Lucy was back at work today so Daisy and I spent the day down at the 0 Gravity beach club. First we stopped off at a print shop though to get my documents for Cyprus printed out. My negative PCR test result came through last night, about 12 hours after the test which was great. I got that printed and uploaded to the Adapass app (for northern C\yprus) aand also the Cypruspass app and I printed off the test result itself. So many forms!
Anyway, fabulous day down at the beach. They have particularly lovely loungers and umbrellas and towels which is impressive given it’s a free entry. And if you get down at 10 and pick a line frontish on the beach the fact that they play loud music round the pool later in the day, doesn’t matter at all. We spent a lot of time in the warm sea and watching all the paragliders landing next door in the 0 Gravity jump zone. The tandem riders (instructor and newbie) came in slowly and gently. The experienced lone jumpers plummetted down – wow! Exciting to watch.
We had lunch and a free virgin cocktail which was very nice and stayed down to enjoy it all till 3pm when we packed up to return to the flat. Showered off and then sadly set about packing….. we have both had the best time here this time. I really feel I ‘ve got my head arouund Dubai now. Daisy love it so much she hopes to come back again at the end of November for another visit.
At 5pm Lucy quit work and we set off for Expo 2020. This time, acting on a tip, we drove to a metro stop – Jumeirah Golf estates – which has a massive car park and is only 2 stops from Expo and tubed from there. It was a great way in. To be remembered!
This was Daisy’s first trip to Expo of course and she was wowed. As were Lucy and I all over again. This time we visited another part of the park and went to Turkmenistan (interesing with a fab yurt), Saudi Arabia (utterly amazing), the UK (very very clever and beautiful), Uganda, Switzerland (fun cloud forest) and finally Korea (the best in the whole park probably). Saudi Arabia was an extraordinary experience. You began by ascendng and escalator that took you past huge replicas of some of the historical sites of the Kingdom, great pillars and temples, then you entered a room where a hologrammed globe changed colours and designs like a time machine, then a chamber with multiple huge screens representing the current Kingdom – beautiful areas of scenery quite unexpected to me. I have flown over Saudi and from the air it looked like a huge red desert. However whilst showing the desert, the screens also showed the cities moderrn and ancient, huge palm tree oasis, the Red Sea coral coast, pools and streams and lovely gardens. It made me want to visit!!!! The final room was the Future showing the developments planned and all very space age and eco friendly. A great pavilion.
The UK one was interesting and focussed on our strengths in the arts and in IT especially AI. Designed to be like a great golden horn it was architect and artist designed and inspired by a project of Stephen Hawkinge. Each visitor was equipped with a mobile device that allowed interaction withe the displays but also you contributed a word which formed part of an ever changing group poem formed by poetic couplets around your word. It was a few years in the making and the resulting poetry was impressively good.
The Korea pavilion was a full on technological experience from the word go – so much interactivity from virtual reality to AR. And the views over the park from the top were gorgeous. The final room was what they called vertical cinema. You lay on bean bags and they projected amazing 3 D film up the wall in front of you and over the ceiling. Perhaps the future of TV and Cinema – it was awesome in every sense. Getting up from the beanbag at that point in the day was a bigger challenge!!!! The outside of the pavilion is covered in blocks that rotate – some of them rubik cubes – and light up in a fabulous colour display. We had a great time in there. South Korea is in line to be the next host of Expo in 2030 so a good choice.
Had a great Lebanese meze dinner in that area.
We made our way back to the flat by 11pm and sadly turned in. I write this at Dubai International Airport waiting for my flight to Cyprus. This has been a trip I shall never forget and count myself so lucky to have been able to make. Special in very many ways. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about it and may think of a trip to Expo before the end of March 2022 yourself. You will enjoy a stay in Dubai and Expo 2020 is something not to miss.
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