Where can I get a stamp?

On the Opening Day of the Expo, one of the first questions I got was from a woman waving a passport in my face, asking me where she could get a Norwegian visa stamp. Confused, I replied that she would need to go to the Norwegian Consulate´s Office on the Bund in order to do this, and explained to her that this was not a process that was done in an instant. The woman just starred quizzically back at me, and pointed to the front of the passport. Ah, it was not a regular passport, but a special EXPO version, that looks mistakenly similar to a real one. And sure enough, when I went to ask my colleagues about it, they were already setting up a desk by the exit, with ink and stamps showing the Norway Expo logo.

I immediately loved the idea of these passports. Many Chinese never have the chance to travel out of the country, and so Expo is a really unique oppurtunity for them to see the world. The passports assist in making this feel like a true travel experience. And besides, it is no secret to myself or anyone else who has been to China or even just a Chinese embassy at least once: The Chinese LOVE stamps. No document is complete without at least one blotch of ink at the end, preferably many, and with different colours.

So no surprise: These passports have become a real hit. From what I hear, they are the biggest source of income at the Expo after the actual entrance tickets. So the stamp desk at our pavilion is constantly employed by at least two of us hosts, doing our best to stamp to the visitors´requests ("No, I wanted a blue one!!" "It should be exactly in line with the page number here, but not too close" "I also need your autograph and a message in Norwegian underneath the stamp, and could I maybe have the stamp in two colours, and could you also stamp one on my arm and on my hat and shirt, and in this book which is a present to my friend?").

As the days have progressed, we noticed that more and more people were coming with many passports, mostly around five or seven, and most recently (yesterday): a bag of over 100! Many of these people come late at night, and are security guards or cleaning personnel that have special access to the Expo. Yes, they are making business out of this, and there are rumours that a passport with stamps from all the pavillions sell for around 6000 RMB! I don´t know if I really believe the figure is that high, but for sure people are making a lot of money from this. So as of yesterday, we made a new rule: "Only three passport stamps per person". This caused some seriously angry reactions, and we saw several instances of people handing out passports to other random visitors in the pavilion so they could have them stamped for them, and then collecting them again once outside.

Still: the passports are mostly just fun!! Yesterday I got my very own expo passport! I am so excited to use it. I haven´t planned on buying any more to sell, but now I know of a potential extra source of income, should my salary run out:D

Gotta run to work!

Tori, aka T-bag aka Torkel