An England football was visiting Qatar to support his team in the World Cup when he decided on a whim to head to less explored areas.
On his adventurous day out in the Middle East, Rob Dawley, 21, stumbled upon "a migrant camp", which he was later denied access to.
After he was turned away, his taxi driver drove him to the the city centre of Mesaieed - an industrial city in the state of Qatar.
At first, the football fan was met with no entry signs around the entire city centre, which was made up of several abandoned apartment blocks.
By chance, he then stumbled upon some friendly security guards, who gave him a private tour of the apartments, as "they were being demolished in a few months anyway".
Rob, a former butcher from Grimsby in Lincolnshire, said: "I came to watch the footy with my friend, but on Thursday, in between football days, I decided I wanted to explore.
"I messaged my mate who's dad used to live in Qatar and asked him to recommend somewhere he wouldn't go - he gave me a list and Messaieed was on there.
"I got on the local metro in Qatar and met someone called Hassan at the bus stop, he told me he was a migrant doctor and living in a camp nearby so I followed him."
He continued: "They didn't let me in the camp, so I got a cab to the city centre of Messaieed and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
"I'm a sucker for an eastern European tower block, and there were 25 to 30 of them completely abandoned, I just thought this is a bit of me.
"But when I walked up there were no entry signs everywhere, I could have easily hopped the fence but I thought I better not I am in Qatar.
"Luckily, I saw a security car, so I walked over and got chatting to one of them in the car and he said 'You know what mate, I'm going to give you a private tour - they're demolishing them in a few months anyway.'"
He added that the security guard was called "Sadiq" and he was "an absolute top geezer".
Rob added a video to his TikTok account of the tour, which has now racked up an impressive 1.3 million views since it was posted.
The video tours around the inside of one of the abandoned flats, where the security said those who helped build the world cup stadiums stayed.
Rob said the accommodation was nice, and "far better than my university accommodation'" but was unsure about how many people would have stayed in each apartment.
The 21-year-old caught the travel bug around three years ago, when he visited 12 countries in 12 months back in 2019.
Now, the football fan has visited 23 countries in total.
On his travels, he often asks locals where not to go and then actively seeks to explore those areas.
He's been on a mission to show people "the unseen side of Qatar", which led him to the flats.
He said: "Personally I was surprised by how decent it was and how well it was all put together.
"The infrastructure was brilliant, there were two balconies in the flat and one of the rooms had an en-suite.
"Of course it depends how many people were staying in the flat.
"If there were six or seven per room then it would be absolutely horrible, but if you renovated that flat and put it in London it would be worth millions.
"I must say it was very eerie though, I don't think the TikTok quite captures that."
The Qatar World Cup has been surrounded by scrutiny since the country was awarded the event by FIFA in 2010.
The Guardian reported on November 29 that a Qatar official stated ‘400-500’ migrant workers died on World Cup projects following its bid to host the event.
Hassan al-Thawadi, the secretary general of the Supreme Committee for delivery and legacy, told Piers Morgan Uncensored: “The estimate is around 400.
“Between 400 and 500. I don’t have the precise number, that is something that is being discussed."
Other World Cup criticism focused on discrimination against women and LGBTQ+ people in the Middle Eastern country, as well as organisers denying allegations of bribery for hosting rights.
