Dubai 4K. From Desert to Skyscrapers in 50 years

hey guys and welcome to Dubai Dubai as a city and an emirate in the United Arab Emirates known for luxury shopping ultra modern architecture and sandy beaches Dubai was turned from a desert backwater into one of the world's most futuristic cities in less than 50 years where is Dubai located in the eastern part of the arabian peninsula on the coast of the Persian Gulf the city is growing so fast I was actually visiting it back in 1995 with my dad and when it came here for the second time I couldn't recognize anything my first impression was that the city is just so overwhelming different parts of the city are just so spread out and it's not clear had to get from one place to another [Music] first of all let's point out some cultural aspects although two buys the most liberal or the seven Emirates it is still an arab emirate and much of its culture is influenced by islam criticizing the royal family local laws or the country in general will probably get you in trouble drinking in public or just being intoxicated in public is also against the law when visit in public places you got to follow certain dress code make sure you cover your shoulders and knees also no kissing or hugging in public you will hear a call to the prayer five times a day no matter where you are outside in a mall or at a business meeting filming people is basically legal you got to ask for their permission first coffee good the population of the city is 3.3 million people and every year it increases by 170,000 people you might be surprised by the locals or Emiratis only make up about 10% of the population looking at all the luxury of Dubai it might seem that everyone must be pretty wealthy around here which is often the case for locals and some high-skilled expatriates coming from countries like the US UK and Canada but it's a completely different story for the construction workers and the taxi drivers that come from Pakistan Bangladesh India Nigeria Egypt and other countries who only average about six or seven hundred dollars a month hi Briana I'm not move I'm from Bangladesh what's your name my name is Sarah Muhammad who do you come from Pakistan Peshawar nice to meet you yeah they don't live in fancy neighborhoods rather they live in communities such as this one they can't afford to bring their families over here and sometimes several men have to share one room they're here to make some money and send it back to their home country I want to mention this guy he's from Egypt you saw us on the subway trying to figure out how to get to a certain place and he came to our rescue he took us all the way to the destination and then even stopped to buy some cold drinks which was very nice of him none of those people had plans to stay here longer than they need it to be cuz UAE citizenship is almost impossible to obtain even if you're born here it doesn't change anything unless one of your parents is an Emirati just imagine the situation say a young couple that comes from Egypt comes to live and work in Dubai they give birth to a child who grows up gets their education here gets a job afterwards and continues living and do by thinking that Dubai is their home then that person's working visa is not extended for whatever reason and they're told go home go home where they asked go home to Egypt where that person had never been in their lifetime in Dubai the number of man exceeds that of women by more than double there's about two and a half males for every female today less than 5% of the Emirates revenue comes from oil instead the economy relies on trade tourism aviation financial services and real estate tourism is doing well Dubai's the fourth most visited city in the world the city had 15 million overnight visitors in 2016 but the real estate situation is another story who want to invest in Dubai have to keep an eye on the market several years ago Dubai already found itself in a difficult situation when it needed a twenty billion dollar bailout from its oil-rich neighbor Abu Dhabi to escape a debt crisis caused by collapsing property prices since 2014 residential property prices have dropped by more than 15 percent and are still fallen the housing market remains oversupply and you're looking at all the ongoing projects I get a feeling that it might stay this way for a while at the same time they're expecting the city population to double by 2027 everyone's betting on Expo 2020 to turn things around for which Dubai is ready to spend eight billion dollars on infrastructure Dubai has always been an attractive place to run a business for yet another reason zero taxes but in 2018 the government implemented value-added tax v80 at a rate of five percent not too bad but it's not zero anymore Dubai is in the desert and it's hot summer days can be as hot as 50 Celsius or 122 Fahrenheit and it's sunny throughout the air it is hotter here than in Phoenix Arizona so you get the picture even the taxi drivers from Egypt that I talked to said that in the summertime it's hotter here than it is in Egypt it's in the deserts of water supply is a major challenge close to 99 percent of potable drinking water in Dubai comes from desalination plants just imagine how many cubic meters of water they need every day for the city in this part of the world you know a city is wealthy when it has a lot of green parks and gardens and palm trees you know divided in the desert so it takes a lot of water to keep it all green and nice everywhere you will see some water systems and some hoses look at this flowers they're hoses everywhere they can't have too much fur in when it's 50 outside I mean you gotta keep it short right Dubai is not very walkable so you'll have to be reliant on public transportation to get you around but most people just prefer to use taxes Dubai is jam-packed with things that are designed to be the biggest or the most extravagant in the world it has this attitude of nothing is impossible the Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world it's an eight hundred and thirty meter tall tower that dominates the skyscraper filled skyline by the way Burj in Arabic means a building while without a doubt it's a true masterpiece it might be just a little bit of an overrated site for tourists do you really want to waste two or three hours in line just to see the city from above I decided to pass on the idea because you can admire the building from outside for free but did you know they're already building a toll or building it's called Dubai Creek Tower and it will be at least 100 meters taller than Burj Khalifa Dubai has the world's largest flower garden Dubai miracle garden the garden has a total of 45 million flowers so nice to find yourself in this beautiful area and take a break from the busy city [Music] we are in the beautiful miracle garden in Dubai and it seems like it's everything they've been lacking all the greenery and all the different kinds of flowers devised basically a desert and over here you feel like you know Thailand and it's just a wonderful place and you should definitely visit that if you're in Dubai during the summer months the garden stays closed for obvious reasons it's too hot man sorry I didn't see that kid where do you find the best roads in the world for five years in a row the Emirates had been number one when it came to quality of roads according to global economy and of course if you have some super roads you need some super cars right [Music] they have bus stops with air conditioning they call them air conditioned bus shelters and there's more than a thousand of them right now in the city Dubai has the world's longest fully automated metro system where all trains run without drivers most of it above the ground they have two lines a green line and a red line the red line goes along the main Dubai Street Sheikh Zayed highway there are three different classes of service silver class women and children only and gold class a ticket to the gold class is two times more expensive than usual the best thing about it is it doesn't get crowded during rush hours a problem chest petitioner Dubai is pretty convenient and the best weight is to get an old card which is good for subway it's good for bus the only thing it's not good for is monorail which have to pay separately Dubai is also known for one of the most ambitious engineering structures of our time an artificial palm tree archipelago palm jumeirah which added nearly 50 miles to the coastline Atlantis the palm as a luxury hotel resort located at apex of the palm jumeirah among other things it has Aquaventure waterpark and the lost chambers aquarium that is home to 65,000 marine animals we got from welcome to Dubai thank you okay bye there's another Atlantis on the way it's a one point four billion dollar royal Atlantis that is expected to be opened in 2020 you can travel the Palm Island on monorail which is an entertainment by itself there are many means of transportation and Dubai one of them is monorail the ticket is very pricey it's five point five dollars one way so let's take a look at what's it's like on the inside [Music] to get a good view of Palm Jumeirah you might want to go to Mary at Harbor Hotel that has a bar on the 52nd floor with a wonderful view the Palm Jumeirah turn out as successful as they planned it to be well not really instead of an exclusive private Enclave you got a generic copy of American suburbia the houses are standing side-by-side at three times the original planned density in fact that we're planning a large series of developments called the palm islands which were going to be many times larger than Palm Jumeirah and also the world a series of islands represent in the world like every single continent but all these projects had to be suspended since Dubai property market crash in 2009 I'm sure you have seen this hotel before it it's called the Burj Al Arab this hotel claims to be the only seven star hotel in the world and is frequently recognized as the world's most luxurious hotel it was built in 1999 for 1 billion dollars on a man-made island the cheapest room starts at $1,500 a night while a royal queen bedroom suite will set you back fifteen thousand dollars Dubai is a city of shopping malls like what do you do on those five days people go to the malls to escape from the heat the mall of the emirates is one of the largest malls here it's got ski dubai an indoor ski resort with five ski tracks and a snow park you can also visit an ice cave and go sledding can you believe that yes right in the mall you can go ski in one of the hottest places on the planet another mole is the Dubai Mall today it's the second largest mole in the world but it used to be the largest if you like exotic cars then in front of the Dubai Mall there's always something to look at it's a bustling entertainment center with mesmerizing sights and attractions often viewed by most Emiratis as the ultimate shopping destination in the city let's look at some things that you can see inside the mall the human Waterfalls one of the finest artificial waterfalls that i've ever seen there's also an aquarium one of the largest in the world in fact 2.6 million gallons of water outside to have a fountain show which always gets crowds and crowds of people you can actually take a boat ride far go walking around the periphery of the lake and view all the shops and the restaurants these lovely people from India that were travelling with me in that boat wanted me to fill them and their baby so their wish is granted there are 65 malls all together in the city and each one of them is trying to be unique in some way take a look at this one it's called wafi mall and it's styled after asian egypt honestly i'm not a big fan of shopping and I easily get tired of huge malls what can you do outside of the city dune bashing Dubai lies directly within the Arabian deserts you can go dune bashing in a 4x4 most often it's a Toyota Landcruiser or a Nissan Patrol my family certainly enjoyed it it was like riding a roller coaster and asked the driver how many times who flipped the car in his life he said none so this made me feel more comfortable hey guys so we are in the desert and you can do crazy things like that they give you a professional driver and it takes you along the desert okay the rads very bumpy but if you like stuff like roller coasters you're going to enjoy it and on top of that you can ride a camel if you right now if you want some nice pictures but we're about to have some dinner so let's go do it there are other things to do in the desert like snowboarding on a sand dune riding an ATV and so much more then they offer you a dinner and a show with dances and performances just to give the scale we had 700 people that night and our driver said that they're all together about 20 companies doing that in the city even in the desert you can meet some awesome people from around the world so where you from you're Canadian what you said you live here oh okay so is it work-related oh cool and you're just visiting yeah so why have you guys done for fun like [Music] we went to the mall to buy we went stop the Burj Khalifa [Music] I'm good to Myra Beach it's really nice hey what's your name Anika Oh its name nice to meet you one of my favorite places in Dubai is the global village it's a huge park that combines cultures of 90 countries from all across the world in one place welcome to oh wait a second mistake welcome to Moscow actually we're in New York City right that's pretty confusing but actually we are in Dubai and this place is called global villages you can get souvenirs spices and try food from almost every corner of the planet well except for Israel [Music] they got temples of Thailand forbidden city of Beijing the Eiffel Tower and so much more and they also have different shows during the night like they have this monster stunt show three times a night with cars and motorbikes and you can enjoy some incredible performances fight scenes you know directing stunts bikers and they even had a tank those who love amusement parks are really gonna enjoy Dubai because I have a cluster of theme parks and water parks like Legoland Bollywood and motion gate and others let's take a look at some different parts of the city Dara is Dubai's old financial district it sits on the east bank of Dubai Creek at one point it played a vital role in the economic development of the city today Dara is a bustling commercial residential district with some old markets including some specializing in spices and gold the most recognized landmark is Daris clock tower then you have downtown to buy with Burj Khalifa and endless skyscrapers Sheikh Zayed highway is the longest street in Dubai it gives the full fill in that you are in the city of the future on both sides of the road there are numerous skyscrapers that seem to compete in high dens originality look at this structure looming over the city's financial district it's called the Museum of the future it will be open just before the world expo starts October 2020 one of the newest areas in the city is Dubai Marina it's a modern expensive residential neighborhood that has one of the largest concentrations of Westerners living in the city it's just a walking distance away from the beach at jbr which stands for Jumeirah Beach residents there's plenty of things to do here from jet ski to skydiving a new addition to this district is blue waters Island that opened in 2018 it's an artificial island that will feature at 210 metre tall giant ferries will called Dubai I of course is going to be the largest in the world what else did you expect Dubai has a number of beaches to choose from let's take a look at some of them kite beach it is Dubai support iasts Beach and favored with many kite surfers people come here to jog or play beach volleyball there's also a skate park an outdoor gym and plenty of other things to do where you from what you from Alaska no this can't be right you from Alaska how are you know everything how are you say I'm from Alaska I travel all over the world but the way is the best place in the world you know it's all right you have east and west everything no corona nothing no white it's not yeah everything is clean yeah okay the rulers here are fantastic it's a growing economy everything is booming here life is beautiful no taxes the fresh air free of charge he compliment you know what's your favorite part of the city fair part of the city is the kite beach you know the kite beach oh it's right here on the spot right place right time right people what but what about the parks my first impression is that the city's nothing but a concrete jungle and there's no parks well it's not like that there are plenty of parks this one's called Al Barsha where people come to go jogging or just take a break from the busy city life they even half golf courses here can you imagine so how did it all start Dubai was a village of fishermen and Perl hunters until the mid 20th century the best way to look at this distant past is to visit the Dubai Museum it is located in the fort alpha Healey which is the oldest building in Dubai built in 1787 pearl huntin was the main source of income for the local population back then but the invention of artificial pearls by the Japanese in the 1930s destroyed the economy in 1968 Great Britain abandoned the Protectorate of the Gulf countries right around this time oil was discovered and from that moment the Emirates got quick start in the development they say driving a car in Dubai is not for everyone locals say that if you miss an exit it might take you 20 to 30 minutes to get back on the route speeding fines are no joke for example if you exceed the speed limit by 20 kilometres an hour your fines gonna be an equivalent of 82 dollars but if you exceeded by 80 kilometers an hour it's gonna be eight hundred and twenty dollars once a British tourist got stuck in Dubai after racking up forty five thousand dollars in speeding tickets in a rented Lamborghini in four hours it triggered every speed camera on Sheikh Zayed Road and they wouldn't let him go until the paid the fines in full one of the newest additions to the city as the Dubai frame you can see it from a distance its high it is 150 metres it has a glass floor the idea is that it splits the into the old part and the new part what's it like for the locals live here Emiratis like I said make up only 10 to 15 percent of the population they get plenty of perks from the government like $20,000 or more as a wedding present polygamy is allowed so you can have more than one wife there's an Arab joke about this if you have one wife she will fight with you if you have two wives they will fight for you recently the introduced mandatory military service so now a Marathi man who have finished secondary school and aged between 18 and 30 will have to serve a year and four months did you know they have a Ministry of happiness fear Sheikh Mohammed who is vice president and prime minister of the country and ruler of the emirate of Dubai said that he's not going to tolerate poor government services and he declared that he would remove staff and officials who are not performing well he's also known to visit government departments when they least expect him one time he was visiting Dubai Municipality and he was surprised to find directors and senior officials not present at the workplace during his visit they say Dubai has a development plan until the year 2017 that's impressive but is it a comfortable City for foreigners while salaries are competitive they say that one of the biggest challenges here is to build a circle of friends people come and go all the time and to make friends with the locals is not that simple some people say that Dubai doesn't make them feel like they belong there some people told me that in Singapore after work you go drinking beer with the locals but in Dubai it's just not happening there's internet censorship and voice calls and Skype and whatsapp are restricted be careful what you post on social media there's been cases when foreigners got in trouble after posting something negative about Dubai on Instagram or Twitter what about women rights while I'm not a big expert but how do you play numerous attempts of members of the royal family to flee the country just read about Princess Latifah but try to flee but got caught and she hasn't been seen since March 2018 on the bright side there's definitely been some progress Dubai has recently loosened its liquor laws to allow tourists to purchase alcohol in state controlled stores they ended prison sentences for loan defaulters before if you are late with payments you could be sentenced to jail for up to three years now you just get a fine instead of jail time the city is very safe and that's despite the fact that it has millions of visitors from all over and most importantly it's a fun place to live in it's a melting pot of different cultures and there's so many events happening all the time to me Dubai's like the amusement park of the planet where the most daring ideas are implemented some of them succeed and some fail but everybody wants to come here and see it for themselves and you can't help but admire the determination of Dubai to be moving forward and I want to end this video with a quote from Sheikh Mohammed the race for excellence has no finish line I wanted to buy to be number one not in the region but in the world number one in everything high education health and housing I want to give my people the highest way of living ok guys thanks for watching I hope you enjoyed the video [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

Channel: CoolVision

Views: 15,995,083

Keywords: dubai, tallest building in the world, largest mall, dubai marina, working in dubai, dubai sights, dubai vacation, dubai uae, emirates, dubai hotels, life in dubai

Id: GmOM9Y8os9E

Length: 27min 11sec (1631 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 13 2020