Lionel and I still had almost a full day in Astana, and so we headed to Expo. (The chances of us ever being in a city by coincidence when this event takes place would be fairly rare). We caught a shuttle bus, which seemed to take forever and finally arrived at the site, which is located very close to the city centre. We headed for the sphere, but it was about a 30 minute wait to enter, so onto the pavilions…it is still surprising that Australia is not represented! Especially when our government is regularly talking about energy issues!

We didn’t look at every country, and there were lineups for some. But my favourite was the Austrian Exhibit, it was very colourful. The French and Italian displays incorporated Da Vinci, Pasteur and Curie…an historical reminder of some great thinking. Science is not my interest, but I appreciate it’s huge contribution!

We met some lovely students along the way, who were pleased to stop and practise their English. We did finally get into the sphere after waiting about 40 minutes…there were further lines (and groups of VIPs) inside so we didn’t really explore it. We needed to get back to the hotel…we waited for over an hour for a bus…I had given away the hotel card so couldn’t get a taxi!

Finally arrived at the train station to discover it was the wrong one! So two very helpful young expo volunteers found us an Uber ride to the other station, which was on the other side of town. ( Lesson learned: always confirm location!)

Doing my bit

Austria’s pavilion was very colourful

Pacific Islands showed a film about ocean levels

Korean Band, very enthusiastic!

Vietnamese Pavillion

Ahh the water puppets!

Lionel trying to laugh along!

The sphere (from a distance could be the Death Star!)

Just loved their entrance!