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The Chedi Hotel in Muscat, Oman, December 2008.

The pool by the sea by night (click on pictures to enlarge). Camera Sigma DP1. For location, see Google Panoramio. 8 MByte picture.

Over the past ten years many luxurious hotels have been built in the The Middle East but so far, none have the tranquil atmosphere of the Chedi Hotel in Muscat.

It resembles a Moorish Palace like the Alhambra in Granada. Dominant colours are white (plaster), dark grey (floor) and brown colours (wood work, furniture, carpets).

It has been built on Feng Shui principles, most important is the orientation in the landscape. The entrance has a pond with reets and big limestone boulders which still have the original rough features as if they just broke off a rock face, like a natural boulder.

Big jars, made of wood or earth ware, dominate. One had a kitten which I discovered after I saw the mother cat jumping out.

A garden stroll at nigh is my favourite. It takes you along the ponds, fountains, palm trees and plants, illuminated dimly. The warm desert night with the salty and humid smell coming of the sea, the Gulf of Oman, creates a dreamy Arabian nights atmosphere.

The Chedi is an upper end tourist resort hotel and tries to avoid business travellers by keeping the rates high for single bookings.

The Chedi is part of DHM Hotels, see http://www.ghmhotels.com/ , which is a chain of luxurious resort hotels in Asia. Best known are two hotels on Bali, the Legian and the Club at the Legian, and on the Malaysian island of Langkawi, the Datai and the Adaman.

The pool by the sea by night (click on pictures to enlarge). Camera Sigma DP1.

Beach restaurant. Camera Sigma DP1.

Walk way on the beach. Camera Sigma DP1.

Same by night. Camera Sigma DP1.

The Chedi garden with ponds, palm trees and fountains.

The Chedi, main hall

The Chedi, large wooden vases. In 2005, a kitten was hiding in the middle vase.

The ornaments are very simples, basically large wooden vases [1], large jars [1] [1], fireplace bowls [1] and rough branches [1] [1] .

Court yard. Camera Sigma DP1.

Court yard. Camera Sigma DP1.

Bowl with charcoal, on fire. Camera Sigma DP1.

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