Our sweet suite

Let me show you our sweet suite, which is a very spacious hotel apartment. There is lots of room for company. Visually pleasing modern Arabic design features let me know that I'm in an Arab country when I look around me. There are gorgeous views out the long blocks of windows in each room. All is very nice.

The scale everywhere is ample. Altogether, there are three thermostats to control temperature. There are doors between all the rooms so that the male head of the household can entertain his male guests while the female members of the family stay separate and out of sight.

See the arabesque design on the sofa...

...and the cut out arabesque design on the lamp.

Geometric lace or screening is popular in a Muslim country where traditionally the women can peek out between the lattice while remaining hidden from view.

So it is a design that pops up frequently, like on this mirror frame.


Heavy oak dining table, silk covered upholstered chairs.

Here's a nod to the original source of spices; the middle east. Muslims perfume their homes and clothes rather heavily. It's encouraged in the Koran.

Tassels are another distinctly Arabian design, as are the plenty of gold threads in the sheers.

Beautiful handles on all of the doors.

Love the clean lines of this set. There are four bathrooms in the suite. This is to keep family separate from visitors, maids separate from family, men separate from women.

Our king size bed in a king size room...a wall of closets, a wall of windows and a large flat screen tv on a large natural oak vanity.

The guest room/ office. The vanity is so long, that we were able to pull up two large chairs and make a double desk. Each single bed is at least a double size.

So nice to work in this kitchen with the wall of windows and stainless steel appliances and granite countertop. Love the kitchen even with its quirks...too bad I have to wiggle the fridge into the hallway a bit to open the oven door...the exhaust hood seems to be just for show...and the kitchen tap came off in my hands the first week.

How can this be?

The men who built this hotel probably never had electricity or running water in their own homes or villages.

A lock on the refrigerator?? Must be for during the fast of Ramadan.

Most people who visit are astonished at the lovely space. A Filipino man said the kitchen counter could sleep two. A British man said, "I hope you realize that you are blessed!" An Australian woman and Arab man said our apartment is the nicest they've been in. So yes, we are very grateful. And even more grateful that we have been spared the guilt of choosing it for ourselves; thankfully, it was chosen for us.

"Here's where you're going to live for the next four months...hope you like it."