October 31st - November 13th, Yemen

October 31st
Up far too early, to the airport, onto a delayed flight and several hours later we arrived in Sana'a, Yemen. A short taxi ride brought us to the Felix Arabia Hotel on the edge of Old Sana'a and by mid morning we were checked in.
Yemen - a little known Middle Eastern country bordering Saudi Arabia in the north and Oman to the east. Sana'a, however, is closer to Africa than either of these 2 countries and certain African influences can be witnessed here. Sana'a has been around since biblical times (Old Testament). It boasts of being the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world (along with Damascus and various other Middle Eastern cities admittedly). It was exciting to be here - and we immediately set off into the sun and into the midst of the old centre. Sitting at over 2000 metres the sun was cooler - but still able to burn.

The old town was incredible. Apart from the confused mass of electrical wires overhead and the presence of a few cars and bikes in the tiny cobbled streets, the town had the appearance of being unchanged for centuries. Arabian women covered from head to foot in black discreetly wandered the town busily bargaining in head scarf shops. The majority of the men were dressed in white robes, headdress, jacket and a large knife tucked into a belt at their front. The children tore around the streets often kicking a football and at other times relentlessly screaming.
The buildings looked like they were out of an ancient picture book. Made of muck and straw and stone the walls seemed to wobble uncertainly upwards. Misshapen windows randomly appeared. Little alleys sneaked off left and right in a maze-like fashion. It was wonderful simply walking around. We eventually came to the centre - and the market. Spices and Shisha water pipes and golden lamps lined the stalls. We sat down to eat in a tiny little room in the eating quarter and were served a great kebab with freshly made bread and a sauce. Delicious.

The people were very friendly - we were welcomed to Yemen at every turn. 'Where are you from?' and then, 'Welcome to Yemen'. One man who introduced himself as Mohammed invited us into his shop for tea. We were also introduced for the first time to Qat. Chewing Qat is a national pastime amongst the Yemini men. Everything shuts down in the afternoon and the men all gather in various shops, homes, alleyways or wherever they can find a quiet spot and chat and chew qat. Qat is essentially just a bunch of green leaves. These are stuffed into one side of your mouth and gently chewed. If chewed long enough then a mind altering affect results - not unlike the affects of drinking alcohol. As alcohol is prohibited in Yemen - this is obviously the alternative. It is banned in most countries - although not the UK interestingly.

So, we chatted and chewed. It was pretty foul actually and just left a mushy green residue in the mouth for ages afterwards. Oh, and no side affects sadly.

After we bid Mohammed farewell we passed some mosques and eventually found a Yemini home the owners of which invited us up to the roof. From there we gazed over the old town - the city where time has appeared to stand still and watched as the sun set behind the hills beyond the big mosque at the back end of town.
Some photos of the day:

Yemeni man

Marsha in Sanaa

Sanaa from our hotel roof at sunset

Sanaa at sunset

Mosque in Sanaa

Old Sanaa from the roof

View from the hotel of Old Sanaa

A fantastic day was finished off with various breads and hommus and other middle eastern dips back at the hotel.

November 1st
We spent what seemed like about an hour in a taxi driving around New Sana’a before we miraculously managed to find what we had been searching for – Eternal Travel – our tour agency. We spent a fair while there sorting out the remaining 12 days in Yemen before returning to Old Sana’a and just browsing the town again. Again we had lunch in the eating quarter – this time upstairs in somebody’s house, or so it seemed. The streets were brimming with interest. We sat just inside the old walled gate to the town and just watched and took photos. People came up and begged us for photos of themselves and then stood to attention in rigid poses.

A lovely day again, this time we spent the sunset on the roof of our hotel sharing a bottle of – well, coke – or something like that… Very unadventurously we ate again at the hotel.

November 2nd/3rd
Marsha and I had hired a driver/guide for 2 days. We set off in his big 4 wheel drive machine to Manakha – a small village high in the hills. The drive took over 3 hours and yet it was only 90km. We kept on stopping for photos of the beautiful Arabian landscape. Dry, mountainous and with clusters of buildings perched on hill-tops – the scenery was superb.

The drive to manakah

Yemeni policeman and Marsha

Us on the drive to Manakah

Yemen landscape

Yemeni women

We stopped at a little town and were inundated with requests for photos. We followed one Yemini man into his shop whereupon he proudly displayed what can only be called a shrine to Saddam Hussein. Posters of him were stuck on all 4 walls. Err, righto, we briefly took his picture and made a hasty departure. Others were just pleased to see an unveiled woman - as this photo (1 of many) shows:

Yemeni local enjoys seeng a western woman

On arrival at the Al Hajjarah hotel we had lunch and then had a wander to the next village and around the local area. An excitable bunch of boys followed us around for a while. And, as always, we were welcomed to Yemen by everyone we met. The views were lovely – Arabian hills and mountains stretching off into the distance as far as the eye (and haze) would allow. Unfortunately the villages themselves were swamped in litter – the perennial Asian problem….

Arabian scene in Manakah

Yemeni boys.

Yemeni children.

Proud Yemeni boys

Sunset in Manakah

Street in Manakah

We watched the sun set and then returned to the hotel for dinner. Afterwards, the entertainment really began. A group of 4 men sat in the corner and played some Arabian music whilst a couple of others dressed in their robes, holding a large knife and a gun each proceeded to perform a very energetic dance for us. It was apparently the dance performed by men at a wedding.

As is often the case in these situations, they unfortunately felt that audience participation was necessary and dragged myself and a couple of others up to join in. Marsha, unusually, stayed seated. I flapped my arms about and twisted and twirled as best I could. Wrongly mistaking my enthusiasm for competence, my Arabian dance partner assumed I had mastered the intricacies of the dance and handed me the big knife. Now, I’m not completely in control on a dance floor at the best of times, especially when wielding a large knife whilst twisting and turning in close proximity to others with knives and guns as well… It was a relief once the music stopped.

But it didn’t end there. More dances were performed and these were followed by various feats of strength and agility. I tried some of them as best I could. One involved wrapping a musket type gun up, over, between and around your whole body without letting go. I ended up splayed on the floor, legs, arms and gun gracelessly tied in knots behind my neck before I eventually gave up. The last Arabian game they provided for us was nothing more than an opportunity to slap each other as hard as possible.

After a very interesting evening, and slightly bruised, we headed to bed. The next morning we awoke to the sun shining on the mountains and village perched on a hill across the valley, visible from our window. The car took us to a nearby village from which we then spent the morning walking (with a guide) across the hills and skirting mountains to the village we had seen from the bedroom.

Mosque on the hill above Manakah

Yemeni children

Marsha looking at the view

Arabian landscape

As well as the views we were entertained by the various people we met. Goat herders, children walking to school, veiled women doing farmwork in the midday sun and a family of breadmakers. We spent a half hour with the family. The father looked like Zeus and was taking care of the goats. The mother and sons were sorting the wheat by throwing it into the air. As they did this they chanted a song of sorts – not unlike the ‘Hi Ho’ song by the dwarves in Snow White. They insisted on loads of photos and we have since posted the prints to them.
Here they are:

The farming family

Marsha helps to sort the wheat...

We were met at the village by our driver and lots of villagers all of whom apparently had things to sell. ‘You look – me happy. You buy – me happy. You not buy – me happy’. So we looked and left empty-handed, and to be perfectly honest as we departed I had the distinct impression that actually they weren’t that happy…!

More bread and various dips for lunch – we are piling on the pounds here – and then we set off back to old Sana’a. The drive back was very enjoyable again – just watching the desert landscape rush by. We made it just in time for sunset on the roof again.

November 4th
Our photos needed saving onto disc and so we had a walk through new Sana’a for the first time. In the photo shop we met a man who proudly showed us the photo of himself shaking hands with the president of Yemen. Via some other poor customer who was hauled into the conversation to translate, he invited us to his village to share in some sort of celebration. Sadly, it was over 100km away and we were off the next day.

Various things were bought and a visit to the bank and lunch back in the middle of the old Souq. We stopped to take pictures of camels which were hanging around the centre. We enjoyed a cup of tea with a Yemini man overlooking the main gate. Marsha stopped various people in their tracks and took countless photos of them. Each time it happened she would find herself being urged to take more and more photos as people swarmed around.

Marsha in Sanaa

The main gate to old Sanaa

Work break in Sanaa

Yemeni Man

Sanaa street scene

Camel in Sanaa

Hmmmm

Later on as the sun went down we found ourselves back at the rooftop of the house we had visited on our 2nd day. It felt a little repetitive watching the sun fall again behind the old town – but the place really does have to be seen to be believed.

November 5th
We were flying to Seiyun – in the east of Yemen. At the airport we tried to change some dollars with the exchange office. The man politely explained that they had no Yemini Riyals. I couldn’t help feeling that, over time, this might have a reasonably negative affect on his business venture. As we departed some time later he was still there patiently turning down customers and obviously waiting for a rich commuter to enter Yemen desperately intent on changing dollars to some obscure currency the office happened to stock.

In Seiyun we showed our police permit forms that we had got set up the previous evening. We needed to inform the police of our exact movements. What we hadn’t realised was that everywhere we went in the town we had to have an armed guard follow us. He sat with us at lunch with his gun on his lap pointing at Marsha. The food was good and cheap too – however, I was just pleased to make it through the meal without Marsha getting shot in the leg.

I had a haircut – the barber took out a slit-throat razor to finish the job at the end – Marsha took photos – and our armed guard stood by impatiently. Afterwards one of the other customers said that he would like to play a recorder type musical instrument thing he had in his bag for us. Okay we said. Before playing he then demanded an up front payment the equivalent of which would probably have enabled us to see the London Philharmonic Orchestra perform at the Albert Hall. I suggested that his price was perhaps a little optimistic and offered him something in the region of $1. He angrily refused and stuck to his initial price and so we left the irate musical genius in the barber shop and walked off – armed guard in tow.

The palace was shut, Tarim and all its museums were shut and so we had an hour to kill before we set off to Shibam – so I wrote what you have just read…

Shibam is known in Yemen as the ‘Manhattan of the Desert’. It is a centuries old town sitting on the site of previous towns in the middle of nowhere. The buildings are made entirely of mud and straw with a few sticks thrown in for good measure. What is amazing though, is that the buildings reach 9 and 10 storeys tall. These ancient skyscrapers are clustered together so closely that there is barely enough room to walk in between them at times – especially when there are several goats coming the other way.

5 of us wandered around together – us, the armed guard and 2 Japanese tourists (who curiously claimed to be Indian) who had been put with us to save on armed guard resources no doubt. It was fascinating to see this historical town – now virtually unlived in. Nothing much had changed in hundreds of years – still no glass windows - just holes in the buildings, uneven walls and walkways and a variety of farm animals scuttling back and forth. After an hour or so the little group that we were, squeezed back into the taxi - gun and all - and drove across the wasteland opposite. From there up a little litter ridden path we were afforded a great sunset view of Shibam from high up. There was even another armed guard to keep our one company. We all just sat and watched as the sun set on a surreal looking skyline.

Building in Shibam

Shibam (Manhatten of the desert)

Shibam.

Marsha and Shibam

Shibam, Yemen

Shibam

November 6th/7th
We met our driver/guide in the morning and drove from Seiyun, via Shibam again, towards the south coast of Yemen. Stopping on the way we visited Shibam briefly again, a posh hotel made entirely of mud (and completely deserted), and also at the police station to pick up the armed guard from yesterday.

Marsha and our armed guard

From there we made our way to the village of Khurayba. The road thread its way through Wadi Doan. (A wadi is a canyon or gorge). The steep and deep wadi was stunning, and made all the more so by small mud villages clinging to rocky outcrops within it. Our driver was made to stop on countless occasions and the poor armed guard felt compelled to follow us out of the car into the heat of the day each time as we took photos of the scenery. Every time we turned a corner the view seemed to improve as yet another ancient mud village appeared clutching impossibly to the rocky sides of the wadi.

Desert road

Yemeni footy pitch

At Khurayba the hotel owner named Abdul took us on a short walk into the neighbouring village. We felt ever so slightly conspicuous walking in with an armed guard to the rear and Abdul clutching his big gun leading the way through groups of little old ladies in veils with small children running around. The main site in the next door village of Arubat was the large deserted house in which the family of Osama Bin Laden used to live. Happily, it looked empty and also in a fair state of disrepair.

Abdul then felt in need of a cup of tea and so we joined him at a place in the middle of the village – along with countless other onlookers – and drank tea and played dominoes.
We were delayed on our walk back by several camels on the side of the road that required attention and photographing – not that there was anything to do once we returned to the hotel – our armed guard had relaxed into a chair which meant we couldn’t really go anywhere – and, of course, Yemen being dry meant that we were hardly going to wander off and find a cozy little bar someplace.

Dinner was very ordinary and so we arranged with Abdul a time in the morning at which to meet so that we could be guided and climb to the top of the wadi that towered above the hotel and then went to bed.

On the walk up the wadi in the morning we saw the sunrise. It was great having the extent of the canyon gradually revealed as both the sun and us rose higher into the sky. Abdul posed for photos with his gun and then about half way up muttered something about chewing qat and decided to end the walk. Sadly, despite our protestations, he would go no further and so we returned.
Some photos were taken whilst on our all too brief walk:

Playing with guns

He served us breakfast that was even worse than dinner back at the hotel and then felt the need to double the original bill for staying the night. We left in a huff and it kind of lasted all day – well for me it did anyway. Because, half an hour down the road we happened upon the Hayd al Jazeel Hotel that is perched on the rim of the wadi. The view from it stretched for miles in both directions deep into the wadi. Steep rocky walls rising out of a green bed with little villages dotted around. It was stunning – and, annoyingly, thanks to Abdul’s inflation, was the same price as where we’d stayed in Khurayba. If you are ever in this location, wave to Abdul on the way past and stay half an hour down the road (or up the road I should say) at this hotel. Here's the view:

We carried on. The desert like Arabian landscape passed by out of the window. We occasionally slowed for camels as they crossed the road in front of us, but finally arrived in Al Mukalla whereupon our driver managed to somehow talk us into giving him some money for his hotel. The town was on the coast and so we wandered along the Corniche as the sun set.

Sunset in Mukalla

Sounds nice? Litter was everywhere and stank. We spotted a couple of rats nearby us and so we cut across a yard only to have nuts thrown at us by small boys. Having had about enough of the day we popped into a reasonable restaurant and paid over the odds for the pleasure of eating by ourselves.

November 8th – 13th
5 days and nights camping on Socotra (sometimes Soqotra) Island. An hour’s flight from mainland Yemen this little known island sits alone in the Indian Ocean. Through the internet a tour with a 4 by 4 and driver and 2 touring Slovenian girls had been arranged on our arrival on the island.

Throughout the 5 days we visited several great beaches. We swam and snorkelled in turquoise waters that lapped up against white powdery sand beaches. Huge dunes reached into the cloudless blue sky behind. We camped on some of these beaches, drifting off to sleep to the sound of the gentle waves and to the stars above. We also camped high up a wadi having trekked there and then the following night set up the tents deep in the wadi on a dry river bed.

The days, looking back, kind of gelled into 1 long, lazy, sun, sand and sea break from civilisation. On arrival we picked up some food at a market and then set off into the island. The island is certainly not deserted; however, the Soctran islanders tended to populate the 2 or 3 villages that dotted the coast. In fact, the few people we did see were either thumbing lifts or goat herders in the middle of nowhere.

The 2nd day on the island sums up the 5 days nicely. We awoke on the beach, the early morning light filtering into our tent. Turning our backs to the sea, we climbed a little way up the dune behind us to see the sun rise. I then went on up to the top (a huge amount of effort is contained in those 8 short words!). The view was gorgeous from the top and I sat and admired it for a while before running down for breakfast. We washed the dishes in the little stream running by – the same one in which Marsha had seen snakes in the night before.

Before heading off we had a quick swim in the sea. The short journey to Dalhimry along the coast was spent looking out of the window. Huge vultures circled overhead. At our beach destination we spent the rest of the morning in the water snorkelling and reading in the shade. Marsha, underwater, pointed out the biggest Moray Eel I or she have ever seen before – its head was bigger than mine. We had the beach to ourselves save for a couple of Czech fellas who were there.

Reluctantly we left and drove to the bottom of Homhill Wadi whereupon we hopped out, slapped loads of sunscreen on and climbed up to the top of the gorge. It took a couple of hours and the trail took us through some tree dominated scenery. It is difficult to get trees that look different from others but these species managed it. The short fat trees with tiny twig branches sitting next to the Dragons Blood trees that look upside down. The latter give off a sap that is used in perfume and for dye. At the top we made camp and watched as the sun set. Later, after food, we lay down and watched the stars overhead.

The other days were much like that one. We found more great beaches and explored new wadis. We took a boat trip for an hour up the coast and found 1 beach completely deserted. The white sand devoid of footsteps and the blue water was beautiful.

But, sadly the 5 days camping had to end. We flew back to Sana’a on the 13th in the morning having had a very relaxing and sun soaked 5 days. Back in Sanaa we met up with our tour organiser for lunch and she kindly took us around the huge modern Mosque in the city afterwards. There was enough time in the evening left to have a last wander around old Sanaa before heading back to the Arabia Felix again. Photos of the island:

Egyptian Vulture in Socotra

The 4 of us

Dragons Blod trees

Bath time in Socotra

Campsite on the river bed

Rock pool in the wadi

Dragons Blood trees

Sunset in Socotra

Our boat, our beach

Marsha on a beach in Socotra

Dolphins in Socotra

November 14th
And so we leave Yemen. An expensive place to get to and to travel about in – due to various travel restrictions and lack of competition. But, absolutely stunning – from its old capital Sana’a to the desolate and beautiful beaches of Socotra and the friendliness of the Yemeni people.

We flew to Sharjah again – transiting for the night. A chance to do some washing (at the most expensive laundry in the Middle East as it turns out) and some internet stuff.