An Expo from a Century Ago (Nearly)

Since I’m on the Expo topic, I might as well post these photos. Introducing the Plaza de España. This was the main ‘pavilion’ built for the Ibero-American Expo of 1929, held in Seville, Spain.


The Plaza de España sits smack inside the María Luisa Park, a public park in the centre of Seville city. (The María Luisa Park formed the site of the Ibero-American Expo in 1929-1930). The photo above is of the adjoining park, the Jardines del Prado de San Sebastián


This is a nice place to visit if you’re in Seville, because it’s a mere 20 mins walk from the city centre, and it’s free!




The Ibero-American Exposition was connected to the 1929 Barcelona International Expo. While Barcelona was the main venue for the Expo 1929, the countries which have historical ties with Spain (mainly Hispanic American countries), were represented in Seville, in the Ibero-American Expo. Its purpose was to improve relations between Spain and the countries in attendance. Many of the pavilions are still standing today, converted into consulates, museums, etc, heck, there’s even one that’s a flamenco school now (the former Argentine Pavilion)!


The Plaza is flanked with tiled alcoves, each representing a different province of Spain. The one above is of Avila


Apart from taking photos and posing, you could also hire a boat to row around (yep, that’s a good work out, better than any rowing machine in the gym, hehe, or hire a horse-cart, nope, not much of a workout there!)


And of course, you could watch a flamenco dance while you're at it! What’s Spain without flamenco!


OK, that's all for today, signing out, yours truly at the Plaza de España, Sep 2023. Till we meet again, hasta la vista!

There, one super express photo post done, hah!

An Expo Opens Its Doors

Expo Osaka 2025 opened its doors last month! When Dubai Expo was taking place in 2021-2022, Justin suggested that we, our family I mean, visit every World Expo whenever it happens (it happens every 5 years). That would mean going on a family trip every 5 years, to a place where the Expo happens! We thought it’s a really cool idea! Especially, since we like travelling. It’ll take us to destinations we’d never planned on going. And so, we set our eyes on Osaka, Japan, for 2025.

Come 2025, circumstances and priorities have changed. Justin now studies in Singapore on a scholarship, and his school holidays do not match Jayden’s. His summer holidays happen in June, and he has to get back to Singapore before the start of July, while Jayden’s school holidays start only in July. (The Expo, by the way, runs only for 6 months, and in the case of Osaka, it takes place between mid-April and mid-October). Besides, Justin’s interests have also changed. Now, he’s fully immersed into motor racing… so he’d rather spend his free time racing (Malaysia happens to have Asia’s largest karting track!) Also, we’ve decided to visit Malaysia more often… the old folks are getting older, you know… Therefore, we’d be giving Osaka a miss… It’s OK, we can always visit Japan another time. And restart our Expo visits when the kids are older! Sis, Kim was there though, in Osaka, just yesterday!

Here're some (more) photos of Dubai Expo 2020 for memory’s sake!


Welcome to the Japan Pavilion, Expo2020, Dubai, 2022 – This was the only large pavilion that we did not manage to enter. Thanks to the diabolically difficult booking system! It’s the only country pavilion, where you’d have to book a place in advance in the app, to enter. No queues. In the first few months, when the crowd was still less, we thought Japan was closed for the day (we never bothered checking to find out how to get in). While you could just walk up to any other pavilion and enter, or queue a little and enter, there’s strangely no crowds or queue for the Japan Pavilion! Only in the later months, when we’ve visited ALL the other large pavilions, that it piqued our interest for get in, and by that time, it’s too late. All the slots were filled to the brim! Definitely, not a good system! For goodness sake, it ain’t a friggin passport office, or something like that… You’re basically limiting your pavilion to only a very limited number of visitors! For me, that's a big minus point for an Expo pavilion!


This is Terra, the Sustainability Pavilion, Expo2020 Dubai, where all things sustainability are shown (it has 2 main sections 'Under the Ocean' and 'Under the Forest'. Dubai’s Expo had 3 main themes – Sustainability, Opportunity and Mobility, and in line with this, it has a main pavilion for each of these themes, in addition to other features


And this is Mission Possible, the Opportunity Pavilion. It doubles up as the United Nations Pavilion, and featured, among other things, an address by António Guterres, the UN’s Secretary-General, to save our world… Sadly, I don’t think the current leaders of the world are paying much heed to the UN…


Alif, the Mobility Pavilion, Dubai Expo2020, where history meets the future


Among the 3 main thematic pavilions, I liked the Alif the most. It had some cool features, such as humongous figurines (I mean giants, who could gobble you up if they were real), an elevating hall (the entire hall was an elevator) … and more


The main theme of Alif… where history meets the future...

And here’re a few big pavilions that I’ve not shown before in my earlier Expo 2020 posts.


The Saudi Arabian Pavilion, one of the more memorable pavilions in Expo2020


A little bit of home! Performers at the Malaysian Pavilion. Malaysia is one of the few countries that has consistently put up large (self-built) pavilions in World Expos. They did it in Expo 2015 Milan, and in Expo 2020, and they are there as well in Osaka 2025. As you can see, the performers are all with face shields, a hallmark of the COVID-19 days… (this was 2021 after all)


Our neighbour’s pavilion – Singapore, using the rainforest as their theme (no surprises there). (6 ASEAN countries out of 10, had big pavilions. ASEAN seems to be a big supporter of Expos)


This is from our second home, India. This is a display in the Indian Pavilion showcasing their advance space technology. The pavilion’s building itself isn’t so remarkable, just a cubical block, like any other office building…


And this is their rival, Pakistan. Quite some impressive architecture, huh?


The Spanish and New Zealand Pavilions in Sustainability District


Since there’s so much hype on the election of the new pope recently, here’s the Italian Pavilion (I’ve posted the Vatican Pavilion in my earlier post)


Here’s one from South America, the new pope’s adopted country, the Peru Pavilion…


And finally, the only big pavilion from the entire sub-Saharan Africa, is the Angola Pavilion (all the other sub-Saharan African countries only had small pavilions)

And that’s it for this post.

Green as Green Can Be

Switching from the Green Mountain of Oman to truly green mountains… Nepal in the monsoon!


If Jebel Akhdar is green, I dunno what you’d call this? But I don’t blame whoever named Jebel Akhdar (literally, 'Green Mountain') in Oman its name. For an arid country like Oman, Jebel Akhdar is indeed green, and cool (even in the scorching summer of Arabia). But in the rain-drenched southern slopes of the Himalayas during the monsoon, green, is everywhere, wherever you can see, except for the cities, and the patches of yellow, here and there, where the trees have been washed away but landslides caused by the rain…


This is Nepal, during the monsoon, where we were stranded for a day (thanks to Jazeera Airways… They were 5 f$$#$@ hours late, which caused us to miss our connecting flight to Dhaka, Bangladesh). Anyway, we’re not people who’d fret over some small hitch or mishap, hehe. Since, we had to spend an unplanned day (and night) in Kathmandu, we took the opportunity to not only wander around Kathmandu (it wasn’t our first visit, by the way), we headed for the hills outside the city!


Welcome to Nagarkot, Nepal, about 30km from Kathmandu (an hour-plus drive, depending on the traffic). We decided to visit early in the morning, before heading directly to the airport to catch our flight to Dhaka!

This was a recommendation from a Nepali friend of Anu’s, the husband of her colleague, Rini, who used to work together with Anu in Haulawng, Mizoram. We’ve met the couple before (twice maybe), in Gurgaon (Haryana) when Justin was really little (2013, I think), and Delhi during Amrita’s wedding. Sadly, the husband committed suicide, a couple of years back. RIP mate.


Mommy, come up, the view’s amazing! (Mommy’s scared of heights), c’mon conquer your fears – Nagarkot Geodetic Survey Tower, Nagarkot, Nepal


Bravo, you did it!


See, it’s nice, isn’t it? You can even see snowy mountains…


And that’s it for this post. Signing out, Nagarkot, Nepal, Jul 2022

And for the Buddhists out there, wishing you a blessed Vesak Day.

The Green Mountain of Oman

Jebel Akhdar (literally, ‘Green Mountain’ in Arabic), Oman, Dec 2022 – A view of the hanging terraces of Jebel Akhdar, from Al Aqr village. The villages in the view are Al Ain (top, right), Al Shuraijah (middle) and Al Qusha (bottom, left). The pinkish building in the background on the top of the mountain, in the middle left, is a palace belonging to a prince of Qatar. A nice thing to do here, in the cooler months, and if you have time, is to trek along the terraces from Al Aqr to Shuraijah… and beyond! We went half-way, and came back (bcoz our phone batteries ran out! What’s the point of having beautiful views, when you can’t snap ‘em!)


We liked it so much, that we revisited in April 2023! This is the view from the other side, i.e. from Al Shuraijah side. That Prince of Qatar’s palace can be clearly seen here!

I’ve been pretty busy recently. During the Eid Al Fitr holidays (end of March), we went over to Oman (yes, again), and I discovered that our trusty ol car’s 4WD no longer works! Oman’s full of mountain villages, and we were driving to one (Wadi Mibam) and our car couldn’t climb a friggin slope, in the middle of a congested village. We sat there, parked at the side, watching all the other 4WD’s driving easily up the slope. Heck, even some saloon cars were doing it! We eventually drove back down, parked our car and hired a local pickup up to Wadi Mibam (10 OMR, for a return trip – Not bad! If you want the contact, message me, haha). Yeah, the road’s pretty steep and narrow, and you’d have to be a pretty good driver, but I’m not a bad driver myself. Am I getting old??

I then remembered that during last year’s Eid Al Fitr holidays, we failed to drive up another slope, at another mountain village in Oman (Wukan). And then, there were a couple of times last year, that we struggled to climb up some slopes at our local Wadi Shawka (in the UAE), which we had no problem, going up before. So, I suspect that it may not actually be me. Could it be our trusty ol’ car? So, I sent the car for checking, and lo and behold! They confirmed what I feared all the while. The 4WD, or in the case of our car, the All-Wheel-Drive (AWD), has stopped working! And to fix it all up, it’ll cost us a hefty 37000 friggin AED!! Fuck, that’s more than what I can sell the car for. In fact, it’s nearly double the friggin market price of our car, if we sold it! But this was from the OFFICIAL Hyundai workshop. Maybe, an outside workshop could fix it up for cheaper. I’ve not sent it out for checking yet. Summer’s already in full blast here, no plans for driving up any hills for at least the next 6 months, so, there’s still time.

I can’t emphasise how important 4WD is here, if you wanna drive around and explore the mountains of Oman and the UAE! Jebel Akhdar is actually, officially forbidden for non-4WD (or non-AWD) cars. No kidding! There’s a police checkpoint at the foot of the mountain road, that checks your car. Non-4WD cars would have to park there, and hire a local 4WD to drive you up, and down. (Don’t worry, there’re loads of them, waiting around just for that opportunity!)

Since, I’ve not sorted out the photos of our recent trip to Wadi Mibam and Wadi Shab, and last year’s trip to Bilad Sayt, here’re more photos of Jebel Akhdar, the Green Mountain of Oman, which we visited earlier (2022 and 2023).


Good morning people! Breakfast at our hotel, the Green View Hotel, Saiq, Jebel Akhdar, Oman, Dec 2022


The town of Saiq, the main town on Jebel Akhdar, from the Green View Hotel


A view of the mountain terraces of Jebel Akhdar, from near Shuraijah village, Apr 2023. We revisited in spring, to visit the rose gardens when they’re in bloom! Check out my old post of the rose gardens!


A view of the mountains from near the Jebel Akhdar public park, on the road to Alila Jebel Akhdar


A wonky tree, at the Jebel Akhdar Public Park


Cliffs at Al Hulailat Village


Ahem, yours truly, at the cliffs near Al Hulailat, on the road to Alila, Jebel Akhdar


Wow! It’s friggin high! Canyon viewpoint, near the Alila Jebel Akhdar


That’s the end of the road! Sunset from the Ar Ruus mosque!


Let’s get back to town… Dusk on Jebel Akhdar, on the left is the town of Saiq, where our hotel is. Jebel Akhdar is on a plateau, high above the rest of Oman, which you can see on the horizon in the photo. It was the last bastion of the Imamate of Oman during the Jebel Akhdar War. (Yeah, there was a war here before). Oman used to be 2 separate countries, the Sultanate of Muscat (which controlled the coastal areas of Oman) and the Imamate of Oman (which ruled the interior, and had Nizwa as its capital). Subsequently, Muscat invaded and annexed the Imamate, with British help (yup, they’re the culprits, again). Jebel Akhdar was the Imamate’s last stand before it was defeated.


That’s it. Let’s get back down… On the way down, Jebel Akhdar, Birkat Al Mouz Road, Dec 2022


Here we are again, at the same place, Apr 2023


Back to the plains! Birkat Al Mouz Fort, Dec 2022. (Birkat Al Mouz is the gateway to Jebel Akhdar).

That’s all for now. Bye.