- Architect -

I hadn’t been to China since 1999 and I was amazed by the difference. It was like going somewhere else.

From the bicycles to the car traffic (photo 1), from the abacus to the computers, from the big change to Pudong (photo 2-4). Likely there are still a lot of hutong, some of which were at last renovated (photo 5-6).

As for the food, there was no improvement. The sliced meat with the sweet-and-sour sauce and the doubtful soup made you feel like you didn’t know what you were putting in your mouth at anytime. With some exceptions when you knew exactly what you were going to eat if only you dared take a bite (photo 7).

I liked the Chinese lifestyle on the road and in the parks (photo 8-9 ) but the August heat was really tiring.

I got crossed that in Greece we sealed off our Olympic facilities and in China I had to pay an expensive ticket to visit the stadium and the swimming pool (photo 10-11). I was impressed with the magnetic train.

As for the EXPO pavilions, it turned out that the most successful where those that had solved the problem of walking around with a ramp that led you to through the exhibits and at the end showed you the exit (photo 12-13). Those of the impressive pavilions you had to queue for more than a quarter of an hour, meaning the 80% of them, were badly designed and malfunctioned. The Greek pavilion-taverna disappointed me (photo 14), the Chinese made me feel like a dwarf (photo 15).

I was scared by their fly-overs (photo 16).

I was amazed by the religiosity of the young (photo 17) and laughed with the ready-to-pose kids (photo 18), with the Chinese that dozed off so easily (photo 19-21), the ironic retrospect (photo 22-23), the washing which were hung out everywhere (photo 24-25) and their peculiar hobbies (photo 26).

I liked some art areas (photo 27-28), old buildings that stood by great skyscrapers ((photo 29), the walk on the Bund, especially at night (photo 30-31) and the night lights of Shanghai and at the EXPO (photo 32-34).