19 Surprising Facts About Dubai Where Old Traditions Merge With Ultramodern Technology

Dubai is the biggest city in the United Arab Emirates, and it’s also a major commercial and financial center. Many people associate this city with ultramodern skyscrapers and luxurious cars. And it seems that almost every resident there is either a sheikh or at least a millionaire. So we decided to find out whether our ideas about Dubai match reality, and some of these facts really surprised us.

1. 78% of UAE residents experience vitamin D deficiency.

Despite the fact that Dubai doesn’t have a lack of sunny days, a significant part of the population suffers from vitamin D deficiency. So, this country became the first to produce drinking water containing this vitamin. One bottle of this water delivers 50 IU of the recommended daily amount of the vitamin.

2. Many towers are half-empty.

The Dubai real estate market has been oversupplied due to the construction boom. Here, the supply far exceeds the demand, while skyscrapers still continue to be built, as it’s quite difficult to stop the process, which was launched a couple of decades ago. Only some of the apartments have found their owners, but some of these remain empty most of the time because their wealthy owners prefer to live somewhere else.

3. During the property boom, construction was so intense in the city that it became home to almost 25% of the world’s cranes.

4. Local trains have no drivers.

The Dubai Metro was launched in 2009, and all its trains are fully automated and driverless. Until 2016, it was the world’s longest driverless metro network. By the way, this record was recognized by Guinness World Records in 2012.

5. In the hottest months of the year, temperatures can rise up to 113°F. This is why the majority of bus stops are equipped with air conditioning.

6. You can see peacocks strolling down the streets of Dubai.

7. There are even road signs warning drivers that peacocks may cross the road.

8. Mobile gas stations can fuel your vehicle anywhere and anytime.

The UAE has a fuel delivery service. Its employees arrive wherever the customer needs to fuel their vehicle. The vehicle owner is not even required to be there, they just need to leave the fuel door of their car open.

9. Dubai is the city of world records.

The people of Dubai love to break world records. They often use words like the tallest, the biggest, the longest, the richest, the most expensive, etc. Records are broken so often there that they’ve even placed a full-time Guinness World Record judge in the UAE to handle the workload.

By the way, the photo above depicts the skyscraper, Maze Tower. It became the world’s largest vertical maze thanks to the look of balconies on its façade. And the photo below shows the biggest frame in the world.

10. The local policemen drive luxurious sports cars.

Bugatti Veyron, Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Lamborghini, and other luxurious car brands are among them. However, these cars are used to patrol the streets only in tourist areas.

11. Cool cars are sold at an auction for an exorbitant amount of money.

12. The Dubai Mall is so huge that it has a taxi service inside.

The Dubai Mall is the second-largest mall in the world. It has a total retail floor area of 5,400,000 square feet. And in 2011, the Dubai Mall was the most visited building on the planet.

13. The sale of local shoes

14. Gold bars can be bought at a vending machine.

Dubai has one of the busiest gold markets in the world, earning this UAE city the moniker, “City of Gold.” The market consists of almost 400 retailers that trade jewelry, and some of them have been operating for 40 years. By the way, the largest gold ring was created in the UAE too, and it weighs 140 pounds.

15. Playgrounds in Dubai are sometimes built under overpasses to stay out of the sun.

16. A few times a year, Dubai gets covered in fog. This is what the city looks like during these days.

17. You can find abandoned luxurious cars there.

Abandoned cars are very common in Dubai, with prices that vary from a couple of thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands or even millions. There are many photos on the Internet depicting a Lamborghini or Ferrari covered with dust and abandoned in a parking lot and at the side of the road. It might seem like some rich guy left it behind because he was bored with it.

In fact, these cars were owned by people that found themselves in debt and had to leave the country, or they were confiscated because the number of fines exceeded the value of the car.

You can find lots of amazing cars at the police impound. Most of them even have the keys inside. Buying these cars is possible but incredibly difficult. The cars should have all cases against their owners dismissed, all debt dismissed or paid off, and then if the owner doesn’t claim them back, the cars will go into a police auction.

18. This is what the Emirates economy class in-flight meal looks like.

19. Some brides wear a traditional silver headdress during their wedding.

Have you ever visited Dubai? What impressed you the most there?