Lifts moving at 10 metres per second give visitors just a hint of the dizzying experience in store for them as they reach the designated observatory floor at 555.7 metres.

A spectacular view of the city all the way to the horizon awaits people on days when they are lucky to have clear skies. Selfies with wings of a bird as the backdrop are the most popular among visitors.

The design of the building is said to be inspired by Islamic architecture in the region such as the 9th-century Great Mosque of Samarra located in Iraq.

Water dance-Dubai Dance Fountain and light show on the Burj Khalifa building also draw tourists from the nearby shopping mall.

Frame tower is a simple architecture but it also draws tourists to celebrate its elegance and take selfies.

Tourists also enjoy taking pictures of the Burj Al Arab, a luxury hotel in Dubai that resembles a ship’s sail.

The marvel of curved designs and decorative works at the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi also impress visitors.

Off-road rides and sightseeing of sand dunes also give visitors a unique experience of the unique landscape.

The shape and engineering of wind towers to deal with the hot weather is also very interesting. People used to build these towers in their buildings a long time ago as it could draw breeze into their homes. Another technique is creating shade to lessen the impact of the sun’s hot rays.

In modern times, architecture and engineers have adapted ancient wisdom with new technology and new geometric shapes that better serve the challenge of coping with the high temperature.

Staff at the Masdar City project said residential buildings stand close to each other in order to create shade for residents when they walk around the area. The government intends to make Masdar City, which is spread over six square kilometres, the world’s first carbon-neutral and seriwaste city. The project is under construction and a solar energy facility is part of it.

Wind towers cool the weather from higher space to the ground and water springs add naturally cooler surroundings for residents.

Historically, great thinkers in the Middle East have played an important role in storing and advancing knowledge, including geometric science during the medieval ages when the West was almost in darkness .

The Middle East has probably been the land of wonderful geometric knowledge and architecture since ancient times.

People have been entertained by this geometric solution of squares and roots equal to numbers since around 830AD when the Middle East thinker Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi wrote a popular book on mathematics, “The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing”.

Community-based tourism (CBT), an emerging form of sustainable tourism, empowers local residents by allowing their participation in developing tourism products and returns the profits to the community.

The Asean Tourism Strategic Plan (ATSP) 2016-2025 suggests invigorating community participation as a way to encourage sustainable and inclusive tourism among member states. In continued efforts to promote community-based tourism, Asean has set up the Asean CBT Standard and grants Asean CBT awards to local communities that achieves the high standards of excellence.

To support this effort, the Asean-Korea Centre (AKC) has organised the “Community-based Tourism Programme: 2019 in Vietnam, following the success of previous programs in Malaysia (2015), Brunei (2016), Thailand (2017), and Indonesia (2018).

The programme aims to promote Vietnam’s CBT and introduce its hidden tourist attraction to the South Korean public and international tourists.

The trip, in which journalists, youtubers, travel essayists and other content creators are participating kicked off yesterday and runs through Friday.

The visitors will get to experience Vietnamese traditional culture, including the daily lives of the different ethnic minorities.

At the end of the programne, their first-hand experience of traditional housing, batik and paper making of the H’mong ethnic group, traditional cuisine, and outdoor activities such as hiking in Pu Luong nature reserve and kayaking on the Da Reservoir will be introduced to the Korean public in feature articles and videos.

“Mai Chau Village, situated about 75 km from Hanoi in Hoa Binh Province, received the Asean Community-based Tourism Award in 2017, in recognition of the community’s efforts to protect the natural environment and develop sustainable tourism in the region. I hope this programme enhance understanding of CBT and thus advocate for sustainable development in Asean.”