In reply to:
Does no-one have a guest room anymore?
Guest room is another of those expressions that causes misunderstandings if you translate it literally into Indonesian. Ruang tamu is the literal translation. By the way,tamu can mean guest or visitor. How would AWADers like to explain the difference between a guest and a vistor?
The ruang tamu is an area at the front of the house where one receives visitors or guests; you may have to go through a door to the main house, or the wall may only come three quarters of the way across the house. Sleeping arrangements are somewhat more haphazard. Guests or visitors stopping over tend to just either share someone else's bed (fully clothed I hasten to add before we descend to the gutter) or sleep on the floor. Space is at a premium in most Indonesian houses and so the idea of having a special room kept for guests to sleep in is totally impracticable.
Bingley
