knitting duck: the BIG week

my family started arriving in Dubai the sunday before the wedding... we packed in a much fun as possible in the days leading up to it!

first thing we did was to go to Mall of the Emirates of course, because where else do you take people who have just gotten off a 20 hour flight?
the next day we went to Madinat Jumeirah to walk around before going to dinner at Burj Al Arab. oh yeah i had to show them the Burj

tuesday was a lounge-at-the-pool-and-sleep-in day so the following day we went to a place where i have never been before.... the Gold and Diamond Souk. there was so much gold and so many diamonds that i actually got tired of looking at them after a while! can you believe it?? i can't! but now i understand why my husband has never gotten around to taking me there before

they had ginormous diamonds in there. like 7 karats! yes seven! do they really sell them? are they even real? and why don't they have more security?

after the Souk we went to Karama... it was it's usual Karama self. here are my two tips for visiting both Karama and the Gold Souk. 1) drive to Burjuman Mall and park (and get necessary Starbucks from inside) then take a taxi to both the Gold Souk and Karama as parking is non existent and that is IF you can find the places in the first place. 2) DON'T go to Karama when it is NOT busy. yes you heard (read) me correctly. since there is no one to distract the shop owners/clerks they all focus on you! yelling at you to stop in their shop and following you down the side walk. oh and bonus tip don't be afraid to haggle on the prices ; )

after that was another beach day! we stayed at Le Royal Meridien in Jumeriah. they sported three pools (two with water bars) and the beach front! we just couldn't get enough. it made me realize that i live in this beautiful resort destination and i never take advantage of that. we never go to the beach or even just buy admittance in to the hotel beaches (both the Hilton in Dubai and the Hilton in Abu Dhabi offer this i believe). too bad it's like 120 degrees outside already

then on thursday we did big Mall of the Emirates day. my family was fascinated by Carrefour (the french version of Fred Meyer that we have around here) and of course the famous Ski Dubai.

friday we went out on a desert safari with Desert Rangers... this was sort of our rehearsal dinner (although i don't recall any rehearsing) so we had both families together. we had so much fun and it was a great way for everyone to bond over ~~fear of a car flipping~~ good food, belly dancing (by a professional, not me!) and camel rides!