Taiwan Flora Expo 2010, Update on the Philippine Exhibit

Since I left Taipei two weeks ago, much has already been done towards completion of the Philippine exhibit.  Thanks to photos taken by our very able interpreter, Enteng, I can have a pretty good idea of how the exhibit looks. 

The bell tower has been dressed up almost completely.  The bromeliads have been arranged with the other ornamental plants.  The crew as shown in the picture was in the process of installing the grass even if it was drizzling.  It surely was not the best time to make an outdoor exhibit and I must give it to the crew that they have been making good progress despite the bad weather.

The perimeter of the exhibit will showcase six of the most exciting destinations in the Philippines.  Here, one of the windows shows Boracay.  Ornamental plants are being arranged already along the perimeter line.

The Banaue Rice Terraces in one of the windows.

The photographs were taken October 24, two days away from the original target.  I was told that work has been extended until the 27th due to the inclement weather that has been bugging Taipei for the past few days.  

I am crossing my fingers that they will meet the deadline.  The Expo officially opens on November 4, hopefully with an exhibit that will make filipinos proud.

Taiwan Trip - Part 3, " The Other Exhibits"

Here are some of the other country exhibits that are being constructed while I was there (Incidentally, I just got back from Taipei last night.  I had to tie up a lot of loose ends and was not able to post the updates sooner).

The Thailand exhibit has all the typical Thai elements.  It includes a Thai house, a long boat, a dancer (which at this point is still being built) and a huge elephant as shown in the picture. As it appears right now, this exhibit looks busy with so many elements present.  The plant materials tend to be a bit too varied.  I can just imagine that this will be full of orchids once its done.

The exhibit being mounted for Hongkong is a promotional come-on of their waterpark.  It features many vertical garden elements from the backdrop made from grass or turf to several vertical towers made from selected ground cover plants.

The focal point of this exhibit would be the three dolphins made up from plants that seem to float on top of fountains.  One naughty bystander could not help but comment that the dolphins seem to be pissing.

I am not quite sure whether this is the Bhutan or the Cambodia exhibit as I have not gotten hold of the overall exhibit map but I could not help but admire the detailed craftsmanship that the workers are putting into the structure that makes for this exhibit's main attraction. 

One of the most impressive exhibits in this expo is that of the United States.  The outline is similar to that of a cicada or that of the approach to a wooden bridge. Laid out on an area about thrice that of the typical exhibit with huge boulders and full-grown trees for accent, this exhibit will be one of the strongest contenders in the landscape competition.

The Singapore exhibit is a simply laid out set-up with very strong geometric lines as may be seen in a picture (top view) of the exhibit before any plants have been planted.

The picture below taken a few days later shows the space already being planted with the trees and shrubs.  Initially, we were thinking that this will be full of sun-loving orchids from Singapore.  We later heard that the plants that will be used will be mostly Taiwan-grown so orchids would be out of the question.

Oman is also exhibiting.  The exhibit has a typical Omani structure, lots of tall coconut palms and a pond with huge coral stones.

The last picture is that of another yet unidentified exhibit.  This one is quite modern featuring a sculpture made of stainless steel that sits on a pond.  Most likely, this one will feature both fountains and lights.