Culture Clash
When old traditional dress meets modern fashion, there’s bound to be a major culture clash.
All Gold Everything
When you travel to Dubai, don’t be surprised if your eyes hurt from how shiny everything is. That’s because gold is one of Dubai’s most popular accessories. Residents of Dubai will pretty much use gold for everything. They have gold necklaces, gold bracelets, gold earrings, gold watches, gold crowns, gold cars, gold jackets, gold shoes, gold toothbrushes, and even gold trash cans. While this may seem a bit impractical to Westerners, once you arrive in Dubai, you’ll appreciate the elegance.
Bikini Vs. Burqa
Dubai welcomes Western expats, who find the lack of red tape when setting up businesses, the government’s encouragement of foreign investment, and no income tax extremely appealing. But along with Western residents comes prime ground for some major culture clashes, as we see here in this crazy pic. A woman in a bikini on a beach next to a woman in a burqa is something unimaginable anywhere else on the globe, but in Dubai, it’s merely a fact of life.
Riding Dirty
In ancient times, camels were a symbol of wealth – the beasts of burden provided valuable transportation, storage, milk, hair for clothing and brushes, and worst case scenario, meat in times of scarcity. Nowadays, most people in Dubai buy the flashiest car possible rather than stroll around with their pack of camels. But this guy decided to blend the best of both worlds by riding around in his expensive Mercedes Jeep while still showing off his animal investment!
Playtime
This Dubai resident was taking a nice relaxing afternoon nap on the hood of his fancy sports car when his furry friend decided to interrupt to have some fun. If your idea of fun involves a trip to the hospital to treat the scratches your exotic pet gave you, then Dubai is the place for you! As you’ve probably noticed by now, the people of Dubai love their big cats. So much so, that they let them climb up on their sports cars.
Here Kitty Kitty
In almost any city in the world, we’d panic if we saw a cheetah (even a cub) out in public. However, this lady seems fearless as she’s only half paying attention to the wildcat in her lap, holding it with one hand while using the other hand to chat on her cell phone. The cheetah is clearly a pet and seems to be enjoying the change of scenery. He’s actually a quite well-behaved safari predator.
Teaching An Old Cat New Tricks
Everyone knows that the best way to train your big cat is on the hood of your expensive sports car. That way, you can show off your dangerous exotic pet and your social status at the same time. It’s truly the best way to prove to the whole world that you are the ultimate alpha male. Unless, of course, your plan backfires and your friendly exotic pet turns on you. Then you definitely won’t look like an alpha male.
Traffic Jammin’
In Dubai, cars are much more than a method of getting from point A to point B. Cars are a lifestyle. They are used to show social status, as well as wealth Because everyone in Dubai is apparently rich, everyone has a fancy sports car. Upon first glance, this photo appears to show hundreds of car enthusiasts on their way to a car show. However, this photo is actually just a typical Wednesday rush hour commute on the streets of Dubai.
Hang 10
Paddleboarding while wearing your traditional thobe and headdress is so Dubai! While Emiratis respect and honor the ancient traditions that have defined their culture for thousands of years, they are also embracing technology as well as the latest trends. This picture depicts how gracefully old and new blend together in Dubai – a father and son in the garb of their ancestors are doing an activity that nobody could have ever imagined would be possible in the desert.
Loading Zone
A Dubai parking lot is basically a supercar show – Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Porsches… and what exactly is that thing? Parked right next to a luxurious Mercedes is a bit of an older model of transportation – a camel! The camel, for what it’s worth, looks perfectly content to take a break in the parking lot. This picture is the perfect example of the unique blend of old and new, traditional and modern, that can only be found in Dubai.
Look Mom No Hands!
Residents of Dubai love to live life on the edge. Whether it’s getting up close and personal with a ferocious lion or riding the top of your SUV like a surfboard as it flips upside-down on the freeway, the people of Dubai can really do it all. At this point, we’re almost positive that every person you come across in Dubai is a well-trained stuntman. Either that or the life expectancy in Dubai is abnormally low.
Morning Commute
This scene would be a major cause for concern anywhere else on the planet, but a tiger sticking its head out a car to get some fresh air is simply par for the course during a normal, everyday commute in Dubai. The tiger is somebody’s pet and appears to be enjoying the change of scenery, but we have to admit that we might’ve freaked out a little if we spotted this guy while standing in traffic!
Sky High Living
Imagine waking up in the morning, peering out your window to check out the day’s weather, and seeing clouds below you! Well, this is everyday life for jet-setting expats in Dubai, who have enough money to buy penthouses that are literally sky high. Dubai has the concentration of high rises in the entire world, and those high rises are also the highest possible. Dubai is the city with the most number of Penthouses and condos available above the 50th floor!
Ridin’ Dirty
In Dubai, people often show off their wealth and class by choosing unconventional methods of transportation. This man, for example, prefers to boast his social status by riding his pet lion, Gertrude, to work every day. Working class Dubai residents look on with envy as they get to work by bicycle or foot. Sure, it may come at a risk of being mauled and eaten by a hungry lion, but it’s worth it to show the world that you’ve made it.
A Faster Ambulance
We’ve already seen the Ferraris that the municipality of Dubai uses as their standard police car, but we promise you that you’ve never seen fire trucks and ambulances like this before! This Corvette and Hummer are how paramedics and other emergency personnel respond to civil calls for help. In a way, it’s very practical – if you have a medical emergency, every second counts, and these vehicles are guaranteed to get to you way quicker than your average boxy ambulance!
Luxury Loo
Public bathrooms are typically not a place where you want to spend a lot of time. Even the nicest public facilities still give us an icky feeling, and we try to get in and out as quickly as we can. However, this public bathroom in Dubai is nicer than our wildest dreams. We’d gladly chill in here for the rest of the day, especially if we were allowed to use the state of the art rainfall shower and jacuzzi!
I Call Shotgun
Everyone loves their cat and wants to show pictures of how cute it is to strangers. In order to pay for a big cat like a cheetah, you gotta have a lot of dough. This guy needed to show off his exotic pet – a cheetah! Riding shotgun in a luxury vehicle is a much different life than what this cheetah was used to back at home, running wild and hunting prey on the plains in Africa.
Uber Bugatti?
People in major cities all over the globe are obsessed with Uber. It’s the quickest and easiest way to get from Point A to Point B, whether you’re commuting to work or coming home after a wild night out on the town. But Dubai is the only city in the world where your Uber driver is likely to pick you up in a luxury sports car like a Bugatti! Talk about a 5-star ride.
Camel Racing Robots
Cultures all over the world are obsessed with animal racing – whether it’s racing greyhounds or horses, citizens from nearly every country on the globe love to see our friends from the animal kingdom pushing themselves to the limit. But in this case, like everything in Dubai, the time-honored tradition of camel racing has a new modern twist. Look closely at the figures atop the camels – instead of humans; they are super lightweight robots designed to be aerodynamic!
City Of Cranes
Since the original oil discovery, Dubai’s economy has been booming. But decades after its initial appearance as a major player in the global financial scene, Dubai has expanded its horizons and has an economy based on more than just the “black gold” under the desert. Due to lax laws, for setting up businesses as well as a lack of income tax, the city is now the perfect place for foreign investors. Construction is permanently happening and there’s always growth.
James Bond Or Reality?
It might sound like something from the future, but Dubai doesn’t just have the world’s biggest variety of barely street legal sportscars, it also has the cutting edge amphibious car! In fact, the Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheik Hamdan Bin Mohammad Al-Maktoum, doesn’t just have one water car – he has a grand total of six, which together are worth more than $800,000. These cars are called the “Panther” and can reach speeds of up to 80 mph on the road.
