Showing posts with label Travelling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travelling. Show all posts
2016/07/29
2016/07/21
2016/06/18
2015/11/07
Cimitero Monumentale di Milano Horror Story
(Warning: Post Contains Creepy Content)
Is it a palace? As I approach the entrance of the cemetery, lit by bright afternoon sun, I am surprised by the magnificent building. I feel as if I am entering a fancy park, rather than a place where countless bodies are buried.
2015/11/02
2015/10/26
2015/10/20
Last-Minute EXPO Milan 2015 Tips: My Top 8 Pavilions
I
am still breathing (somehow) and typing, but mostly different things than blog
posts. I accumulated a lot of material over the 3 months absence, and I am
starting with the most urgent one:
only 11 days left until EXPO Milan 2015
ends.
If
you plan to attend, first of all, let me warn you that the content below the
cut might be a spoiler for you as it shows a lot of photos from the pavilions.
On the other hand, those who cannot visit EXPO – feel free to skip all of the
last-minute advice and go straight for the list and photos.
Without
further ado, this is my personal ranking of the top 8 Pavilions:
1
– 2) Japan & Korea
-
Showcase both national cuisine and global food issues and how they (can)
contribute to alleviate them
-
Good balance between amount of information conveyed and multimedia use
-
Include a short WOW show
3
– 4) Kazakhstan & UAE
--
Showcase both national asects and global food issues and how they (can)
contribute to alleviate them
-
Both have really cool movies
-
In summer, Kazakhstan had very good queue management with continuous dance and
singing performances and cooling fans
5)
Fab Food
- (located along Cardo, on the left side if you walk from the central
cross with the Tree of Life behind your back)
-
Learn about the food industry while playing retro arcade games
-
Based on what I saw very much under the radar and might not have horrible
queues
6)
European Union
-
EU is very proactive in terms of food and agriculture regulation and
sustainability promotion, but it is normally really bad at conveying it to the
citizens. The exhibition is actually the most citizen-friendly way to learn
about what are all the laws really good for.
-
Features a super cool animation that is nominated for film festival award
7)
Israel
-
Very engaging real-life show + movie interaction showcasing Israel’s
contribution to agricultural development in areas with lack of water.
8)
Pavilion Zero
-
It is the UN pavilion
-
It shows a very strong, visual message about topics such as food prices and
food waste
+
Buy your lunch at the COOP Supermarket of the Future
+
Go watch the Tree of Life at night
Rating
Criteria:
This
list is definitely subjective – but I have visited every single pavilion at the
EXPO and I dare say I have a good knowledge of the EXPO theme. First, the list
only includes pavilions that are relevant to the topic of EXPO – food security,
sustainability, food-related issues, contribution of the countries to improving
the world food system etc. Pavilions acting as tourism ads or simply showcasing
national food, even if they were beautiful and popular, couldn’t make it here,
because in my opinion the EXPO should have been an opportunity to bring to the
attention of global public the giant issues food & agriculture have today,
but also show best practices from all over the world to help solve them.
Second,
I did not include very content-heavy pavilions either (e.g. Germany, Holland,
France) even though they fit the theme perfectly. I think those are amazing for
people who are really interested in the topic, maybe even have some background
knowledge and have a lot of time. But if you go to EXPO as a regular person,
spending most likely just one day there, I don’t think they are the best
choice. The pavilions I listed above have one more thing in common (on top of
being relevant) – they are all very engaging, have strong visuals, clear
message, WOW factors that will rejuvenate you after 3 h in a queue and they
will let you leave with an inspirational feeling. And I think ultimately,
experiencing a strong message will make you more inspired to get involved than
being flooded with facts.
Additional
advice:
Waiting
As
of last Friday, my parents who went as regular visitors claim that they only
managed to visit 4 pavilions despite having a thorough briefing by me about
everything. Queues were everywhere, too. As EXPO nears its end, it will most
likely become even worse. Supposedly work days are even worse than weekends,
but either way, bring a fully charged smartphone, headphones, extra battery or
charger, water bottles and snacks (hopefully these will pass through security)
to survive hours-long queuing. In summer, the longest queues were for Palazzo
Italia (extremely overrated and disappointing based on my experience and my
Italian colleagues) and Japan – often 4 hours long.
Time
management
Buy
tickets in advance, arrive one hour before opening time to queue up at the
entrance nearest to your must-visit pavilion and then run the moment security
opens. Still, you will not be the first in queue – because obviously the
employees at EXPO working afternoon shifts will come earlier than you can enter
to avoid queues. Before you get mad, most of them (us) are volunteers and thus
enjoy this small privilege in exchange for tirelessly assisting visitors for
free. So you should merely be prepared for having to wait even if you are the
first visitor to enter the area. As for food, I personally think the
restaurants at EXPO are overpriced and have long queues too, so I would just
get a couple cheap sandwiches/chocolate bars/fruits at COOP. Future supermarket
experience at suburb prices. You can eat as you wait in queues. As there is
good wifi connection, it is useful to have fully charged phone/tab to kill
time. I also suggest not wasting day time by going to see the Tree of Life show
– the tree will be there after pavilions already close and I think it is way
prettier at night, too. If you need to cross from one end of EXPO to the other,
consider taking the EXPO mini bus.
What
to bring
For
entrance, be prepared for airport-level security. So no knives, liquids might
depend on your luck. I suggest bringing an empty water bottle that you ca
refill from the free water fountains. Dry food should hopefully be fine. Most
queues are outside, so raincoat or umbrella is handy. Comfortable shoes are a
must because you will walk and stand a lot. A lot of pavilions tried to make
their content selfie-friendly, so a camera phone or a proper camera might be
something you would regret not bringing. There are ATMs but I would bring some
cash just in case – though the pavilion souvenir shops are really overpriced
and especially in Asian pavilions, they are either selling stuff you can buy
for 50% less in your neighborhood Asian supermarket, or weird stuff I have
never seen on shelves in actual stores there (esp. Korea).
2015/06/03
2015/06/01
2015/05/26
2015/05/18
2015/05/12
2015/05/09
2015/05/02
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