiential theatre, which was phase 2 (2nd Movement) of the pavilion.
Inside, we watched a rather stirring music video on the pavilion’s theme song called “Every Touching Moment”. It starred Stephanie Sun, Tanya Chua, JJ Lin, and A-Do. I thought it was quite well made and perhaps the high point of the pavilion.
You can join me in experiencing the sensation by watching the video extracted above from Youtube for your viewing pleasure.
Finally, we clambered all the way to the open-air “3rd Movement” of the pavilion.
Here we were greeted by an array of tropical plants like orchids, palms, ferns and other indigenous Singapore flora. It also offered excellent vantage points for views of the neighbouring pavilions.
A close-up view of the plants which helped to portray our claim to fame as a Garden City (or a city in a garden).
On the ground floor of the Pavilion, we spotted some uniquely Singaporean food like laksa, satay and chicken rice (catered by Kriston), as well as a souvenir shop featuring the mascot of Singapore’s Pavilion called Liu Lian Xiao Xing (榴莲小星). Here’s Alvin and I striking a pose after our trip around the pavillion.
Acknowledgements: This tour of Shanghai World Expo was made possible by Coca-Cola as part of their recent blogger’s tour to the Shanghai World Expo for APAC bloggers.
Sounds like a positive experience at the Singapore Pavilion. When I was at the World Expo 2010 Shanghai China, it felt as if I were home when I was watching the MTV at the Signapore Pavilion. I wonder if you feel this way.
I had somehow missed the shop selling Singaporean food while I was there.