At first, despite the opposition of her family, my cousin insisted on marrying to Dubai and gave birth to 4 children in 5 years. Although she lived in a luxury house, took a luxury car, and had endless money, her heart was miserable. After marriage, her husband married 3 wives.
When I heard that I was going to stay in Dubai for a while because of business, my cousin was so excited that she couldn't sleep for a few nights. After I met my cousin in Dubai, I learned that although Dubai is more splendid than I thought, there are also many lesser-known places. Here's what I've seen and learned about what Dubai is like.
The most dazzling world
The tallest building in the world - Burj Khalifa
Burj Khalifa in Dubai is currently the only super high-rise building over 800 meters in the world, symbolizing Dubai's "arrogance". In the afterglow of the setting sun, the tower looks like a sharp sword that is about to burst into the sky from a distance, which is shocking from any angle.
The Burj Khalifa has a total of 162 floors and a total height of 828 meters. Construction began in 2004 and took more than 9 years to complete. The total cost is as high as 7 billion US dollars. There are 56 lifts in the building, as well as a double-deck sightseeing lift, which can carry up to 42 people at a time. A very cool ascending elevator is also installed here, with a speed of 17.5 meters per second, just like riding a rocket, it only takes two minutes to reach the top of the tower.
The building, which houses 1,000 luxury apartments, is said to have sold out within eight hours of its opening. At the center of the building is a hexagonal "buttress core" of reinforced concrete, with floors arranged in a spiral to withstand the raging desert storms. The Y-shaped floor allows the tower to enjoy a wide view, standing high to enjoy the stunning scenery of the Arabian Gulf.
The only seven-star hotel in the world - the Burj Al Arab
The Burj Al Arab is built on an artificial island on the seashore. It is the only seven-star hotel in the world. The construction cost is 1.5 billion US dollars. It is famous for its splendor and luxury. In appearance, it is an Arabian ship sailing. It uses more than 9,000 tons of steel and more than 70,000 cubic meters of concrete. It is supported by 250 foundations that go deep into the seabed. There are 56 floors and a height of 321 meters.
The doors and toilet pipes of the hotel are basically inlaid with gold, and many high-tech elements are incorporated into them. The Presidential Suite is on the 25th floor, the furniture is gold-plated, and it is also equipped with 7 personal butlers and a professional chef driver. The lowest room rate at the Burj Al Arab is $900 a night, and the presidential suite is as high as $18,000 a night.
The seven-star Burj Al Arab in Dubai claims to be the only "seven-star hotel" in the world, but it is slightly inferior to the only "eight-star Palace Hotel" in the world in Abu Dhabi. The Palace Hotel was built at a cost of US$3 billion , It is said that 22 tons of gold are used alone, and its luxury is staggering.
The world's largest shopping mall - The Dubai Mall
The Dubai Mall is located next to the Sheikh Zayed Expressway in Dubai's Al Barsha district, covering an area of more than 1 million square meters, equivalent to the size of 200 football fields. There are 4 floors, the first floor is where luxury brands gather, the second floor is for FMCG apparel, and the third floor is for children's clothing. It has more than 1,200 retail stores, major department stores, and hundreds of food and beverage outlets.
The tallest residential building in the world - Princess Tower in Dubai
Dubai Princess Tower is located in the bustling waterfront area of Dubai, costing 1.5 billion dirhams and 413.36 meters high, is one of the landmark buildings in Dubai. There are 107 floors in total, 101 floors above ground and 6 floors underground, of which 97 floors are residential. The top floor is priced at about 18.1 million yuan per home. However, since 2019, the Princess Tower has been surpassed by the 472-meter-high Central Park No. 1 in the United States and can only rank second.
The tallest hotel in the world - Marriott's Earl Hotel
The Marriott Earl Hotel is the tallest hotel in the world certified by Guinness World Records and has become a new luxury landmark in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. A single room costs $326.
In addition, Dubai also has the world's largest indoor ski resort, the world's largest music fountain and the world's largest airport, etc., all of which show the rich and willful style of Dubai's local tyrants, pursuing the most glamorous "most" and "first"
The world's largest artificial island in Dubai turned into a "unfinished building"
Under the halo of many "world's best" in Dubai, there is a "world's best" that used to be brilliant and radiant, but now it has become the world's largest unfinished project. It is a pity that it is the world's largest The artificial island of The Palm Dubai.
Construction of Dubai Palm Island started in 2001. It is one of the largest land renovation projects in the world. It stretches 5.5 kilometers into the Arabian Gulf and costs as high as 14 billion US dollars. It is known as the "Eighth Wonder of the World". The island consists of four island groups: Palm Jumeirah, Alishan Palm Island, Deira Palm Island and World Island. It covers an area of more than 200 square kilometers and is named after a palm tree when viewed from the air.
The 17 palm-leaf-shaped islands are tree trunks, and the meridians on each palm leaf are neatly planned with buildings, surrounded by a circular wave-proof island. After construction, it will provide 12,000 private residential houses and more than 10,000 apartments, as well as an underwater hotel. The price of Palm Island is as high as US$800,000 to US$3.5 million, and people from all walks of life are buying houses here.
However, due to the financial crisis that swept the world in 2008, Dubai Palm Island was faced with insufficient funds and difficult construction. Only half of the original plan was completed and had to be put into a shutdown state. The people of Dubai who have money are also incapable of providing so much money to fill this huge hole, making the extremely luxurious Palm Island a distressed "unfinished building".
So far, it has been 13 years since the "unfinished building". With the continuous rise of sea level, this artificial island has gradually begun to sink because it is overwhelmed. Some experts speculate that there may be a crisis of disappearance in the future.
Only locals in Dubai and a few Indians are rich
In the impression of people in the world, Dubai is a city full of gold, luxury cars, and luxury homes. Dubai is full of local tyrants. In addition to luxury cars, they also have private jets or yachts for their vacations, which are quite cool. Even keeping pets is a ferocious lion and cheetah. The smell of luxury is everywhere. In fact, these are just a microcosm of the life of the locals in Dubai, and have nothing to do with outsiders.
Among the 3.3 million people in Dubai, only 15% of them are locals in Dubai. They are born with golden keys and naturally enjoy various wealth and benefits given by the government. 1,000-1,500 square meters of land are given at birth; both married men and women are locals and they can also get a set of finely decorated apartments donated by the government. They don’t need to think about buying a house at all, and they can also get a marriage subsidy equivalent to RMB 884,300.
A part of the government's various public facilities revenue will be distributed to local people as dividends, and any company must have half of the shares owned by local people. In addition, education, medical care, utilities, and taxes are all free of charge. Among them, expenses incurred for overseas medical treatment and air tickets and hotel fees for accompanying family members are also fully reimbursed.
All kinds of government benefits add up to allow Dubai people to live a life of worry-free clothes. The locals in Dubai either do not work, or they are engaged in high-ranking jobs in the government. They think that they are high-class people and should enjoy life. When they have nothing to do, they like to spend money.
In addition to locals in Dubai, there are also a few Indians who are also very rich. Its well-known LULU supermarket in Dubai, Aster Medical Group, GEMS Education Group, UAEXCHANGE Bank, etc. are all assets of Indians. Known as the Indian "Li Ka-shing" of Dubai, Yusuff Ali, the Indian founder of LULU Center, was worth $4.9 billion in 2018.
Marrying a Dubai man means losing freedom
In Dubai, I think it's a man's world. Once a woman gets married, she becomes a man's accessory and has no status at all. On the surface, the scenery is infinite, living in a luxurious villa, going out with a luxury bag, taking a luxury car, or even a private jet or a private yacht, and an unlimited number of bank supplementary cards given by the husband, you can buy and buy as you like. .
In fact, they are regarded by their husbands as their own personal belongings, they are not allowed to be coveted by others, they are not allowed to work, and their movements are restricted. When you go out, you have to wrap yourself tightly, wrap your head with a black silk scarf, wear black clothes on your body, and sometimes only show a pair of eyes. The cousin who used to love beautiful clothes is now basically out of touch with beautiful clothes.
Because Dubai men are rich, the standard of mate selection is also very high. In order to let the descendants of Dubai men have good genes, in addition to the two necessary conditions of high education and good looks, it is said that there are many requirements. Some Dubai men choose wives The complex process is comparable to a beauty pageant.
According to Islamic law, a man can marry up to 4 wives. Their identities are equal, and there is no distinction between high and low. However, because the cost of marrying 4 wives is too high, for example, to buy a private yacht for one wife, you must buy a private yacht for each of the other three wives, so in real life, there are not many people who actually marry 4 wives. Like my cousin's husband, he belongs to the special category of money and doesn't care about these costs.
To marry a Dubai man, you must first join Islam, and you will be severely punished if you break the rules. What a married woman has to do is to take care of the parents and children at home, and it is common to have seven or eight children. When there are guests at home, it is when the woman shows her talents, she is solely responsible for the sumptuous meal, and don't expect her husband to help.
There are many poor people in Dubai
Dubai is a city where heaven and hell coexist, and only local people are really rich. Among Dubai's 3.3 million population, 85% are foreigners, of which Indians exceed 40% of Dubai's total population and become the main force in Dubai, and 13% Pakistanis, most of whom are low-level migrant workers, low social status.
These migrants are mainly engaged in construction and service industries, such as manual workers, operators, drivers and other positions. Most of them came to Dubai with dreams of getting rich overnight, but in the end they were nothing more than a basket of water. They work hard and earn meager wages. The average worker can get 2,000 dirhams a month, equivalent to 3,400 yuan, just enough to support themselves.
They cannot enjoy various preferential policies of the government, and they have to pay for the treatment themselves when they are sick. When they are seriously ill, they cannot afford it. In order to save money, they often live in a small damp room with seven or eight people. Their "poor" contrasts greatly with the "rich" of the locals in Dubai, so many people leave this sad place after staying for a few years.
Dubai's oil-fueled days are long gone
Dubai used to be just an inconspicuous small fishing village. From the discovery of oil in 1966 to the 1970s, Dubai's oil exports accounted for half of the world's oil exports.
After more than ten years of development, the Dubai government realized that oil resources will always be exhausted one day. Since 1980, it has begun to transform into services, foreign trade, high-end real estate, tourism, finance, aviation, warehouse logistics and other industries, and has achieved success. . Smart Dubai people built many world-renowned buildings with the money they earned from oil, attracting people from all over the world to invest and travel in Dubai.
Dubai's oil reserves account for only 5% of the UAE's, and after decades of exploitation, oil resources are almost exhausted. The oil economy now accounts for less than 3% of Dubai's economic contribution.
Dubai's tourism industry is the best in the Middle East. In recent years, the number of tourists has been on the rise. In 2019, it received 12 million foreign tourists, ranking third in the world in terms of global tourism revenue.
Port trade is also one of Dubai's important financial revenues. Although the ports implement a low tariff policy, their port usage fees are very high. To sell the oil in the Persian Gulf region in the Middle East, it must start from the ports around Dubai. It also takes many days for oil to be shipped from shipment to ship, and Dubai Ports is taking advantage of this to earn port royalties from other countries.
With its solid "family foundation", Dubai seizes various opportunities, implements a diversified economy, adopts the policy of integrating the country and businessmen, and participates in the holding policy of the whole people, attracting a large number of investors, and building Dubai by "spending money". It has become synonymous with "prosperity" and "luxury", and has developed into the economic and financial center of the Middle East, known as the "city of miracles".
These things are not true in Dubai
1. Abandoned luxury cars all over the place
In Dubai, there are also a large number of Korean cars and Japanese cars passing through the city. The large number of abandoned luxury cars and super sports cars mentioned on the Internet are actually insolvent. In order to avoid the pain of jail time, they have to give up everything, including luxury cars, and quickly leave the city.
2. The monthly income of beggars is 470,000 yuan
It is rumored that the monthly income of beggars in Dubai is as high as 470,000 yuan, which proves that there is gold everywhere in Dubai, and they can actually get it for nothing. In fact, begging in Dubai is illegal. Once caught by the police, you will face huge fines and even be sent back to your country.
3. Police cars are the most luxurious in the world
Most of the Dubai police cars are not luxury cars. There are indeed a few luxury cars used for high-speed pursuits or special tasks. Dubai Police, for example, have built a fleet of luxury sports cars and SUVs to complement their fleet of patrol cars. These luxury cars are often seen at special events across Dubai or in tourist areas frequented by tourists, raising the profile of the Dubai Police. Therefore, people misunderstand that the Dubai police car is the most luxurious in the world.
4. Rich people like to keep large pets such as lions
On social networks, descriptions of Dubai often feature pictures of wealthy people showing their closeness to large pets such as lions. As everyone knows, this phenomenon will be put to an end. The Dubai government has made it illegal for citizens to tame this large wild animal as a pet. If found, they will face a fine of 136,000 US dollars or imprisonment.
5. The locals are all rich
Although locals in Dubai can enjoy many benefits given by the government, there is no poor among them, but they are also divided into classes, not all of them are rich and can spend freely. After all, there are still some locals who cannot marry a wife because of lack of money, and those who have to support a large family with only one salary from the male owner.