Rug Souqs

Rug Souqs

One thing about most houses here is that they are usually all tile, and no carpet. If there is carpet, it's usually in the form of a rug. We found a big row of souqs (I've seen it spelled "souk," but I'm not sure which is correct), or market-type stores, that sell rugs.

We didn't end up making a purchase because we wanted to keep our eyes open for better prices, but it was a fun morning just going around to see what was available, and see what we liked and didn't like. We're still not totally sure what makes a good rug. For example, is a rug higher quality if it has a soft-wool like back vs. a stiff back? Who knows. :) If you know, let us know!

We loved these carpets. This was a 2x3 meter one. And you can get this foam padding underneath so that they are nice and squishy when you walk on them.

The kids loved these stores, too ... maybe a little to much!

Can you sense a pattern in the rugs we liked? 

Yep, we like red.

Very detailed. Many of these rugs were made in Belgium, Persia, or Afghanistan.

We're looking for more rug souqs in town to compare prices with, but haven't found any yet. So we'll just have to enjoy our cold, tiled floors for a bit longer. :)  You can barter here, and we were usually able to get the store to come down on a price by 200-300 riyals (~$100) dollars. 

Our House 

Like I mentioned earlier, houses here do not typically have carpet. They are all tile/marble-floored with rugs. Because it's so dusty here, our house collects dust bunnies like crazy. After I sweep them all up, two or three days later, it looks like I never swept in the first place. And it probably doesn't help here that houses are so poorly insulated from the outside. 

Our front door has huge gaps in it that you can see through to outside. 

 And the exhaust fans in our bathrooms also have gaps in it that lead to outside:

That means that our kids "get to" go around and pick up all the dust bunnies in the corners to earn money for doing extra chores.

And here's a picture of our guest bathroom, for good measure. We have our own bidet! Since we obviously  don't use it, Nathan wanted to tell the kids to just use it as a little sink, but I quickly vetoed that idea. :) 

Most bidets have a little spray hose attached to the wall. I'm glad ours doesn't because our kids would probably find it too fun not to use.

Around Town

Here's a store we drove past (notice the construction barriers? These are all over town).

Some stores have Arabic-only signs. Others have a combo of both English and Arabic, which is helpful.

 I think they meant "Turkish" barber. :) 

This is a common sight driving around. Yep, even in the middle of the city. You never know when you might need to transport your camels.

And just for good measure, here's Sam's "dragon face." Doesn't that just scream "dragon?" I can't help but laugh when he does this--especially when he shows us his dragon claws. Show me sassy, Sam!