Yemen Trip

[prasantrin]

I almost cancelled the Yemen portion of my trip, but one of the agencies I had contacted finally emailed back, and they were able to organize a private tour for me. It was a bit expensive, since I was solo, but it included a driver, and later included a guide (another story).

First stop, Sana'a and Old Sana'a. Let me first say that Yemeni drivers are crazy!! I can't imagine a tourist trying to drive around, no matter how proficient a driver s/he may be.

My guide took me around Old Sana'a. The buildings are all made of brick.

And in the souk, you can get your fill of whatever you need. For me, it was amber--some of these are plastic, but some are very good quality amber--like $4/gram amber.

I bought a necklace for my mother, and then the owner of the store got lunch for us--salta with two kinds of bread, and some kind of stewed beef.

Very tasty. I don't know where it was from, since we ate in the shop. But this was one of the best meals during the trip.

[Corinna Dunne]

Rona... you went! I hope it was all that you had hoped for. And it's great that you took some pics.

Could you give a bit more detail on your meal? I'm not familiar with salta... is it the green dish in your picture? And have you any recollection of what sort of spices or herbs were used in the beef stew?

The impromptu meal in the shop sounds cool. I love when spur of the moment things like that happen.

[docsconz]

Fascinating topic. I look forward to reading more about it. This is a part of the world that I would be very curious to explore though I don't see it happening for quite some time if ever. I may have to content myself with voyeuristically exploring it through your and other eyes, Rona!

[prasantrin]

A little more Yemen...

Around Old Sana'a, there are several traditional olive oil presses. I managed to get to three of them--I think there are 4 or 6?

The camel at the first press was on a break, but his owner showed me the blindfold the camel has to wear when operating the press.

The camel at the second press was also on a break. His owner was chewing qat, and he was chewing something, but I don't think it was qat.

The camel at the third press was working!

I didn't notice any oil, nor did I look in the press. These places stunk to high heavens, so I dared not get much closer. Ruined my appetite for dinner, I must admit.

The next morning I left for my tour. We were just going north of Sana'a--not too far north, though. We didn't go anywhere which would have been more than a few hours drive from Sana'a, so there was not much danger of running into rebels wanting to kidnap me.

I'm not sure where this was. I think it was Kawkaban.

We stopped for lunch in Shibam, which was different from the Shibam of skyscraper fame. I wasn't feeling very well, so I could eat very much at all. There was bread that was very much like roti/paratha, two kinds of rice (plain and with tomato, some kind of stewed meat, potatoes, and second from left was a yeasted honey "cake". It was the only thing I could really eat without feeling like puking. The food was actually quite good, it was just my tummy that was bad.

After lunch we were off on the long drive from Shibam to Manakha. Manakha is in a more mountainous area, but is still quite close to Sana'a.

I stayed at the Manakha Tourist Hotel, where we had dinner and watched a show with traditional Yemeni dancing and drumming.

I still wasn't feeling well, so I couldn't eat very much. There were eggs, potatoes, okra, two kinds of noodles--spaghetti and another noodle that reminded me of chow mein noodles, and I can't remember what else.

The guy dancing on the right was the owner of the hotel. He was a very friendly guy, and music and dancing were in his soul. He was so joyful it was almost contagious. There were a lot of people at the hotel that night, and many joined in on the dancing. There was a large group of Americans who were trying to pass themselves off as British. I think they though most Yemeni would be too naive to notice the different in accent, but my guide disagreed.

The next day we went to a few more sites, then back to Sana'a for lunch and back to my hotel. One of the most interesting things I saw was this:

This was in Manakha, I think, which was a pretty small place. What the hell was an Ikea truck doing in the middle of the Yemeni mountains, I wonder???

Lunch was at the Al-Doubai restaurant in Sana'a--it wasn't in Old Sana'a, so I couldn't tell you how to get there or where it was. Still not feeling well, still not eating much. But for about $10, we got a huge meal--two large fish smothered in spices and grilled, bread, vegetables, a dip made with tahini (if it was hummus, it was a very runny hummus) and other stuff I can't remember. What I could eat was very delicious, and this would have been the best meal in Yemen (had I been able to eat more).

If you'd like to see more scenic Yemen shots, I put some up on webshots (hope that link works). I'm not the best photographer, though, nor the best captionist.

I will get to questions in a bit, but first I must move on to Oman before I get too lazy to finish this.

Edited April 15, 2007 by prasantrin (log)

[insomniac]

A little more Yemen...

Around Old Sana'a, there are several traditional olive oil presses.  I managed to get to three of them--I think there are 4 or 6?

The camel at the first press was on a break, but his owner showed me the blindfold the camel has to wear when operating the press.

The camel at the second press was also on a break.  His owner was chewing qat, and he was chewing something, but I don't think it was qat.

The camel at the third press was working! 

I didn't notice any oil, nor did I look in the press.  These places stunk to high heavens, so I dared not get much closer.  Ruined my appetite for dinner, I must admit.

The next morning I left for my tour.  We were just going north of Sana'a--not too far north, though.  We didn't go anywhere which would have been more than a few hours drive from Sana'a, so there was not much danger of running into rebels wanting to kidnap me.

I'm not sure where this was.  I think it was Kawkaban.

We stopped for lunch in Shibam, which was different from the Shibam of skyscraper fame.  I wasn't feeling very well, so I could eat very much at all.  There was bread that was very much like roti/paratha, two kinds of rice (plain and with tomato, some kind of stewed meat, potatoes, and second from left was a yeasted honey "cake".  It was the only thing I could really eat without feeling like puking.  The food was actually quite good, it was just my tummy that was bad.

After lunch we were off on the long drive from Shibam to Manakha.  Manakha is in a more mountainous area, but is still quite close to Sana'a. 

I stayed at the Manakha Tourist Hotel, where we had dinner and watched a show with traditional Yemeni dancing and drumming.

I still wasn't feeling well, so I couldn't eat very much.  There were eggs, potatoes, okra, two kinds of noodles--spaghetti and another noodle that reminded me of chow mein noodles, and I can't remember what else.

The guy dancing on the right was the owner of the hotel.  He was a very friendly guy, and music and dancing were in his soul.  He was so joyful it was almost contagious.  There were a lot of people at the hotel that night, and many joined in on the dancing.  There was a large group of Americans who were trying to pass themselves off as British.  I think they though most Yemeni would be too naive to notice the different in accent, but my guide disagreed.

The next day we went to a few more sites, then back to Sana'a for lunch and back to my hotel.  One of the most interesting things I saw was this:

This was in Manakha, I think, which was a pretty small place.  What the hell was an Ikea truck doing in the middle of the Yemeni mountains, I wonder???

Lunch was at the Al-Doubai restaurant in Sana'a--it wasn't in Old Sana'a, so I couldn't tell you how to get there or where it was.  Still not feeling well, still not eating much.  But for about $10, we got a huge meal--two large fish smothered in spices and grilled, bread, vegetables, a dip made with tahini (if it was hummus, it was a very runny hummus) and other stuff I can't remember.  What I could eat was very delicious, and this would have been the best meal in Yemen (had I been able to eat more).

If you'd like to see more scenic Yemen shots, I put some up on webshots (hope that link works).  I'm not the best photographer, though, nor the best captionist. 

I will get to questions in a bit, but first I must move on to Oman before I get too lazy to finish this. 

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Rona, I am absolutely green with envy, fantastic photos, sorry you were feeling poorly........on a lighter note, are you sure they were a group of Americans? The chap seated to the right of the dancing hotel owner bears an unnerving resemblance to the blindfold-holding oil press worker...........

[docsconz]

Laudable job, Rona. Do you have any idea what kind of fish they were? They look to have been quite tasty.

[lexy]

Why do the camels wear blindfolds? Do they suffer from claustrophobia in the olive presses?

[prasantrin]

Why do the camels wear blindfolds? Do they suffer from claustrophobia in the olive presses?

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I'm not sure, but I think if the camels knew they were just going around in circles, they wouldn't move. The blindfold allows them to think they're actually going somewhere. I could be wrong, though...

Oh, I had thought the mills were grinding some kind of grain, but my guide said olives. Research has shown, however, that they grind sesame. As I said earlier, I didn't get close enough to look (the smell was overpowering!).

Do you have any idea what kind of fish they were? They look to have been quite tasty.

I asked, but no one could tell me, and I don't know enough about fish to even guess (except I know it wasn't salmon!). Most people in Yemen speak either no English or very basic English. My guide was fluent in both English and French, but not in fish names.

And it was very tasty. I could only eat a little, so I gave the rest to the driver to take home for his family. It would have been a shame to let it go to waste.

[Corinna Dunne]

Oh, I had thought the mills were grinding some kind of grain, but my guide said olives.  Research has shown, however, that they grind sesame.  As I said earlier, I didn't get close enough to look (the smell was overpowering!).

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That's interesting. Sesame seed is ground to make tahini which is an essential ingredient in hummus.