Top 10: Dubai’s Weirdest Guinness World Records

Dubai, being a city of superlatives, boasts many Guinness World Records. “The Tallest Residential Building,” “Tallest Hotel,” “Tallest Man-made Structure On Land Ever” and “Longest Driverless Metro Line” are pretty well known. But Dubai also holds a few quirkier Guinness World Records.

1. Largest Shopping Cart/Trolley

We love to shop in Dubai, so what would be more natural and handy than the world’s largest shopping cart? The exactly scaled up working replica of the original item stands 10.5m high from ground to handle, with a basket 6.88m long and 4.46m wide. The wheels measured 0.79m in diameter. The cart was made by the Al Safeer Group and Century Shopping Mall in an attempt sponsored by Dubai Duty Free and was unveiled at the Dubai Shopping Festival on February 6, 2004. Unfortunately, the monster shopping trolley was not accompanied by the world’s largest wallet.

2. Most Cans Crushed with a Vehicle in Three Minutes

Disappointingly, Dubai only seems to hold one current record involving a vehicle. The record for most cans crushed with a vehicle in three minutes is 61,106 cans and was achieved by Ian Batey driving a 20,000-lb Monster Truck for Burn Energy Drink at the Jumeirah Beach Residence on March 6, 2010. There’s definitely scope for more local vehicular records such as “The Most Toyota Landcruisers in One Place Simultaneously”, “Most Nissan Sunny’s Hooting Together” and “Most Creative Parking Anywhere, Anytime.”

3. Longest Line of Sandwiches

All the restaurants ads on radio indicate that eating is a serious pastime here. So it is fitting that Dubai holds the record for the longest line of sandwiches at 2,667.13m. This culinary feat was achieved by Kraft Foods Middle East and Africa in Dubai Outlet Mall on September 7, 2010. The line comprised of 11,000 individual sandwiches. Following the record the sandwiches were packed and distributed to labour camps. Can the world’s longest line of pitas be far away?

4. Longest Club DJ Session Relay

Party on, Dubai. The most DJs to consecutively mix one record each is 119 and was achieved by World Top DJs during the My Music X Village music festival at the Dubai International Marine Club in Dubai on March 28, 2013.

The 119 DJs mixed one track each using two CDJs (plus one reserve), in a club DJ session relay that lasted for four hours 16 minutes. Other DJ-inclined world records Dubai could strive for is “The World’s Most Repetitive Playlists,” and “The World’s Biggest Use of Overdone Foreign Accents in Radio Commercials”.

5. Fastest Text Message in Arabic Blindfolded

You don’t really measure up in Dubai unless you have at least two smartphones on you, but three is obviously better. So that this record belongs in Dubai is beyond dispute. So congrats to Mohamed Ahmed Al Mulla who typed the fastest prescribed text message in Arabic blindfolded in two minutes 13 seconds at the Guinness World Records Pavilion in Global Village on January 30, 2009. The prescribed message was a translation of “The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.” And there wasn’t even a single “habibi” in the sentence…

6. Most Sand Moved With a Teaspoon in 30 Seconds

There’s no shortage of sand here, but generally we have bulldozers and maids to deal with it. Majid Mohammad decided on a more labour intensive approach by moving the most sand in 30 seconds with a teaspoon. His total of 194 ml was achieved at the Guinness World Records Pavilion in Global Village on January 30, 2009. One has to wonder, how many Mohammads would it have taken to build The Palm?

7. Most Nationalities Washing Their Hands Simultaneously

Dubai is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world as this record proves. Where else could 72 nationalities get together to simultaneously wash their hands? This record was achieved by Lifebuoy (Unilever Gulf – UAE) in Dubai on October 10, 2012 in celebration of Global Handwashing Day. The participants came from countries as diverse as Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bolivia, Estonia, Hungary, Iraq, Malawi, Palestine, Syria, Ukraine and Zimbabwe. There’s definitely scope to improve on this record.

8. Most Brands Advertising On One Single Billboard

Advertising is a way of life in the emirate, and bigger is definitely better. The most brands advertising on one single billboard was 1,233 and was achieved by Discovery Exhibition Organizers in Festival City, Dubai, on January 23, 2011. The billboard measured 100m x 10m and all proceeds went to the Dubai Autism Centre.

9. Largest Same Name Gathering – First Name

Jack, Sunil, Ahmed? Don’t be silly, the largest gathering of people with the same first name belongs to the 1,096 Mohammeds who gathered as part of the Dubai Shopping Festival at Creek Park on February 10, 2005. Unfortunately, Dubai has zero chance of retaining this record if Saudi Arabia decides to go after it.

10. Most Clothes Pegs Held in the Hand

The most pegs held in one single hand is 40 and was achieved by Ahmmad Bin Darwish at the Guinness World Records Pavilion in Global Village on January 29, 2009. He also nearly won “The Only Man in Dubai Who Knows What a Clothes Peg Is” but was disqualified when he admitted that he did not know how to use them.