Shanghai is being "EXPO"sed...

So today was a bit of a training day for the Norwegian crew. We were introduced to all the cool elements that will be on display in our beautiful green oasis, but as the expo-site is a bit of a work in progress we were caged in meeting room nr 2 in the Expo Village. Because of this I have no report on the site today, but I do have a few other general observations that are quite prevalent in the city at the moment.

Firstly we have the gradual appearance of the up-to-date taxi's - all equipped with SEAT BELTS both in the front AND in the back! Incredible! The taxi drivers are immensely proud of their newly acquired taxi, and you immediately make a friend for life when you enthusiastically proclaim in rusty Chinese that you simply love their new taxi! You sometimes even get an almost indecipherable "Than ooo" (to those of you not familiar with "chinglish", this means "thank you"), and perhaps even a, "helloooh, solly and wehcome" in no particular order. When you are so lucky as to be handed these phrases you quickly understand that you have to reply with a hasty yet fake, "WOW! Your english is sooo good!". And so the taxi ride goes.

Another wonderful thing about the Expo is the invention of the Magical Number (not really the name, but to a lost foreigner, this is exactly what it is)minted towards foreigners in trouble. You can call this number if you are traipsing the street lost without the faintest idea of where you are or perhaps in a taxi-gone-wild, or just wondering where that restaurant you have no idea where is but really want to eat at is. The efficient and polite Chinese angel on the other side of the phone really saves your day/night/taxi ride when you think that all hope is lost. Two thumbs up for this invention.

Tomorrow I will be spending a few hours at the Norwegian Pavilion providing raw muscle strength (wow! did they choose the wrong person to help with manual labor), so I'll have some more updates about the progress at the site.
Trine:)