Shanghai World Expo Opening @ The Bund, Netizens Reactions

Lupu Bridge

It was announced that there will be a grand fireworks display for the opening of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo the day before May 1. The fireworks display was to be held along the Huangpu River between Nanpu Bridge and Lupu Bridge. The official viewing point was at the Cultural Center while the other journalists and invitees positioned themselves in Bailanjing Park which is east of the Expo site.

What about the rest of the Shanghai locale who do not have any VIP passes to watch the opening itself? Many resorted to going to high-rise skycrapers like the Jinmao Tower or the JW Marriott Hotel along People’s Square. However, climbing these establishments costs money. Going up the Oriental Pearl Tower will cost you RMB 150. Another option is going up the Shanghai World Financial Center (I’d like to call the bottle opener.) which is only the third highest tower in the city. That will cost you another RMB 150. Jinmao Tower is cheaper at RMB 70.

But then, these establishments could only contain a number of people. For those who had no other options (no television, lives very far, low on cash…actually a niche group where we belong), a lot trooped over to the The Bund. It’s not exactly the best place to view the fireworks display. But boy, did we enjoy ourselves watching human psychology at work.

4.45pm We got to the The Bund to beat the anticipated crowd, and apparently a lot of people were thinking the same thing too. This niche group is actually bigger than I thought.

5.10pm We decided to eat dinner first at the Captain’s Bar along Fuzhou Road (perpendicular to The Bund which is along East Zhongshan Road No. 1. Lonely Planet cited it as having the best view of the The Bund. But you know, I’m always skeptical of these guide books.

The elevator ride is scary. (We were in the sixth floor).

The place looks dark and dingy.

But the food’s good. Though they have this policy that each person must spend a minimum of RMB 30 or else they’ll drag your butt down the rundown elevator again never to see the light of day.

My verdict: Well, you COULD try this place out. It’s a quaint little resto if you are in it for the view.

So anyway, back to the GRAND FIREWORKS DISPLAY.

The opening ceremony’s scheduled time was 8pm. The fireworks display will only start after the performances were over. But of course, we weren’t going to give up our seats in the already crowded veranda.

We even caught a Japanese reporter reporting live using Skype.

If only we weren’t in the wrong location…

Huge crowds have already formed down at The Bund.

A couple of minutes past 9pm, the fireworks have started. We can hear it. We can see the red lights. But we can’t see it completely. (Yup…we were definitely in the wrong place.) So we raced downstairs towards The Bund hoping to catch a glimpse of the display.

Crowds.

Crowds.

Crowds.

And more crowds.

Though it wasn’t a frustrating attempt (My friend did bring along his bulky SLR tripod especially for the occasion.), other people were probably getting a little bit crazier.

Some random photographer who's having the time of his life catching these crazy moments on camera.

Some resorted to climbing the walls blocking The Bund scenery tunnel.

It was the craziest thing ever.

Doesn't Shanghai have enough stairs anymore?

Apparently, not.

Getting home was a problem that night. No more buses were plying the roads. It was midnight for crying out loud. The police barricaded the metro entrances due to the huge number of people trying to get in. Illegal taxi operators were taking advantage of the situation by charging exuberant rates, while the legal ones were choosing which passengers they want to service.

Waiting

Blocked metro entrance

Lots of people still on the road even after 12. This was a stampede waiting to happen.

And as expected, lots of trash were left on the road.

In fairness to the dining establishments nearby, business was good. Very good in fact. And that’s an understatement.

Since it was a few hours before the official World Expo Opening Day, others thought they might strike it rich that night.

Well, the night did not end in vain at least for us anyway. We were still able to catch the Pearl Tower explode.

You just need to tilt your head a little to the left.

And we got to take a picture of the historical “1 Day Left” Expo Countdown marker.

Here are netizens’ reactions about that night’s event–

We waited 7:00pm to 10:00pm and all we got was the Pearl Tower exploding for 10 seconds. I wonder how many people were duped tonight also?

I waited 5:00pm to 10:00pm, am dying of dizziness already. And I didn’t see a thing. I think the number of people at The Bund was not less than ten thousand. The organizers didn’t even inform us thus wasting a lot of people’s time.

I’ve been standing here since morning. (Me: That’s stupid.) By 10.30pm, I was ready to jump in the river. National Bureau of Statistics, could you please tell us how many people were there too?

You don’t feel good?????? Do you know how many people went through the effort of organizing this? You must have no conscience whatsoever. Could you plan a better World Expo than this?

What a tragedy. What people are going to remember is how others felt repulsed by the huge turnout.

Hello?! You’ve been to The Bund for less than 2 hours. How can you estimate the number of people? If you can’t say, then please shut up.

What I don’t like is the news not even saying anything in preparation for the event.

It’s you being foolish. Obviously the grand fireworks display is at the Expo Garden. Why would you go to The Bund?!

You should have looked at the newspapers yourself. If you didn’t know any information about it, that means you didn’t read the news.

Oh, so all the 10,000 people weren’t thinking.

I’m getting sick with all this number discussion.

It felt like 2012. Seriously.