In 2023, having visited Dubai so many times previously, I wanted to go out of my comfort zone and do new things and visit new places. Two such places are Dubai Expo and Global Village. The Expo was intricately planned for many years and was a huge success and brought millions of visitors to Dubai. The Expo having been a huge success, some permanent pavilions were reopened to the public from October 2022 onwards. Since I missed out on visiting the expo on a previous trip, I decided that this is my chance to go and see the expo as well as global village. I ambitiously lined up to visit these two places in the span of one evening.
From our hotel Sheraton, we headed by taxi to first visit the Dubai Expo which was a 30-minute taxi ride from the hotel. When we reached there, there was not one car or taxi in sight and I thought that the area was closed. Our taxi driver then told us that this is the first time he came here since the main expo closed down in March 2022. He seemed unsure whether the place was even open to the public anymore. I started second-guessing that maybe we should leave and head straight for Global Village. I had done my research and recent news articles clearly indicated that some areas like the 'Al Wasl dome' were open till midnight. As we had come this far and spent good money on the taxi, I wanted to once recheck before we left. With not a single person in sight no security etc. to ask whether this place is open, I got the idea to contact the hotel that had opened next to the Expo called Rove to ask them for help. They informed us that the Al Wasl dome was indeed open.
This was not the only time this evening that the Rove hotel would save our behinds.
So we got off our taxi and walked through this huge metallic square arch that lead us inside.
Beyond that was this futuristically designed building shaped like a fidget spinner! This was "Alif - the mobility pavilion". In the confusion of getting to this place and inquiring whether it was open, my short window from 5:30 to 6 closed and I was not able to visit this pavilion as it closes daily at 6 pm. But the views of this structure were absolutely incredible, I had seen nothing like it before. I then walked along the path that passed through some interesting country pavilions leading to the gigantic dome.
The magnificence of this dome was visible from a distance itself, and as we approached this ginormous structure, the excitement built up to see what so many people have been raving about.
As I entered this dome I was absolutely overwhelmed. The first short presentation I saw was, I guess, about different shades of water, with gushing water sounds and flute music in the background and a mesmerizing display of visuals, lights and sounds based on this theme. The feeling of being enveloped by the magnanimity of this dome left me in awe. The path along this dome complimented the visuals playing on the dome by special twinkling lights dotted amongst the greenery. They looked like fireflies in the night sky. There were amphitheater-style seatings in this area for those who wished to spend more time. I honestly could have sat there for hours just taking it all in.
Another interesting visual display was about innovation - which started with views of stars in space and the countdown right before a rocket takes-off into infinite space. The feeling it created was so realistic, we felt like we were being lifted into space by this dome. The sheer scale, thought and finesse that has gone into the creation of this dome and the presentations were worth a standing ovation.
Once having had my fill of this spectacular space, I headed to another famous attraction called Fire Falls. This space housed a unique water show with a "gravity-defying" waterfall being the main attraction. Raised, curved and slanted structures created a circular area. The show takes place every few minutes and I was excited to see what happens. I saw many people standing on these structures ready for the show to start and to take some Instagram shots. With the word fire in the name of this place, I was perplexed as to why would people take that risk.
When the show started, I realized that the main feature of this area is a water wall from the top of these curved structures which reached the base but never spilled out of those structures to the floor. It was absorbed into the structure itself, thus the gravity-defying factor. There was no fire to be seen at least in that show. People went and stood on the structures barefooted so as to encounter this water and get good photos for their social media. Once again the display was mesmerizing and unlike anything I had seen before. Both the dome and this show were free of charge when we visited. I realized that at its peak this Expo must have been a sight to behold. However, I was happy that even though I missed out on it, I did get to see some of it now.
It was now time to head to Global Village as I did not want to go in too much of a rush since the crowd reaches a peak after 8-9 pm. We headed to the taxi pick-up point hoping for some taxis over there but there was a single one in sight. We then tried to hail an Uber but not one cab was displayed on it! We asked the security over there and they said our only option is to call a taxi in advance. The other option was to use the metro but since the metro did not connect to Global Village we did not want to use it. My husband was trying his luck on Uber and I tried downloading the local taxi app. The local taxi app kept asking me for an OTP to verify my number but never sent it to me on time despite several tries (I received the OTP three hours after we had left the place). Then I tried calling the Dubai Taxi helpline and was just on hold for 20 minutes, no one picked up! It was a complete mess and we were stranded in this area with hardly any options. I lost all hope of visiting Global Village. I told my husband let's head back by metro at least we shall get back to our hotel. My husband however encouraged me not to lose hope and we kept roaming around trying to find a taxi. We kept roaming in the deserted area searching for a way out for an hour.
Finally, I decided to use my last option of going to the Rove Hotel connected to the Expo to ask for help. I went to the entrance and asked the valet if they had any way of sourcing a taxi. They took me inside to the reception and I explained my issues to them. They were extremely helpful and cooperative and used the hotel number to source a cab. I was immensely thankful to the people who helped me out because I had lost all hope by then to get a taxi. So this is a shoutout to Rove Hotel Expo, you guys are amazing and thank you for helping us out!
Tip: If you are visiting Dubai Expo, during slow season, it is extremely important that you have a cab booked in advance for your return trip or you get a pre-booked car. You can even take the metro back but the metro does not go everywhere. It would be nice if the authorities at Dubai Expo could organize a taxi stand for stranded tourists who are unaware of peak and slow seasons since, other than that, the Expo itself was really a great experience.
Anyway thanks to the help we got we were able to head to Global Village next, even though it was around an hour or so later than I had planned. Once we reached Global Village, as expected the rush had increased significantly as it was after 8 pm. The entrance had beautifully lit-up recreations of the wonders of the world. Then ahead there was a huge expanse of space with so much going on I did not know where to look first.
There was an artificial lake created with a separate event stage at a distance with lots of rotating spotlights. There were different grand entrances created for each country represented, and each country had its own food and shopping areas. To be honest I was quite overwhelmed with all the choices before me.
After browsing for some time, since the rush was increasing, we decided to eat some dinner and head back. I had read up about this specialty restaurant which was mentioned in a lot of write-ups about the food of Global Village. It was called "Khaojee" by Michelin Star Chef Rohit Ghai. We headed to this restaurant and surprisingly there was hardly any rush here. We enjoyed a wonderful Indian meal of aloo tikki chaat and samosa chaat and followed it with tadka dal and rice.
Then we took in some more views of the beautiful theme park which made great efforts to represent each country as authentically as possible. After which we headed back to our hotel. The good thing about Global Village was that there was no dearth of taxis here! We easily got one at their taxi stand and were able to head back with ease.
Overall I felt that if I had planned it better I would have gotten more time at Global Village to explore with lesser rush during the evening time. Nevertheless, I was glad that I did go and see it and enjoyed a good meal there.
So as per my personal experience, I would say that both places were really worth a visit if properly planned out. Thank you for reading ❤️
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