Saturday, May 29, 2010

SOCCER WORLD CUP FEVER AT EXPO WP

Expo WP is the largest indoor tourist, craft and traders market in the Western Cape and this past Tuesday night, launched its first real night market since it's inception at Easter, hosting a turnout of close to 10 000 people. This enormous turnout was the consequence of radio advertising, promoting "The Drift Squad" as well as "Show Cars" fitted with impressive audio systems, some with impressive air brushed spray jobs and some with impressive engine modifications. Alongside these beauties, inside the micro expo hall, there were some super-bikes and a whole fleet of supped-up cars, featuring mag wheels, tail-fins, scoops, interior trim and amazing tattoo-like murals as well as lowered suspensions, tinted windows and race pedals and gear shift. It was very evident that the micro hall could not accommodate all the show cars and many of them lined-up outside under the floodlights in the parking area.

Inside the macro hall virtually every expo vendor was dressed in soccer fan gear, each in the colours of their favoured team. Each of the 250 stalls also had a flag attached to a post at its entrance which waved in the breeze blowing through the corridors,  making for a very colourful sight.  Vuvuselas, leg warmers, sleeve covers and car mirror covers in the colours of the South African Flag were seen all over. People were buying them, vendors were selling them, others were wearing them and it just seemed that everyone had them. Every vendors were retailing these products at give away prices in order to boost the Soccer World Cup excitement. Everyone leaving the Expo WP premises looked like they were already ready for the Soccer World Cup.

The 100's of motor cycles and its owners in their leather riding gear looked very impressive with quite a few of them revving  their bike's  engines competing in sound with the revving engines the of drifting cars. This all happened in an arena set aside, especially constructed with tyres surrounding its circumference for the purpose of drifting. Ten cars were drifting all of which attracted enormous attention, but there was a female driver who wowed the audience with her antics. Cell phone flashlights were triggering all over and many even captured the performing cars on cell phone video. The smell of the cars fumes, the burning tyres, the boerewors rolls, the smell of tikka chicken and cigarette smoke  was more than enough to make you high, but for many this wasn't enough and lined up at the pub come  art gallery to get at the beers and hard liquor.

There was hardly any space to move about,  the main hall aisles, the minor halls, the food-court and the parking area were filled with people resulting in a line of people at the entrance snaking around the side of the building. Consequently people were only allowed entry when an equivalent amount of people left the premises. Outside in the street there was major traffic congestion with cars parked in every conceivable parking space. Inside the spit level hall, there was a scaletrix display and a Zumba demonstration which lasted until the early hours of the morning. Expo WP is all about soccer and there are indoor soccer tournaments every weekend. There are curios and gifts for tourists to take home ranging from stone and wood carvings of the big five to life size African warriors. Tonight was just a sampling of what can be expected at the Soccer World Cup in the days to come. Viva Bafana Bafana!

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