The Dubai Expo 2020 was high on my list of places to visit in 2022. So as soon as I landed in Dubai, I decided I will visit it everyday, but obviously I didn't for the reasons below:
1. The location of the Expo was about 30kms away from the city, which meant it cost a lot to get there and also took some time. 2. A baby on your shoulder at all times and not to forget the food and nap planning to make the most of the day can be overwhelming! Despite the above inconveniences, I managed to visit it four times in the last month of the Expo!
The Expo ran from 1st October 2021 until 31st March 2022 and the tickets for entry varied from 95 dhs for a daily, 195 dhs for a monthly and 465 dhs for a seasonal pass! The Emirates airlines were providing a free day pass to the Expo if you travelled with them! I was lucky to travel with Emirates and got two tickets for the Expo, which I was able to collect when I landed, from the Emirates counter before baggage collection (I made sure I didn't miss it) ! As it turned out the tickets cost had changed to cost 50 dhs and a single ticket could be used to enter as many times as there was only 50 days left to go! I say that was a bargain! They should have done that ages ago! But this also meant that largest footfall received at the event also happened in the last month and therefore the long long queues we encountered at the pavilions. So first about the overall feel of the place. Reaching the Expo you pass through these huge gates, it almost felt like a recall to the big gates you would probably cross to enter castles or ancient cities! I marveled at the architecture of these massive gates!
The entry process was very smooth, we had to show our ticket and a vaccination certificate. Even though I had done some research on the best pavilions, things to do and found out about the app for Expo (which was really good to use and navigate around the Expo), when we did visit for the first time around it took us some time to understand the layout of the arena and how to go about places. There were volunteers everywhere who helped very cordially with the directions! Then I was eventually able to use the Expo app and Google maps to find our directions. We first headed to the visitor center to rent a stroller for the day. It cost us 50 dhs for a day, it was much needed for us and we were happy once Kiaan was in it! There were multiple visitor centers across the arena which provided a place of rest, for prayer, washrooms, food and any other first aid requirements. It felt like an oasis in the middle of a jungle, the one place where you will find everything you need.
The layout of the Expo was like a flower with there being a central plaza which was called Al Wasl plaza and then there were three main districts- Mobility, Sustainability and Opportunity, with two other leaf petals, if you may, called Jubliee and Al Forsan. I managed to visit all except Al Forsan! The walkways around the arena were all well shaded and lined with trees, food stalls, water faucets, dustbins and obviously the various pavilions and restaurants.
The Al Wasl dome had a beautiful series of light show which were mesmerizing specially in the evening when the dome awakens, it is here that the opening and closing ceremony of the Expo had happened! The Expo also housed sports arenas and a festival city to host the most famous sportsmen and musicians around the world to showcase their talents. There were many smaller stages in each district, between the pavilions, where there were smaller performances happening at all times. I had witnessed a beautiful didgeridoo performance at the earth stage in Opportunity district. Another big attraction at the Expo was the reverse waterfall, which was brilliant to see on social media but unfortunately, the reality of the moment was that to get to the waterfall for a mere 5 mins you would have to stand in the queue for at least an hour! For those who were also intrigued by it, you will still be able to visit it after the Expo ends in the upcoming District 2020 at the Expo site, including the Al Wasl dome and a few other pavilions like UAE, India and the Firdaus studio by A.R Rehman. So I have saved them myself for later! I was awed at the massive scope of the Expo and I was always thinking of all the people who worked hard towards creating this experience for the world, what a job that must have been. While verifying a few points for this post I read a little bit about the Expo on the Wikipedia page and I came across the managing director for the event it was none other than a woman who is also a minister in the Emirati government - Reem Ebrahim Al-Hashimi. I am so proud of her as a woman, as I am of any other woman who I see excelling in a world and a culture dominated by men! So here is to the Expo 2020 for raising the standards for the world! I visited 11 of the 216 pavilions at the Dubai Expo 2020, over four days. There were long queues at the popular pavilions, wait time for some exceeded 4 hours (eg. Saudi Arabia which was voted as the best pavilion). We stood in queues at Hungary and Luxemburg and those were the only pavilions we visited on those days out of sheer exhaustion from waiting. Some on the other hand were free to enter with no queues like - Spain, Czech, Jordan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Poland, Austria, Bolivia and Sychelles . Each pavilions showcased their country and their ideas for a sustainable future of the world using futuristic technologies. I wish I had visited more like - Japan, Germany, Africa. Walking around the expo I learnt of countries I had never heard before. It was truly magnificent to see the world come together under one roof in that sense!
Of course I wanted to visit the Expo for myself but when you have a kid you kind of want them to experience as much of the world as you possibly can show them, so for me visiting the expo also meant giving Kiaan great experiences. Most of my research for the Expo was on best pavilions for kids, best places to eat for kids (quite a few restaurants had a kids menu and kids eat for free offers). In the end, I think I loved those moments the most in which he was exploring new things. Below are a few things we explored which were unexpected for me and were truly wonderful experiences for all of us.
1. We found a carousel at the Expo! I had not seen it on any social media platform and didn't know it was there, otherwise I'd have made a beeline for it!
The best part was that Vardan and I could go on it as well! I had never been on a carousel myself before, so it was a great experience for me.
2. There were these fun stalls at the expo alongside the roads, they were perfect to engage and attract the kids. We explored two of these unexpectedly but then I kept an eye out for these and found one or two new ones. I have no words to describe what these were but below is a video showing what it was like.
3. We went into an immersive art installation, which was a - wait for it- Dodecahedron, a shape I didn't know till then, but its a 12 sided polyhedron. Can't imagine it? Here is a visual for you. It was quite interesting and Kiaan loved it to bits. The boy was so happy exploring and I was so worried I'd loose him, because it was dark inside and he was just running wild.
4. Music! there was music everywhere at the Expo! Kiaan loves music, I think most kids do! But Kiaan shows a keen interest in instruments and sounds. We discovered some truly marvelous gems of music at the Expo. A didgeridoo performance on earth sounds captivated his imagination, a group of "Mugenkyo" artists gave him another way of playing his drums in which being limitless is the only way, the rock band performance by timid looking Vietnamese artist took me by surprise, the heartfelt sounds of the singer at the Moroccan arena made us change our path and go listen to him, then the sounds of joyful Sufi music pulled me out of a queue to give Kiaan an experience of culture through music! It was truly a treat to my eyes and ears seeing and listening to such amazing music!
I guess this post would be incomplete without talking about the food!! Well if you have high expectations from me to tell you about the food then it would be wrong of me to mislead you! Let me tell you that I am not a foodie, I like basic edible food so I find pretty much everything amazing! We tried out the paella at the Spanish pavilion which was really good and tasty , what I enjoyed more though was the sourdough bread and olive oil that came before the food. Scrumptious! We also had great burgers at the Adrift burger bar and a yummy watermelon salad at the Rising Flavours pop up of best chefs in UAE! The high-light though were the Belgian waffles and fries we had at the Belgian pavilion, they were truly authentic! I think we didn't get to explore the food scene much but just going by the look around, there were some truly authentic cuisines from around the world I wish I had a chance to try the African, Vietnamese and Japanese cuisines, these countries had some outstanding restaurants which were very highly rated.
I was there at the Expo on the day of the closing ceremony and it was all going as I had come to expect until the closing ceremony started and suddenly I found myself with no space to move, the whole arena was so crowded. The UAE government had made the last day free for all and to add to it the metros were also running free of cost and until late in the night to get people to and from the expo, so you can imagine the crowds here. But other than the crowd it was a noteworthy evening! I had fun bouncing to the songs being played by DJ Tiesto and the closing ceremony itself had some amazing display of fireworks. Due to the crowds all restaurants were running full and had queues, I managed to grab a quick meal at a buffet and made a rushed exit to get home before the crowds, which were queued up at the entry gates, reached the arena! It was an exhausting but a fulfilling ride visiting the Expo to my heart's desire!
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