As a Shanghai Expo reporter, I have a press card that allows me go to the Expo Garden every day. One question that I am frequently asked is which pavilion I like the best.

To be honest, I really don't know the answer, for most of the pavilions have long queues that take hours to enter. The longest queue is at the Saudi Arabia Pavilion, with an average 8-hour wait. I am not the type of patient visitor who likes to wait. My very first feelings of the Expo were not from the pavilions but from all the smiling faces.

As one who has lived in Shanghai for more than 30 years, I think the Expo Garden has the highest concentration of smiling faces in the city. The pavilion's staff, security guards, volunteers in different uniforms all flash big smiles even when you ask a question, even if it is "Where is the nearest toilet?"