As we travel the world, we end up in places that are nothing like where we were born and raised, but from time to time, you end up stumbling upon somewhere that is pretty unlike anywhere else on this planet, which is where Dubai comes in.
This place is pretty mental, choosing to do things and take on feats that no other city would really bother with. The people there clearly have a mentality that they must be the best at everything, or at the very least be the first to try and be the best at everything!
What we've done is pull together some things that we don't think people know about Dubai, things that we think will surprise anyone that hasn't personally been to Dubai themselves.
We think it's about time we got started, so let's settle in and take a look at exactly why so many people are deciding to go to Dubai to see somewhere that is unlike anywhere else on this planet.
25 It Has The World's Tallest Tower
"The staggering Burj Khalifa is a whopping 830 metres high (or 829.8 metres if you want to be painstakingly precise), which means you would need 441 (and-a-half) Arnold Schwarzenegger's standing on top of each other to match its height." (DubaiHolidays)
It's a weird unit of measurement to use, but building the tallest tower in the world is exactly the sort of thing Dubai would do, and we aren't the least bit surprised to find such extravagant high rises in this country!
They like to be the biggest and the greatest, even when it comes down to buildings!
24 They Made The World's Largest Gold Chain
"Dubai broke a universal record on January 2015 when it made the world's largest 22-carat gold chain and presented it to the world at the Deira Gold Souq bus station." (DubaiHolidays)
Like we said, Dubai want people to know them for being the biggest and greatest at everything, which is why they spent a lot of time and money on this spectacle.
Obviously, nobody would ever wear this sort of thing, or use it for any reason, it's just there to make Dubai look good.
23 They Have Vending Machines For Everything
"There are ATMs in Dubai that dispense gold bars." (SpendLifeTraveling)
Okay, surely we all know that this one is truly crazy! Why would anybody ever need a service like this?! This place is obsessed with gold, but having the ability for anyone with the money to walk up to a machine and get some gold out is not something that is needed.
Do people still trade in gold in this place or something?! They need to join us in the modern world.
22 It Is The Most Populous Emirate
"While a little over two-and-a-half million people might not seem like a lot (especially not when compared to London, one of the world's most heavily condensed cities) it is a hugely significant number." (DubaiHolidays) Yes, this number is a big thing when it comes to this area of the world. It may not seem like a lot to other places on the planet, but yet again, they're managing to top the leaderboard in some way or another with this one.
21 They Receive 14.2 Million Visitors Every Year
"You're going to be astounded at learning the number of annual visitors the emirates receives; as not only does it exceedingly surpass Dubai's total population by a large margin, but it quintuples its number." (DubaiHolidays)
Can we really blame people for wanting to go to this country in droves? They truly do seem to have it all, fashion, lifestyle, gold everywhere!
We've already seen that it has a lot to offer, so it makes sense that people would decide that they want to visit this place before they pass on. It's already on our bucket list.
20 People Have To Keep It Quiet After Dark
You would think that somewhere known for its extravagance would have an equally extravagant nightlight, but apparently not!
"After dusk, in Dubai you will not hear neighbours play blaring music any louder than 45 decibels, the equivalent of a cat's meow. The rule comes in force after 8 p.m. on weekdays and 7 p.m. on weekends." (DubaiHolidays)
There must be people breaking this rule from time to time.
19 They Have Man-Made Islands
"For the creation of this paradisiac man-made islands and the scenic landscaped beaches that dot their shoreline, Dubai imported a truly massive amount of sand - 94 million cubic metres of the golden powdery stuff." (DubaiHolidays)
Only Dubai would import sand in an attempt to make their own islands!
That is the sort of stuff that people write about in fiction, so it's no surprise that this place isn't doing great across the board...
18 It Has A Handful Of Billionaires
"The estimated wealth of Dubai's top four billionaires is estimated to be around the $18.7 billion-dollar mark. If you wanted to spend it all on a junk-eating binge that would buy you over 3 billion Big Macs.) (DubaiHolidays)
Yes, we think that it's good that this quote puts that into the sort of meal that the likes of us can afford...
To be honest, we'd struggle to buy 3 Big Macs right now, so this number is making us feel pretty sick!
17 They Produce A Lot Of Oil Every Single Day
We all know that this place has a lot of oil, which is why it has managed to make so much money, but do most of us really know how much oil they're moving?!
"To help you better picture Dubai's thriving oil business, we are comparing it to filling 15 million wine bottles daily, beating some of the world's top wine producers and nearly matching Spain in terms of the volume of wine the country makes per day." (DubaiHolidays)
That's 50,000 barrels full of the stuff every single day! No wonder they have so much money!
16 They Trade A Lot Of Gold...
"You might not know how much of the coveted golden mineral Dubai trades in the global market. In 2013 alone, the country traded a staggering 40 per cent of the world's gold, weighing in at 2,250 tons." (DubaiHolidays) Just like Oil, Dubai are willing to throw their weight around when it comes to the sale of gold. Not only do they sell a lot of it, but they manage to use it in the production of a lot of different things, mainly jewellery.
15 The Dubai Shopping Mall Is The World's Largest
"The Dubai Mall is the largest shopping centre in the world in terms of total land area covered. This small detail is an important one, given that others beat it in the list of world's largest shopping malls based on their gross leasable area." (DubaiHolidays) It may be a huge mall, but a lot of people believe that it can be difficult to make sure that you can get your shopping done, as there are also a lot of people wanting to get in and out of the place.
14 They hold 150 World Records
"It is Dubai that leads the way in the total number of world records the UAE holds, and it is Dubai that most generously contributes to the United Arab Emirates' staggeringly high world records total." (DubaiHolidays) We've already touched on this, but Dubai has an obsession with being the best at everything, and world records are something can literally point at to prove they're the best at something or the first to do something.
13 They Held The World's Largest Public Breakfast
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, as we all know, so it's good to see the people of Dubai respecting that!
"Smashing three world records at the same time, Dubai hosted the world's largest public breakfast in 2013, attended by 1,350 people, recorded by Guinness World Records as the largest number of people eating cereal in one place." (DubaiHolidays)
We don't know about you, but that's just too many people sat around one breakfast table for us!
12 It Gets Very Hot There
"Dubai's highest ever recorded temperatures stands at a soaring (and searing) 52.1 degrees Celsius, which puts it only three degrees below the minimum required temperature to fry an egg." (DubaiHolidays) This may seem obvious to a lot of people, but we don't think a lot of people know just how hot this place gets, which is why we've put it on this list. It's definitely not the sort of place you want to go to if you're prone to sunburn!
11 There Are A LOT Of Men There!
"It's certainly a man's world in Dubai. Men make up the vast majority of Dubai's population, I'm guessing because many of the population in Dubai is immigrant workforce." (DubaiHolidays)
As we've seen, the people of Dubai like to build things, so they need as big a workforce as possible.
This means that people go there from all over the world to get in on the action, as they know there will always be work there.
10 There's Not Much Rain In Dubai
"What perhaps may prove [surprising] to many is to realise that the emirate's annual rain count is so small, it adds up to less than seven aspirin-sized drops...yes, that's only six-and-half- aspirin capsules of water all year!" (DubaiHolidays) Wow... If you ask us, this is probably nature's way of saying that people probably shouldn't live there! We need water to live, so if the planet is providing this level of water a year, it's probably not a good sign...
9 The Police Have Supercars
It's no surprise that if a lot of people are driving supercars, the police need to catch up with them, but do they need to be this fancy?!
"Dubai’s police force uses super cars to impress tourists and show how “classy” the city is. This includes cars such as the Ferrari FF ($500,000), Lamborghini Aventador ($397,000) and an Aston Martin One-77 ($1.79 million)." (SpendLifeTravelling)
It sounds like maybe Dubai wants the rest of the world to think they're fancy...
8 There Is A Huge Amount Of Cranes There
A lot of buildings means a lot of cranes, to the point where Dubai has managed to have a higher percentage of cranes than pretty much any other city.
"Dubai is well known for its high expansion rate, and for that they needed a lot of cranes. For this reason 20% of all the cranes in the World, are now operating in Dubai." (Alux)
Look Dubai, maybe, there's a chance, that you just don't need this amount of buildings?! Just a thought...
7 A Lot Of People Who Live There Are Foreign
"It is estimated that around 15 percent of Dubai’s population are Emiratis, while the other 85 percent are expatriates. Most of the workers building Dubai’s hundreds of skyscrapers immigrated to the United Arab Emirates from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh." (SpendLifeTraveling) Once again, we see Dubai's obsession with building things bring a huge number of people from all over the world, which has had a huge effect on the population numbers!
6 They're Trying To Control The Climate
If there's anything that people should be able to take from this list, it's that the people of Dubai believe they can do anything, no matter how ridiculous...
"Dubai is planning to build a completely climate controlled city which will be 4.45 km² in size with air-conditioned boardwalks connecting the various sections." (SpendLifeTraveling)
Nobody in Dubai needs this. In fact, nobody in any place on this planet needs this sort of thing!