Burj Khalifa

 I decided that traveling the world while I am still young is something that I want to start to doing more and more…so I decided to do a little tour to the United Arab Emirates, Dubai to be exact!  I expected to be in for a culture shock when I landed as we Americans are sometimes un-aware or “uneducated” in Arab customs and traditions, especially after 9-11 however I thought it was a beautiful country and the people were very friendly and hospitable and I am amazed at the amount of tourism that the country brings in. The weather was hot and a little muggy, almost like Miami and the beaches were beautiful, but whats mostly over whemling is the amount of hi-rise building there are there, and they are all so different!  I had a birds eye view of the Burj Khalifa, its the tallest building in the world. At 828 metres (2,716 feet) and more than 160 stories, Burj Khalifa holds the following records:

•  Tallest building in the world
•  Tallest free-standing structure in the world
•  Highest number of stories in the world
• Highest occupied floor in the world
• Highest outdoor observation deck in the world
• Elevator with the longest travel distance in the world
• Tallest service elevator in the world 

If you visit the country you should definitely go on a desert safari trip…omg, it was so much fun!  We were picked up in 4 x 4 SUV’s and driven about and hour outside the city into the desert. 

The monkey that stole my muffin!

 Our tourist group have 35 trucks total, we stopped at a 3 wheeler RV place and you could ride the dunes, but I wasn’t interested after being attacked by this silly monkey, he sat on my head, messed with my hair, then the little fucker literally un-zipped my back pack and stole my muffin…I couldn’t believe he could actually un-zip my back pack.  After that little drama, we got back in our SUV’s and were driving onto the sand dunes.  In my SUV, I had my driver GIL, and 2 other couples who sat in the back.  Gil told us that we had to hold on, it was going to be like a roller coaster ride over the sand dunes and he hoped that we all had a light lunch.  We all laughed it off thinking nothing of it, but then OMG it was freaking awesome, up down sideways what a crazy ride, and my stomach dropped a few times.  There was a few of the other cars that had pulled over with people running out and puking from the ride…he wasn’t lying!  We stopped after 15 mins for everyone to get out and take some photos, I took one with my driver GIL. 

Jordan Kingsley in the Desert with her driver and new friend GIL

After that we went for 30 more minutes into the desert and stopped at a camp.  We all got out and had a lovely time eating all types of traditional Arabic foods, coffee and then doing some really cool activities.  I got to ride a camel, take pictures with a falcon, try on some traditional Arab women’s dress, 

Jordan Kinglsey trying on traditional Arab clothing

smoked the shisha, and then I got a henna tattoo.  As the day turned into night and the stars came out we were treated to a show.  BTW, being in the desert and looking up at the stars is just an amazing thing to do, you can see soooo many beautiful constellations so clearly! The show consisted of a fellow that did all sorts of twirling, he must have turned and danced a 1000 times in one song, I don’t know how he was dizzy, it made me feel dizzy just to watch.  After that guy the bell dancer came out, the crowd went wild watching her shake her hips all over the place, it was an incredibly sexy dance, and the movements are so hard to learn to do, but I had fun trying.  I did a little shopping and bought my wifey Tanya Tate a sexy belly dancing skirt, but I had to try it on first to make sure it would fit…rather sexy isn’t it! 

Jordan Kingsley trying on a belly dancer skirt

Finally  we were driven back to our hotels and I was so tired from the day I just completely hit the sack for a big ole sleep!   I had an amazing time in Dubai and can say its one place that I would love to return to a have some more beach time to chill out! If your looking for a good place to vacation, put it on your list of places to go!