This is our sixth week discovering Dubai through the people who give the city its pulse — and today’s guest is someone full of contrasts. He is a skateboarder who happens to love chess, an aviation professional building his own brand on the side, and a man who now sticks to office hours (even though no one really checks if he shows up at 9 am), despite spending his childhood spray-painting his school schedule on the walls in Syria — much to his neighbours’ irritation.

Meet Wathek Allal — known for his clean skateboard tricks and for his urban fashion brand, Precious Trust.

The conversation turned out to be fun, honest, and full of memories. Beyond the things you would expect — his favourite food spots and his go-to outfit — Wathek opened up about his early years in Dubai after leaving the war in Syria, arriving without a word of English. He spoke about the differences in skateboarding styles between the UAE and the rest of the world, thanks to all the travelling he does, and, of course, the story behind his much-loved fashion brand. So stay tuned — the next 20 minutes of this podcast are a good one.

Here are four things to discover in our podcast with Wathek:

Come for the list of legendary fast-food spots, stay for the long stories about the Precious Trust brand, school days in Syria and Dubai, and — unexpectedly — a brilliant idea: Dubai definitely needs more chess clubs.