Dubai Expo 2020 Tour
hello and welcome back to another hot morning in dubai it's already 32 degrees centigrade and it's not even 10 o'clock yet apologies for the face mask it's currently a legal requirement in public places in the uae [Music] as you've probably guessed from the title you're joining me on a 25-minute tour of the dubai expo 2020 site [Music] however realistically in 25 minutes i can only show you the highlights of such a fast exhibition i spent four days on the expo site and i don't think i even visited a quarter of what was available delayed by year due to the global pandemic expo 2020 was finally opened by sheikh mohammed bin rashid al maktoum the rule of dubai on the 31st of september 2021 the exhibition will run for six months and will close on the 31st of march 2022 the expo site itself is quite a distance from dubai city centre and is roughly 20 miles south of downtown dubai this photo gives you some perspective and you can see the burj khalifa tower where i'm staying in the distance the expo is a welfare with about 192 countries participating and about a dozen multinational companies you could call it disneyland for business people the site itself costs 8 billion us dollars to construct and is a temporary town in its own right on an average day there are about a hundred thousand people on the site and at the time of this video the site had already received six million visitors in total okay enough background let's start exploring i recommend using the dubai metro to get to the expo site and for where i was staying in downtown dubai it took me about an hour's travelling expo has its own high volume dedicated super modern metro station opened in 2020 it's on the dubai metro red line but you'll need to ensure that you're are on an expo train or you'll need to change trains at gerbil alley metro station before we get underway properly a quick overview from the map so for your reference you are the bottom of the map on the red square which represents the metro station as i previously explained think of this as a small town and like a town it will have a central plaza or market square for expo this is always hill plaza which is the domed structure in the center of the map there are then five districts three major themed districts in gold is the opportunity district in green is the sustainability district and in blue is the mobility district the two minor named districts are al forsan in red and jubilee in purple each of the three themed districts has an anchor or a major pavilion or stadium although the site is traffic free apart from electric passenger vehicles there is a system of wide boulevards a ring road and numerous side streets the whole site covers about five square miles and as i said before it will take you about one hour for to walk from one side to the other a quick word about access and costs importantly you need to remember that to get onto the expo site you must either have a internationally recognised coded vaccine passport or a negative pcr test not older than 72 hours before the point of entry you will go through airport level security to get on site and the first thing they will check is your covered status you will also have a ticket and facial recognition scan tickets cost 20 gb pounds or 28 us dollars for an adult but they're also off-peak and multi-trip discounts anyway moving on as you can see we are now in almost el plaza the center point of the expo site albazil is the heart of expo 2020 both figuratively and literally the covering dome which is 130 metres wide by 70 meters high serves as an event stadium but it really comes to life after dark so we'll be back after sunset albazil also functions as an open-air mosque and the islamic prayer call reminds you that you are still in the middle east welcome along welcome oh from our worlds hill plaza i'm now on the site ring road expect to have some serious distance on foot each day if you want to see the side i personally prefer walking but there is a free bus service around the ring road if that's what you prefer one of the bonuses of walking is you get to experience the expo street life such as the various artificial workers you'll find around the site [Music] [Music] [Music] uh [Music] um [Music] [Music] thanks enjoy expo 2020. located about 400 meters away from our zeal plaza in the jubilee district is the massive art installation known as the waterfall built by the same company that built the bellagio las vegas fountain and the dupois downtown fountain the waterfall is more of an artificial seashore than an actual waterfall it has 130 computer control pumps and goes through a water and music show every 20 minutes with a centerpiece generating water vapour and steam the kids love it [Music] [Music] good [Music] each district has some form of outdoor space or park for people to eat their lunch or congregate this is our full sand park in the air for sand district having explored the street scene it's now time to get into what expo is really about and that is the various national pavilions there are 192 national pavilions on the site giving each country an opportunity to advertise its culture history technology and trade opportunities in an apolitical manner this presents me with a problem if i made a five minute clip in each and every one of the 192 pavilions on the expo site this film would be 16 hours long so instead i'm gonna have to narrow that down and show you just four national pavilions and those countries will be the uk saudi arabia singapore and russia big british i thought i started my own country's contribution to the expo site the uk pavilion located in the opportunity district this pavilion cost a reported 17 million gb pounds to build actually externally architecturally the building looks quite good and its main selling point is the front facing facade displays artificial intelligence generated poetry in a manner inspired by dr stephen hawking in fact the words just come across as nonsense however once inside frankly the pavilion is apart from a concrete union jack you wouldn't be able to tell us anything to do with the uk or britain the internals look like a job lot of mdf scrap from a builder's yard nowhere does it promote the culture or trade or tourism of the uk and there are no staff apart from a board-looking uae security guard unlike other establishments that have pr girls and sales teams this attitude is typical of the uk establishment who are embarrassed to be british in case it offends somebody of course the bbc loves this pavilion i hate it it's crap if you think i was unkind to the uk pavilion then let me show you how a pavilion should be done at expo this is the kingdom of saudi arabia pavilion and actually my favorite pavilion of the current political reform saudi arabia has tried to emulate the success of the uae and diversify into tourism so this is a major project to encourage people to visit saudi arabia architecturally the building is stunning it's a cantilever design in steel and mirrored glass to keep the kids amused while they're queuing up to get into the pavilion there is a computer-controlled water feature apparently if you stand in your center you'll be perfectly dry [Music] from the entrance an escalator takes you up to the main exhibition hall through a diorama of historical saudi architecture complete with 3d projected graphics and surround sound the main exhibition is a 360 degree video display of visuals from both modern and ancient saudi arabia the display quality is retinal resolution with depth effect and you cannot tell it's not real it is visually amazing also amazing is the full surround sound with bass that goes straight through you have a listen for yourself okay whatever [Music] as you exit the main display you leave via this art installation which is a huge 3d globe or star from another galaxy in a darkened room the globe generates colors and fractal patterns interactively responding to the audience movement again with the deep bass surround sound it is both visually stunning and ethereal to look at [Music] [Music] taking a break from visiting national pavilions we're now going to do a quick tour of the anchor pavilion of the sustainability district terror sustainability pavilion is an educational establishment but the futuristic building is self-sufficient in energy and water the pavilion does exactly what it says on tin and promote sustainability it is self-sufficient in electricity with six thousand square foot of photoelectric cells generating four gigawatt hours of electricity per year the final design is self cooling and at night condenses water vapor to be stored to be used later surrounding the pavilion are 18 power trees that perform the same function but on a smaller scale with recycled water diverted to watering crops and demonstration fields [Music] the walkways through the demonstration crop fields provide an ideal opportunity to take your mask off and get a better breather [Music] our next national pavilion is singapore's pavilion located in the sustainability district temperature to the right side welcome ready [Music] ah [Music] unlike most other pavilions on the expo 2020 site which are all self-contained air-conditioned buildings singapore's pavilion is all open air which is fairly unique after a covered body temperature check which is the only one i ever had on the site you enter a hall with a 360 degree video display which although good can't compete with saudi arabia's effort from there you ascend a four-storey walkway which simulates climbing through a rainforest tree canopy the theme of the pavilion is biodiversity of plant species and illustrates the various drugs obtained through rare plants found in the rainforest but call me cynical this room reminded me of a colombian cocaine factory even though you're outside there are fans and water vapor blowers throughout the walkways to keep you cool the ambient temperature when i filmed this was about 35 degrees but as it was in the shade it wasn't that uncomfortable although my gopro did shut down due to the heat on the top deck is a cafe where you can get a drink and a snack oh our last visit to a national pavilion is the russian federation pavilion located in the mobility district architecturally it's a very striking design externally but when you get inside it's much more of a conventional building on the ground floor is a reception area showcasing various historical russian inventions and current cultural events staffed by some very hot russian pr girls uk pavilion take note yet again an escalator takes you up to the main exhibition hall of the russian pavilion and there you'll find a large audio visual presentation on neural networks and human thought with some side displays which work interactively with the audience [Music] the creative mind allows people to create things that never existed the emotional mind is it gives us [Music] the cultural minds teaches us that even staying true to their individual traditions human cultures [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] the miracles well it's now late afternoon in the mobility district and i've walked about 10 kilometers today and i'm starting to feel it my one recommendation if you visit expo is to download the smartphone app you will simply get lost without it it also works out the most efficient route to take you to places you want to see you've seen in my previous clips the various robots trending around the expo streets well this is a piece of old-fashioned human-driven street art an animatronic golden lion which travels aimlessly around the site all day [Music] [Music] as we are passing i thought i'd show you the mobility pavilion unfortunately as the sun is going down there's no time for us to visit as there's now sunset just before the maghrib prayer call i'm heading back to the alvarez hill plaza to get a decent seat before nightfall always old plaza really comes to life after nightfall the plaza dome has a multi-million dollar laser projection system and the whole amphitheater is fitted with constant surround sound and there are continuous light and sound shows in the dome from nightfall until about 9pm unless there is a special event on it is spectacular and because of that finding a seat is not easy unless you get there early so enjoy a quick taster of the nightly light and music show at ourselves [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] as much as i'd love to show you the whole museum light show from the albert hill plaza both time and copyright won't allow it so at 8pm i think it's time to finish off our visit to dubai expo and head back to the metro station for my hour-long train ride back to downtown dubai i hope you've enjoyed our very brief trip to expo 2020 you really could spend a month here and not see everything thanks for watching later doors closing [Music] [Applause] hey [Music] [Applause] [Music]
2022-01-10 18:05
