3 Unbelievable Facts About Dubai You Need to Know

When people think of Dubai, these images might come to mind: Luxury shopping, futuristic architecture and vast deserts. It is a city that specializes in smashing records and expectations. But behind the glitz and glamour, it's an emirate that boasts a swoon-worthy and extensive list of quirks and oddities that make it utterly one-of-a-kind.

From the physics-defying spectacle of watching two sunsets to learning that technology and tradition can coexist at the racetrack, Dubai is full of surprises. Below, three fun facts about this desert metropolis that may just change the way you view it.

1. The Double Sunset Phenomenon

Think of it like watching a beautiful sunset, the sky awash in shades of orange and purple, then, mere minutes later, watching that same stunning sunset all over again. It is something that in most of the world cannot be done. In Dubai, it is only a matter of practicality.

We can only do this thanks to the Burj Khalifa – the tallest high-rise building of all time. 

At an astounding 828 meters (2,717 feet), the tower is so tall it has a palpable impact on your perception of time in relation to the sun.

If you observe the sunset at sea level under the base of the tower, then you will see that the sun sets at its usual time. But if you hop on one of the high-speed elevators and zip straight up to the observation deck near its summit, you’ll be able to see the sun before it sets. Due to the very high altitude, the horizon is effectively pushed further away from you and so it takes longer for the lower limb of the sun to actually disappear than if you were on ground level.

The shift is so severe that religious authorities in Dubai issued special rulings during Ramadan. Even those at the very top of the Burj Khalifa can see the sun and have to fast a couple of minutes longer than those on the ground floor!

2. A City Without a Traditional Address System

For decades, getting around Dubai was less about street names and house numbers and more about a complicated mental map of landmarks. 

If you were going to order a pizza or guide a taxi driver to your friend’s house, you wouldn’t mention a zip code or street number. Instead, directions were more akin to a scavenger hunt: “Head towards the Al Barsha area, take a left at the gas station, pass by the huge white mosque, after two rights of the supermarket it’s the third villa with blue gate.”

What’s more, this landmark method was fine for locals who had been born there, but it was a logistical headache for mail delivery and emergency services.

Nowadays, Dubai has moved on. The Makani system uses a unique 10-digit number for each entrance of buildings in the emirate, enabling exact geolocation. I should also mention that GPS and digital pins have really made my life quite a bit easier. But old habits die hard; take a taxi ride today and you just might discover that invoking the name of a nearby hotel or mall helps whisk you away to where you’re going faster than using a street name.

3. Robot Jockeys are the Real Athletes

Camel racing is an ancient Middle Eastern tradition, with its roots in Bedouin culture. Young children had been used as jockeys in the past because their small size made the camels go faster. But the practice was fraught with human rights implications and eventually outlawed.

Did the sport die out? Not at all. It evolved.

Welcome to the age of the robot jockey. 

Not so today, as camel racing has become high-tech business in the UAE. They are ridden by little, light robots with aluminum and plastic frames. 
These mechanical jockeys are outfitted with walkie-talkies and whips that human trainers park across the track, piloting battered SUVs at speeds to keep pace.

The trainers can yell encouragement to the camels through the robot’s speakers, and control the whip action to get the animals to run. This change not only has made the sport safer and ethically defensible, but it also introduced a new element of strategy. The technology of the robot, the experience of the remote operator and the breeding of the camel all play into who is decided champion. It is such a great representation of the Dubai mixing of heritage and innovation.

Discover the Unexpected

Dubai is a place where the extraordinary is normal. Whether it’s bending the sunset to your will with sheer architectural height, operating by memory and landmarks or swapping human riders for robots, the city is always breaking existent paradigms. When you go back, if you ever do, look a little higher than the skyscrapers and malls — because sometimes the things that take us by surprise are what end up being most interesting in the long run.