Destination: Abu Dhabi, UAE
It's capital of United Arab Emirates and about 1.5hrs drive from famous Dubai.
No quarantine for fully vaccinated visitors. Need to download local app Al Hosn. PCR test needed every 14 days at AED40. PCR test is available in all hospitals, most clinics and some of the shopping malls. They even have drive-thru. The airport's PCR result is as fast as after 3hrs, others varies from 8hrs to 24hrs maximum.
Duration: 17 Mar to 15 Apr 2022
Fully used up 30 days of free visa.
Weather: Mar 14 to 28 degrees, Apr 27 to 40 degrees
Flight: Etihad Airways
Economy $509 for 2 way. Bid for biz class $375 for flying over and return was $400. Flight duration about 7.5hrs.
Time difference: 4hrs behind Singapore
Eg. UAE 1pm, Singapore 5pm
Currency: SGD1 = AED2.65 (approx.)
Accommodation: I stayed at my sis place in Al Reem Island
Protocol for face mask: Required indoors, outdoors optional
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This post as the title is going to be about Expo 2022 Dubai. The exhibition was held from 1 Oct 2021 to 31 Mar 2022. I made it on 22 Mar before it said goodbye. Expo 2023 is scheduled to be held in Doha in Oct 2023. Meanwhile heads up for (me) Expo 2025 cos it will be held in Osaka Japan.
I gotten a complimentary ticket from Etihad airways.
192 countries participated, each pavilion show case the country's vision at the same time showing off their potentials and technologies. Countries leading the economy generally had bigger pavilions and were visually exciting to visit.
Expo 2020 Dubai had 24 million visits and very gladly I was one of them.
It was difficult to wake up early, quickly bite onto some bread and milo before dashing out.
We hit the road around 11am which was already very late.
Leaving Abu Dhabi through Sheikh Zayed Bridge, it took about 1.5hrs to get to the Expo.
The highway was constructed specially for this exhibition. It's actually located in between Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
We went to Town Centre Mall, 10km away from Expo but it's the nearest mall we could find for lunch. Cos my sis who visited a few months back said that in Expo, it's either too expensive or too long queue (she shared with her friend an ordinary bowl of ramen, it was SGD50).
We had Mcdonald's, my first Mcdonald's in UAE.
Fries the same, I felt my quarter pounder was juicier than Singapore's.
My sis only told me the carpark was huge, but never told me it's the size of a few indoor stadiums, my jaw dropped until couldn't close back. Behind me was the metro.
The carpark was free, everybody had to take the free shuttle bus to the entrance of Expo.
It was a snail ride of 5mins or so.
192 flags soaring.
A big gate here but not yet the main entrance.
Okay this was the one, behind was a roll of security and ticket check before entering.
Our stay was about 2pm to 8pm, we were losers, kinda slow, sat down a lot, didn't "accomplish" much, not even half, no even a quarter, not even one tenth out of 192 pavilions, haahaahaa....... We walked pass many, never enter cos there were queues everywhere. Singaporeans should be beaming with excitement to join the longest they could see lolxx....
You are looking at the map, the total area is 4.38km square.
So scrolling down, a lot of pics with captions.
Australia pvilion
The buildings were so beautiful, it would be such a shame to tear them down after the exhibition.
Thailand pavilion.
Souvenir.
Korea pavilion.
Al Wasl Plaza, entertainment/perform area.
Cambodia pavilion.
Germany pavilion
Poland pavilion.
Netherlands pavilion.
Singapore pavilion, mini GBB, mini in size also, but very long, never went in.
Giant pin ball.
Romania pavilion.
Fire Spitting Waterfall. The crowd was very scary to me.
I stopped at this point never walked down.
Overall it looked like this, quite magnificent, my photos not doing it any justice.
Miss Universe Cayman Islands.
The Expo was light up at night, beautiful. This was Thailand pavilion.
Food Mall.
I think this was about AED65, stir fried beef noodles, taste ok, portion very small.
Angola pavilion.
Additional fee to go up, so...... gave it a miss.
Reached the gate, ie saying goodbye.
Next round will do Dubai Mall, it's the largest shopping mall in the world based on total area. I couldn't believe I was there. For sure will visit again. Thanks for reading, see you next post.
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