♪♪
Okay, this is our car?
Number 1.
Yalla-a-a-a-a-a-a!
♪♪
Yalla-a-a!
♪♪
Yalla-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a!
Right. Very good. We have... Shoot. Shane is here.
- Hmm? - ...A.
- Yes. - Oh, thank you so much.
- Hey. - So, I'm just in India, we're launching Vice India. - Yeah.
- The car! - You guys... You guys get... are... have been here
for like a week and a half.
I get a two-day shoot. I fly in, I have to shoot, I fly back.
You guys are just like... - You should do a 12.
- You're taking the piss. - We've been doing 12.
Yeah.
This is called taking the piss.
That's not cool. Look at him.
He's just over here, eating steak and driving
in a... racecar. - Yeah yeah yeah yeah.
No, Shane. We talked about economies and so-ci-als, cultures.
No, there's so much culture here.
This is him, waffling.
We promise we're not spending... - Bad boy. Bad boy. - No, this is about
global development, - Bad boy. Bad boy.
Opportunity, and privilege, creating... I have to go do some work now.
I l... Thank you so much for making this happen.
You're both fired.
We're fired?
Is he... Is he being serious?
I don't know.
Hi!
Ya hungry?
Looking for a temptin' treat?
- I think the show's over. - If we're fired,
then we just spend the rest of the money, right?
Yalla-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a!
♪ Y'all in the wrong world ♪
♪ So look here, man ♪
♪ Welcome to "Huang's World" ♪
♪ World traveler ♪
♪ The food, whoo, good and delicious ♪
♪ Shanghai, Moscow, check out the pictures ♪
♪ L.A., New York, M-I-A, oh, London ♪
♪ The schedule's vicious ♪
♪ Welcome to "Huang's World"! ♪
His forefathers ruled the desert from the back of a camel.
He rides it in a limousine, but he remains, as they were,
the center of tribal life.
He's the man you serve, the man you hunt with,
and the man you fight for.
Above all, he's the man who leads.
Wherever Zayed goes, his men go, too.
♪♪
Over the last 10 to 15 years or so, Dubai is a huge, global-success story.
It's an aspiring story about global economic development.
In many ways, it parallels the story of Singapore, in Southeast Asia.
But, if you're going to understand Dubai and the culture, values, and tradition
that it sprang up from, you got to start in the desert.
♪♪
I grew up in a cultural desert called Orlando, Florida.
♪♪
What are we doing in the desert today?
Have you ever slept in the desert?
Yeah. I love the desert. Did you ever notice, when you look at the desert,
that it looks like one giant butt, because of all the stretch marks?
Yeah, you noticed this, too.
Yeah. - Not as that.
I've been in this desert for more than 15 years, so,
- Yeah, so, these things, - I know what I'm talking about.
You think about.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
♪♪
- Hey. - Good afternoon.
- Hendri, nice to meet you. - Hello. Hey. Hi.
Nice meeting you. - Definitely. Definitely.
And who's this? - This is gonna be our superstar this afternoon.
Her name is Summer and she's a 4-year-old female peregrine falcon,
also known as Shahin in Arabic.
This is the fastest animal on the planet,
which you're looking at, is a peregrine falcon.
'Cause a lot of people think a cheetah is your fastest animal. - Or a human panda.
- There we go. Human panda. - Very fast.
Would you like a demonstration?
Yes, please.
I'm too fast!
It's hard to slow down.
♪♪
Yeah, she was born in captivity, so you'll actually see
the rings around her legs, then.
So this one says UAE government.
So she actually has a Dubai passport.
- Wow. - A very privileged falcon.
- I know people in UAE - That can't get a passport.
- Exactly. - This falcon got a passport.
Bedouins have to spend so much time with the falcon that first three weeks.
So, what we do is, we take the falcons home,
they live in our house for the first month,
and eventually, you introduce yourself as a provider of food.
So I've got a long piece of line, yeah?
And then, at the end of this line, I've got some food.
And, in this case, we've got some quail.
- Oh, this is fresh? - This is fresh, yeah.
So, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take this food, I'm gonna swing this food around
and they always dive to try to actually try
and catch the food as she's diving past me.
And then, at the moment when she tries to catch the food,
I'm gonna pull the food out of her way and say,
"Sorry, girl, you need to fly a little bit more."
How do you get the falcon to go hunt food for you when you give it less food
than it hunts and gets itself?
So that's where a little trick comes in.
So, imagine she caught something.
I've got some more quail, 'cause I want to take
a big piece of food that Summer just caught,
I'll show her the food I've got on my glove.
Here we go.
So she lets go. - Yeah.
I can pick it up, I can put it in my bag,
- And she's like "Where did...?" - And I can go back to the camp
to go and feed my family. - Ohh.
Your basis of your relationship is strictly like physical, for food.
It's a food-based relationship.
So, I love them, and they only love me the five minutes I've got food,
and when the food is done, the relationship is done.
This is life.
♪♪
- Oh, what's this?
That is rosewater to wash your hands.
Oh, like this is like the original cologne.
100%.
Mmm!
This is the best date I've ever had.
What'd you do to this? - Nice.
How sick.
Yum.
♪♪
So I want to introduce you to Chef Marks.
- Hi. How are you? - Chef Marks. How are you?
Eddie. Nice to meet you. - How are you doing?
Yeah, nice to meet you, too. - Yes.
Lamb. - This is the lamb.
- Yes, this is lamb. - Okay.
Ribs, shank, butt.
♪♪
So, what they have going on here, where we're gonna cook the lamb ouzi is
a pit in the sand, there's hot charcoal,
and they put the dried palm tree leaves on top.
Gives it a flavor; gives it some smoke.
You're effectively smoking this meat in a pit in the ground.
How long have people been cooking this way in the desert?
Ages. Thousand years ago.
This is real pit barbecue, Bedouin-style.
♪♪
Soon, we will have, also, the camel meat.
- Yeah. - Have you ever eaten camel meat?
Yes. I had camel meat and it was probably the second-most horrifying thing
I've ever eaten in my life. - Really?
Tell him I'm really not used to this.
Do you like camel?
Yeah.
- See? See? It's okay. See? - Yeah.
'Cause, you know, when you hang out with camels,
you smell the camel and you smell what they drop off.
- Yeah. - That's what camel meat tastes like. It has that essence.
- No-o-o. - Yes. And so, no matter what, every time I bite it,
I think of that. My mind goes to like the camel... What is your favorite dish?
Oh, my favorite dish is soup dumplings.
- Oh, yeah? - Yeah.
Camel meat.
Okay, so I just telling myself - Yes, that's it. - It's soup dumpling.
The easy way.
- Heh.
♪♪
This is such a fruitless effort.
No matter what else you put in the pot, it's just gonna taste like camel.
Oh, what's in the brown sauce?
It's made of bones roasted in the oven.
- Roasted camel bones? - Yeah.
So, more camel flavor.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
Flavors.
- Yes. - Okay, let's go.
Yalla! Beautiful.
♪♪
Suck on harder.
♪♪
Don't touch me.
♪♪
Shit. You're just so much better at sucking than me.
♪♪
A lot of my friends that I grew up with was Arabic
and they had very strong like family values, - Yeah. - Traditions, hosting.
What are some of the values that you can teach us about
- See, in... - Hosting in the Bedouin culture?
In Arab traditions, families are the most important thing.
And, of course, when they have their relatives
coming over, or their friends coming over,
or even if it is a stranger, asking for help, they will host you, they will do
everything with you, they will welcome you:
coffee, food, and everything.
And they will keep you there 'til you got your things, till you got your needs,
and then you will walk away.
They'll not ask, "What is the reason you are here?"
And, after three days, they will ask you why you're here.
You need help or you're lost or something.
Of course, there's a reason why you're there.
Maybe you're seeking an advice or you want
to ask for their daughter's hand or some reasons.
♪♪
Lamb's neck is my favorite.
Delicious.
This looks so good.
Enjoy the meal... I'm going to try the shoulder first.
Mm-hmm. Mmm.
Wow. Excellent.
Supertender. All the ligaments, all the fat, rendered.
Flavors.
Tender, juicy.
You want to give the camel meat a try?
Mmm. Mmm.
Oh.
- All right. - Tomorrow.
- Let's try this. - Yeah!
♪♪
♪ Hey! ♪
♪♪
Tell me, honestly.
That's actually delicious.
Actually delicious.
That tastes like pepper steak, if it was stewed.
And then, at the very back end, you get like a wapow! Of camel.
But it's not so bad.
Shukran.
I won.
You like it? - That was actually delicious.
♪♪
This is the largest throughput-capacity,
- airline-catering facility - In the world.
All right, let's see the largest kitchen in the world. - All right. Let's go.
The machines that come ashore on the beach are pounding the desert
into new shapes.
The men who descend from the airplanes are drafting a new world.
Sheikh Mo has a lot of enterprises in Dubai,
but the best known is probably Emirates airlines.
Sheikh Mo's father started Emirates airlines with only $10 million.
Eventually, over the years, he got a $75 million investment.
But that's all the money that they've ever had to start this airline.
But then, Sheikh Mo kind of like took it to another level
and he's grown this into the world's premier, luxury airline...
Welcome to our A380 onboard lounge.
That is also the world's number-1 buyer of Dom PÃ©rignon...
It's the perfect place to unwind on a flight.
Which also has a Dom PÃ©rignon-paired menu on the flight.
They take six months to develop it in the world's biggest kitchen.
♪♪
Everybody needs to be in a white coat.
Sick looks.
Everybody will be wearing a hairnet.
And, for those who've got facial hair, will need to be wearing a mask.
James Griffith.
Chef James Griffith.
This guy, from Hawaii.
Yeah.
Been here 15 years.
Executive chef.
All right, let's see - Welcome.
The largest kitchen in the world.
All right. Let's go.
♪♪
Now, you gotta wash your hands before going in.
Wash hands.
- Just push it with your knee. - Gotta do it.
- With the knee? - Everybody.
♪♪
Okay. We're going into the main kitchen area here.
♪♪
I heard you guys are the biggest buyer of Dom PÃ©rignon in the world.
We are.
Dom is my favorite, though.
Look. I have a tattoo of a panda with Dom.
Do you have any '02s?
You got any '90s we can try? '96?
In this building, we're... don't actually drink alcohol.
Oh. Oh, yeah. Why would we do that?
Because we're a halal kitchen.
Let's talk about halal food.
♪♪
So there's no pork on any Emirates flights? - No.
All food is halal, except for the alcohol?
Except for the alcohol; you're right, yeah.
This is the largest throughput-capacity,
- airline-catering facility - In the world.
We got about 1.3 million grams of raw produce going into the kitchens a day here.
Smells good.
This is our main, cold-kitchen area.
So, did Emirates always start off as a luxury airline, even from the beginning,
like the first flight was a luxury flight,
or this was a strategy that came on later?
Always has been. It started, the first flight was to Karachi.
In the old days, the first-class service
was by tray, a trolley, so the crew actually came out with a serving platter
and served your plate for you.
- Like a private jet. - Yeah.
And it's evolved.
There's become more of a restaurant-diner demand service.
♪♪
We got 42 nationalities in the kitchen here.
How does everyone communicate?
- English. - 42 countries, mandatory English. But the chef of each region
is from the region? - Yes.
Hey, good morning.
What are you making in here?
Marsala.
Oh, the Marsala.
Oh, this is cool. - Yeah.
Everyone's working on their own rondeau, mises, right here. Looks fresh.
♪♪
Whoa-oa-oa!
This is an impressive room.
Can we taste some things?
All right, we've done the setup for you here
on everything that'll be on your flight back.
Let me check what this is.
♪♪
This is the Indian subcontinent chicken.
Yeah.
Let me see if I can tell what this is.
♪♪
Mushroom.
Yep. Mushroom ravioli. You got it.
♪ "Huang's World," excellent ♪
♪ Excellent ♪
♪ "Huang's World," we're not worthy ♪
Blind test. Um, James, would you mind guiding my hand to the meat?
No. Missing. Missing.
♪♪
- Lobster. - Ohhh!
♪ "Huang's World," excellent ♪
♪ Excellent ♪
♪ "Huang's World," we're not worthy ♪
It is amazing!
Wow! - Nobody's ever got excited about our food as this man.
No one's ever identified a mushroom.
♪♪
Walking through Emirates airlines' kitchen,
you see a lot of diversity in food and culture,
but, despite being considered the dominant culture,
Emiratis themselves only make up 15% of the population.
So, we want you to meet Aqeel, and Emirates airlines employee,
to see what life is like for 15%.
♪♪
Dubai doesn't give Emiratis doorbells?
They give them houses with no doorbells? This is... up.
Hi. - Hey, guys.
- We're here for the makeover. - Sure, come on in.
All right. Thanks.
You guys don't say hi to people when you walk in their homes?
Jesus... Christ.
Hi. Hi. How are you going?
Oh, by the way, uh, Mix, you're actually the one getting the makeover, so.
'Cause I have no hair. You can't really makeover... I know, right?
Mix, this is your day off.
♪♪
You know, you have this salon in your house.
This is like a hobby/ burgeoning business, right?
- Uh... - But your job, you work at Emirates airlines? - Yes, I work
at Emirate airlines. - Yeah.
And you're native Emirati?
Yes. And a way we get support from the government,
- Yes. - When it comes to like housing, um, you either get a house or,
in the case of this house, basically, we got the land.
- And you built the house? - And we built the house.
And you built a salon in the house.
Yep.
I think this is pretty genius.
So, what are we doing today?
Do you wanna do an under?
I think the under and then write "Riceland".
- I will do it.
Can you do that? You can write "Rice..."
Say goodbye to your hair.
- Wow. - I've never had my hair shaved.
What a treat.
What are some of the other things the government does
for native Emiratis, in terms of wellbeing?
Schooling for the kids... Free schooling?
Medical. Yep.
All the way to university.
Securing jobs for Emiratis in the government and private sectors.
And the way they do it is, they kind of implemented that rule,
which is 30% of every company has to be UAE nationals.
You can't become a UAE national unless you are Emirati by blood, right?
- Yeah. - Even if you're from another nation, born here,
you are not ever gonna become UAE national.
No. Uh, that's one thing.
Um, yes, the comp... the country here does not, um, unlike other countries,
you can live there for a little while, then you can actually get the nationality.
Uh, here, no, it's more... - What if you marry an Emirati
and have kids that are half-Emirati?
If a female marries a non-Emirati male,
the nationality will be given to them after the age of 16.
Uh, but, an Emirati male, straightaway, the kids, when they're born,
they get the nationality.
Interesting double standard.
How do you feel about this?
Kinda unfair, but... - I think it's... - I think it's unfair. - Yeah.
I actually think it's actually like patently unfair.
- Yep. - Yeah.
Mix, how do you feel about all this?
I think that women should be, like given the same like...
Actually, funny enough, yeah, they are.
Like for an Arabic and a Muslim country, um, people would think
women would be discriminated against, but, in this country, it's not.
Okay, are we still doing the "Rice" thing?
- Oh. Rice. - No.
We have to do "Rice".
Don't worry, Mix.
- Don't move? - Yeah.
No. Don't move.
Definitely getting a raise, Mix.
Don't even worry about that.
I think that says "Rice".
Yo, it says "Rice", Mix!
♪♪
- What is this? - It's a Khaleeji dish.
It's an Emirati dish called... - Oh, God. - Yes.
- Damn, Mix. - It's a traditional thing.
Traditional Emirati dish.
- A traditional Emirati dish. - Okay.
Normally, it's made like big occasions and parties and weddings and stuff.
What I like about this dish and what I like about a lot of Arabic food is
it has hints of like Indian spices.
Indian food, there's more spices, it's a little bit heavier,
it's a little bit more complex.
But when you take a more minimalistic approach, shed some of the layers,
you can taste each spice a little bit more, because there's fewer of them.
The flavor isn't as heavy, and it's cleaner and sharper.
- Rice is life. - Rice is life!
Rice is life!
The anticipation is like actually crippling.
I can't feel my face.
♪♪
While most Emirati in this region began as nomads in the desert,
about two centuries ago, people started to migrate towards the creek here in Dubai
and, alongside the Persians, the Indians, and the Pakistanis,
this port was developed, and it became a real hub in the Arab world,
because there was direct access to the ocean.
So we're here at the Deira side of the Dubai Creek
and we're about to meet Yasser Elsheshtawy, an architect from Egypt
who's now a professor at a local university,
and he's going to talk to us about the rise of Dubai.
♪♪
These boats, they're called dhows.
This is really typical Dubai. - Okay.
They're very traditional, and this has been like
the main form of trade since the 19th century between Dubai and surrounding areas
and this is part of the heritage of the city and they don't want to lose this.
Dubai really has been a port city since its inception, really.
Yeah, and it also had influenced the people and the culture.
That's why Dubai is very cosmopolitan.
You see they interact with different nationalities with ease.
Unlike other parts in the region here, which are a little bit more inward-oriented,
this is much more open, international, cosmopolitan.
So, to you, what are the pillars of Dubaization?
Well, the main elements are real-estate development
and a sort of a tabula rasa approach to urban growth.
So, basically, if you don't like something,
you just get rid of it. - It was Sheikh Mohammed's plan
for Dubai's strategy and kind of liberalization, right? - Yeah. That's true.
Really, what started Dubai's path towards, you know, growth and modernization,
it started with the creek here.
And then, when Sheikh Mohammed began his rule,
there were a couple of iconic moments.
He announced Dubai Internet City in the late '90s,
Dubai Airport expanded significantly, Emirates airlines, Palm Islands.
So, all of these projects began to announce to the world
that Dubai is here, you know?
♪♪
To me, Dubai's interesting because Sheikh Mo and all of his policies
are literally pulling an entire region...
out of chaos.
And you're getting to see, on a global level, what economic policy can do
for culture and history, and people.
♪♪
So we are in an Uber chopper right now, because we just got word
that the one, the only, Sheikh Mohammed
is dining at the Burj Al Arab right now, one of his properties,
and we needed to get there as fast as possible.
♪♪
- How are you, Yaqoob?
Good to see you.
♪♪
So we've arrived at the Burj Al Arab, and Sheikh Mo has left,
but, we're gonna meet Chef Sahar, one of the few female sous chefs in Dubai.
- Hey, Chef Sahar. - Hi.
- How are you? - Hi, Eddie. How are you?
- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you, too.
- Thanks for having us. - Good to have you here.
Yeah.
So, how was your helicopter ride? - Amazing.
- Yeah? - We tried to get here in time to meet Sheikh Mo. What did Sheikh Mo have
for dinner?
Uh, it wasn't him, actually.
We thought it was him, but, - Oh, it was his son Sheikh Hamdan.
Oh! Sheikh Hamdan is cool, - Yeah.
Too, though.
♪♪
We're about to make an Emirati-style tart with golden syrup, cardamom salt,
toasted-almond powder, panko bread crumbs, dates, rosewater.
In the meantime, I could do the whipped cream.
Well, I could do the whipped cream.
- By hand? - No.
Doug loves making the hand-whipped cream.
As a native Emirati, you see Dubai growing and changing,
and a lot of the culture here is imported culture from other places.
- Right. - How does that make you feel?
You get a lot of experiences from people coming from all over the world.
They teach you a lot; you can teach them a lot.
It's a great exchange.
We all recognize that you have to delegate.
Otherwise, it's never gonna work.
We're all learning from each other, so as long as that's working,
everybody's livin' in peace and harmony.
Uh, one order of Doug's whipped cream, please.
- Hi.
♪♪
This looks really good.
Like a tempura fish taco.
How does it feel to be in a country where it's like you are the native population?
Any country that's opened up had fear about it.
How do you think Emiratis feel?
The country gives you so much:
free education, free healthcare.
There's a sense of wanting to give back to the country.
It's great to be able to be part of that development and that growth.
It's a privilege, really.
You don't see that in many other countries.
What I've noticed is that, at this point in time in history,
Emiratis have created a moment of privilege for themselves that - Right.
I don't know if they've ever had, but they responded in a way that I don't think
many other countries or civilizations have:
by paying it forward and making their privilege an opportunity
for anyone around the world. - Right.
♪♪
We've got the treacle tarts that we made.
Yes. All right. Let's try this.
All right. Go for it.
♪♪
- Oh, my God.
You pranked me. You used Doug's whipped cream.
Just very subtle, but it's there.
Very good. Delicious.
Doesn't need to be in your face.
♪♪
So we're here at the Four Seasons, a Sheikh Mohammed property, you could say.
Also the home of Salt Bae.
♪♪
The anticipation is like actually crippling.
I can't feel my face.
GokÃ§e, nice to meet you.
♪♪
Oh. Oh.
♪♪
"We have no other branch".
This is the "Highlander" restaurant:
- Yeah. - "There can only be one."
♪♪
I wanted you to meet an old friend, Nima Nabavi, who grew up in Dubai,
went to college in America, started Digital Gravel,
and is going to be our guide to Persian culture in the city.
All right, man, so, this restaurant
is a legendary-around-here restaurant called Ostadi.
They've been here since 1978.
- Oh, word? - A lot of people talk about this spot. "We have no other branch".
This is the "Highlander" restaurant:
- Yeah. - "There can only be one."
♪ Oh, yes, I will ♪
- This is your spot. - Yeah.
I mean, this is kind of like everybody's spot.
Like, you know, people in the know, know this spot, you know? - Yeah.
All the different sheikhs have been here.
People love this spot. - Many sheikhs.
Yeah, yeah. - There's 4 sheikhs on the wall.
This place was built on real people looking for opportunity.
When you hear Majeed's story, it's like you see that they came from a situation
that was bad, and they made the best of it.
-Welcome to Ostadi.
- Thank you. I'm Eddie. - Thanks, brother.
- Majeed. - Nice to meet you.
Thanks for having us. - Nice to meet you.
- This is your spot? - Yes, sir.
Oh, nice.
You wanna start the soup?
- Sure. - Yeah.
- It's not compulsory, - Yeah.
But you have to show me the money.
- Oh, I'll show you the money. - Give me five.
- Vice money. - You got the Vice money?
Money. Yeah. - God bless you.
Thank you. God bless you.
♪♪
Oh, yeah.
Mmm.
Wow!
♪♪
Was Dubai like the main place that Persians immigrated to after the Iran War?
This was kind of the closest thing to home, but it was like a brand-new place
and people were building it together.
So establishments like this were coming up
and being like a home, for not only Iranians, but everybody else.
♪♪
This delicious one, the best kabob in the UAE.
- Okay. - This is chicken, mutton and yogurt, chelow kabob,
- Wow. Amazing. - The minced kabob with grape tomato, with saffron,
with dried cransberry.
This normally is marinated in yogurt - Yeah? - For 24 hours, meat and chicken.
What spices are in the yogurt?
I cannot tell you exactly what is that.
- Maybe ballpark. Maybe ballpark. - Secrets.
Use some saffron?
- Yes. - Yeah. And secret spice?
I cannot tell you everything now.
- Yeah. - You have to give me kiss,
then I will tell you everything. - Oh, I'll give you a kiss
right now. - No, in the front of people.
Come on. - Come on, I... Bon appÃ©tit.
Take your time.
This is the freshest, cleanest version, and the acidity cuts through a lot of like
the musk or the essence of the animal.
Very bright.
Really... good.
Were you born and raised in UAE?
All life, all UAE.
God bless my father, he complete 73 years in Dubai,
but God bless Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum, grandfather of Sheikh Mohammed, was here
- Wow. - That same very year.
From '80s, after Iraq-Iran War, my father start from the kabobs.
Before the war, he had trading with the Iran government.
When the tsunami came, the war came, everything's finished.
He start nil from the restaurant.
- Yeah. - That's God.
- It's good. - God close one door and open you 10 doors more.
This life, you have to work for yourself, trust yourself.
That's the big things. God bless Highness.
He has everything. - Yeah.
Bon appÃ©tit.
Sheikh Mo. Sheikh Mo.
- Yeah. Sheikh Mohammed Highness. - Sheikh Mo.
The Highness. - God bless him anywhere he is.
- He's a great man. He's great. - -Bless you.
- God bless you. - Thank you.
For the most part, people are very happy here.
The sustainability, the environmental issues, those are huge problems.
The issue of like migrant workers and how they're treated, huge problem.
But these are global problems that we all need to look
at ourselves about and solve together.
Defining what Dubai is is difficult because so many hands
went into building this together.
So, it's like that's why I say to people, "If you have a issue with anything here,
this is a human project."
Excuse me, sir. How was the kabob?
- Delicious! - Bon appÃ©tit.
- Best Persian kabob I ever had. - Thank you.
If you want more kabob, you can call me from this number. - Oh! Amazing!
007, James Bond.
Yeah. Three kabobs.
No condoms.
Excuse me, sir. This is your order?
Condom.
You can play with it.
- Thank you so much! - You're welcome.
If you want the Irani size, this is...
♪♪
On the edges of Dubai are acres of sprawling camps
for its foreign laborers, the hands that built the city,
well over half its population.
They've lived with the terrifying prospect
of losing their Â£100-a-month jobs.
And we want to work here and nobody's now taking us.
And we are very bad position here and we are unable to get money.
♪♪
We're at the migrant refrigerator.
This is a big deal here.
So, she is the one that started putting fridges out
for all the workers here in Dubai during Ramadan.
The idea of the fridges has continued even past Ramadan.
So we're here at an active fridge where a woman stocks it
for all the workers in the neighborhood.
We've brought them some water and snacks.
There's a lot of guys coming.
You guys come here often?
- Yes. - Oh, yeah? Every day?
- Yes. Every day. - Oh, nice.
We are very happy to take it from here. - Oh, yeah? Ah, cool.
Well, there's, like... We come here every day.
Where are you guys from?
From Pakistan.
- Oh, you're from Pakistan? - Yes.
Where do you guys work here?
Yes, we are working around the springs area.
- Oh, yeah? - We all have been coming here to take waters and some bananas.
They're very happy here to come.
This is very good, - Great. - Honest people.
We are very happy about this.
♪♪
- Well, I'm Eddie. - I'm Janine.
Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you, Janine. Yeah.
- You too. - It's really nice, what you're doing with the refrigerator - Thank you.
Outside. Yeah. Are you from Dubai?
Uh, well, it feels like it.
I've lived here over 30 years, so.
- Oh, wow. - Yeah, I've been here a long time.
I'm originally from Morocco, actually.
- Oh, nice. - Yeah.
So what brought you out here?
Um, opportunity, like most people, you know?
My dad was an architect, and so, there was a lot to build 30 years ago
- Yeah. - In Dubai, as you can imagine.
Do you think that your story, coming from Morocco,
then living in Dubai for the 30 years, it kind of connects you with these workers
that are coming in the neighborhood?
And, even if it's just landscaping they're doing,
that you have a connection and there's some empathy
for what's going on? - Absolutely, 'cause, you know, we've all come here
to pursue a dream, to get a better life,
and this started a year ago, during Ramadan, and Ramadan is a month
where a lot of Muslims are fasting.
So, explain. - This is the bottom part.
- Uh-huh. - So, what do we do with this fridge, Azelia?
Um, mostly, we keep the fridge here so, um, the... for example,
the gardeners and the people, they can come here and take some food
if they feel hungry or thirsty.
♪♪
And it ended up being a great way to really connect with the people
who work with us, exchange a few words.
We get to know them, they get to know us,
and they actually found, even more than the food,
that being recognized and acknowledged was something very special for them.
During Ramadan last year, how many active fridges were there in Dubai?
There were over 170 fridges.
- Wow. - It started with one.
It's really incredible, how infectious public service is.
- Yes. Absolutely. - You know, like I think there's a lot of apprehension early on.
People need a simple way to do good.
They want to do good, but they just wanna know how
and this was a really simple way.
Get a fridge, put it outside your house,
people will fill it up, the laborers will come.
It's so easy, anyone could do it.
♪♪
You say, "You're watching 'Huang's World'
and we're in Dubai." - Okay. I'm in Dubai. Hello.
Okay, cool. Good.
♪♪
Of course, this doesn't mean that the old Arabia
has disappeared in the space of the last few years.
It's still a hard land that breeds a hard people.
♪♪
Before we left Dubai, I wanted to go to the street level.
I wanted you to meet Butheina, because she's one of the people that I've met,
doing work and creating culture on a local level,
hand-to-hand, mouth-to-mouth, eye-to-eye, with film.
♪♪
The reason I kind of wanted to bring you here is like
it's a lot more kind of telling of the Dubai story.
Did you come here as a kid, growing up?
Mm-hmm. Yep.
This is what you did.
This was like the spot.
It's the only thing that has stood still in this entire neighborhood. I mean,
this used to be a fishing village, you know?
- Yeah. - Like this whole Jumeirah area, this is like New Dubai, right? So.
- Yeah. And something - That's 27 years old here,
That's like the oldest. - That's old.
- That's as old as you get here. - That's old.
This was how they brought Old Dubai to this part of the city.
It's a merchant mentality. People here...
And that's why the wor... the city functions the way it does, you know, - Yeah.
Where are the opportunities? That's why things don't tend to be very sacred here.
And it tends to be very pragmatic and fast-moving.
Arthouse cinema is very nuanced and it threads a needle, you know?
It's not a big, broad stroke, and I think, for the last 10 to 15 years,
people in this region have all unified and come together and had solidarity
to accomplish some really monstrous feats.
And like I also think that it's the time and place and moment for arthouse cinema
in Dubai right now.
That's where I would like it to go, you know?
And that's what I'm seeing around me and that's what keeps me optimistic
and that's what keeps me doing the thing that I'm doing, is this
fundamental belief that people want for this to be the greatest city
that they want it to be.
♪♪
What do you think the next phase is for Dubai?
I think, like any other place or person, maybe maturity.
You know, getting comfortable with your imperfections,
creating time and space to reflect, further embracing the diversity
and the communities that make it up.
I mean, that's the Dubai that I kind of... that I love.
You know, that's why I'm here.
There's a real beauty in the way that people understand each other.
They are defining a new way of being that is very Dubaian.
- Yeah. - And that's why people are doing crazy things like we're trying to do,
where we're trying to set up an arthouse cinema,
which are failing everywhere else in the world, you know?
We're trying to do it here because we believe that there's an audience here that
wants something different.
I'm excited for the rest of the world to open their yes and start to listen to Dubai
and hear what it has to say, because it is a view of the world
that I have never seen anywhere else.
Dubai has a point of view and vision for itself and its city that I don't think
is the same anywhere else.
This is like one of the most interesting
experiments going on in the world right now.
I think we all have a lot to learn from it.
♪♪
One thing I've noticed, in every city, in every country we've gone to,
is that there's classes and that there's privilege, and, before we came to Dubai,
a lot of people spoke about it and criticized it as this grotesque,
futurist city that was entirely gluttonous.
This city, literally, rose out of nothing in the desert.
They created a hub, a refuge, for people all around the Arab region, and beyond,
to come seek what so many of us take for granted, which is opportunity.
And, if you stop to look at all the places we've gone this season,
you realize that that's all anybody wants, is an opportunity.
Because we all have talent and we all have perspective.
But I hope what you'll do with your privilege is create more opportunity.
♪♪
Uh, one order of Doug's whipped cream, please.
- Hi.