Epic Adventure -- Day 3 -- 01/09/2012 -- Dubai

After getting a lift from Bob to the main bus station today, and being unable to decipher which bus we needed, nor in fact where any of them went, we took a taxi to the Old Gold Souk, totalling a whopping  AED 16, or £2.80 for a 15 minute journey. Some of the jewellery on display is just ridiculous, diamonds of over 7ct, the largest we saw was 16ct, and we were too scared as to inquire the price.

 There were, to my best estimate, about 100 shops selling an immense amount of gold silver and diamonds that seemed to go on forever. The largest (and I would fathom the most expensive) item that we saw was the rather large and gaudy necklace pictured here. We spent about an hour in the souk going from shop to shop looking for a small white gold band for Jenny that could be worn in between her wedding ring and engagement ring to keep them from rubbing together. This very simple thin band of white gold was nearly impossible to find. So much so that we ended up having to find a shop that would make the ring to order. We spoke to the woman at length about exactly what we wanted in the ring, width, thickness, 14k white gold, size and most importantly cost. Once these criteria were agreed we paid a small deposit and decided to take a cab to Deria City Centre shopping mall for some lunch and casual shopping while we waited the 2 hours for the ring to be made.

Jenny remembered the mall quite well and the location of certain things she wanted to do and see while we were there. We ate a great lunch at Coco’s restaurant, choosing this location exclusively so Jenny could enjoy a lunch of broccoli soup in a bread bowl that she remembered fondly from her last visit to Dubai.

Dan enjoyed a huge burrito, that I had a munch on, it was great! We then moseyed off to get some new shorts for me in the New Look sale, and then an infamous Cinnabon!!  Ahh Jessica I can just hear you drooling now! =D After a short rid back to the Gold Souk in another super cheap taxi, we went back to pick up my ring, and its perfect, exactly what I wanted and couldn’t find, and made exactly for me =)

With our new ring in our possession we decided to head home for the day, we caught yet another cab for the 10 mile journey home costing us a rather modest AED 40 (about £7). Once arriving home Jenny's aunt offered to drive us to the Palm, a massive man-made island in the shape of a palm tree built off the coast of Dubai. I had seen photos and knew about the palms existence for the past few years but until we arrived there I had no appreciation for the scale of this man-made structure. The Palm Jumeirah, the archipelago we visited today is 5km x 5km and is comprised of 100 million cubic meters of rock and sand from the nearby desert (Jenny said she cannot help but picture an enormous palm shaped void in the desert sand from which the material was taken). We drove to the furthest point on the palm where the Atlantis hotel is located and stopped for some photos.

We arrived home and Jenny retired to bed for an evening nap of sorts while I am spending some time on the front patio with a beer and a Bill Bryson book. Another fantastic day!