This post is a sequel to my previous post: Part 1

My husband and I went to the Expo again last Friday, even though it was raining. Last time, we went visited the venue during the day, but this time, we went there in the evening. That's because we wanted to enjoy a different atmosphere, and we've heard there were less people in the evening.

Even though that day was rainy, it was still crowded.

I've heard that the U.S. pavilion is the most popular one, and the next is the France pavilion. There were so many people in long lines for both pavilions. So, we skipped them. We'll make reservations and explore those another time.

Instead of those pavilions, we entered the Vietnam pavilion first.

I saw a Japanese guy talking to a staff member in English.

You can see the world-famous fruit, durian in the picture below. I once had drian juice with my American Vietnamese porcelain painting teacher at his painting studio in Tampa, Florida. The pavilion brought back a lot memories of him and my American friend from Michigan, who used to go there with me. You can read more about those times in my old blog posts here.

For some reason, lately Vietnamese sandwiches are getting more popular in Japan. They were already popular in the States over 10 years ago. I often think we are following American trendy culture. Since my husband didn't know what a Vietnamese sandwich, I suggested him to get one. We shared the sandwich and some Vietnamese coffee. My Vietnamese china painting teacher often made me the sweet Vietnamese coffee, and it was very tasty. His coffee was better than the coffee we had there.

After eating the snack, we came across the Qatar Pavilion.

We saw a very futuristic diorama of a modern city. I learned that Qatar was a highly modernized country.

A traditional female costume was also displayed.

After leaving the pavilion, we spotted the United Arab Emirates pavilion. This reminded me of a lady from the country whom I met in Italy last year. I wrote a little bit about her in this entry, so feel free to check here. While looking around, I thought of her.

The map in the picture below shows the distance between Japan and the United Arab Emirates.

I'm not sure what the objects in the picture below are, but I guess they are tools for incense. They smelled incredible scent. I discovered the country has incense culture, and I thought it was very interesting. Even though the country has so far away from Japan, we have very similar culture.

One staff member in the picture below was explaining about a carpet, which was made by hemp to a group people from other Arabic countries in English. Since the story sounded interesting, I listened to him.

After finishing listening to his explanation, we headed to their restaurant. We decided to eat dinner there.

My husband ordered the drink on the left, which was made with green apple, and I chose the spiced camel milk. His drink was very sour, and mine tasted like mix of water and milk. It was my first time drinking camel milk, so I can't judge if it was tasty.

The two pictures below show our dinner. Unfortunately, we were disappointed with their service. Although the food itself was good, it was served on paper plates with paper cutlery and cups. The meals were quite expensive, and we paid for 9,800 yen in total. It must be the United Arab Emirates price! The whole experience reminded us of airplane food. It was a bit sad.

In the evening, the wooden rink lit up beautifully and looked very pretty.

We saw a long line in front of the Canada pavilion, so we skipped it as well.

Instead of Canada, we entered the Colombia pavilion. It featured stunning screen displays that I really enjoyed. The visuals made me feel that Colombia is a country rich in nature.

The last one was the Austria Pavilion.

They've showcased a very expensive, rare grand-piano made by Bösendorfer. This piano was beautifully painted with The Great Wave off Kanagawa, ukiyo-e by Hokusai. The piano costs 50 million yen and only 16 exist in the world. We enjoyed listening to its automatic performance. Even though it was self-playing, it sounded amazing. Since I'd practiced playing the piano from age 5 to 22, I'm a big fan of the sound.

After enjoying the piano sound, we moved to another room where visitors could try composing music using advanced technology.

The two people in the picture below were having fun creating their own music.

I wanted to have my favorite cake, Sachertorte, at the pavilion restaurant, but it was getting late. So, I gave it up this time but I'll definitely go back for it.

Our second visit to the Osaka Expo was another grate experience. Since we have our full-term passes, we're looking forward to going back there soon!

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