Uniquely Yemen

Four days ago, the plans were different. The plans were to spend even more of my days off lazing around in Dubai. The plan was to enjoy the sun, enjoy the post-ramadanal bliss of being able to eat and drink in public again. The plan was to certainly not visit the home of kidnapping, terror, and embassy bombings. Four days ago, I was beginning to enjoy these said plans at the pool with Miguel, my very good friend from Portugal, who, having the same days off as me, mentioned that he was going to Yemen to explore the worlds oldest continuously inhabited city, Sana'a.

Sana'a (or صنعاء for your linguistical types) was first built in 200BC and is now listed as a World Heritage Site, protected by UNESCO. It is the capital city of Yemen, and home to over 2 million people. It is situated 2,200m above sea level and is a photojournalists dream setting for images to send straight to National Geographic. Being of the photographical persuasion myself, I was able to capture some amazing happy-snaps to add to my bulging collection of World Explorations.

Miguel had wanted to visit Yemen for many years , after reading a book back in the early 90's about a woman and her daughters who got captured there. I guess, not hoping for the same misfortune himself, the book must have instead captured his imagination and his desire to visit outwayed the recent unsettled times in this city on the Arabian Peninsula. Sick of spending so much time in the UAE on my own days off (being stuck on the ground because of my surgery has meant I have not been able to use all of my recent days off to their full potential), and knowing that Adrian had no desire to explore this region, I decided to join Miguel in the adventure of a world I would never imagine coming to had I not been living in the Middle East. Never would I have thought to go there myself, if it wasn't for the Portuguese Explorer, I would still be none the wiser!

Once we had arrived in Sana'a, the realisation that this was a country full of the friendliest Arab people you could imagine, made me feel a little sad that the rest of the world would never experience their hospitality and kindness due to the small number of extremists who cause every Travel Advisory to scream at you not to visit. Not to say that we became nonchalant about our personal safety while we were there, we definately didn't feel that we had thrown ourselves into a melting pot of disaster either.

We checked into the Burj Al Salam Hotel, a newly converted 8 storey historic building in Old Sana'a, and of course, me being me, managed to straight away, lock us inside our room. Miguel doubled over in fits of laughter at the thought I had in fact kidnapped us in our own hotel room, I explained that this was perhaps going to be the first of several minor mishaps (they are always only ever minor mishaps) caused by me along the way. Unsure of exactly how I locked us in, we began banging on the door to alert housekeeping we were stuck! Thankfully it was only 10 minutes of lost time before the Intrepid Journey really began, but it was decided that from now on Miguel would be in charge of the key!

The Lonely Planet guidebook explains that Old Sana'a is best explored by foot (which was a relief as we refused to hop in a taxi that was driven by an 11 year old boy, who couldnt actually reach the pedals without standing off the seat). We also read that you should meander among the souqs (markets) and get lost in the streets to really experience the Yemeni way of life. No guidebook needs to tell me to get lost, as despite my best instincts, I usually need no assistance in finding the wrong way around a city! As always though, I am quite happy to blame the map we were given. I am not sure why they bothered to create one, it didnt have any street names, it had approximately TWO landmarks that we could recognise, and in the middle, a jumble of lanes and alleyways that not even the locals could pinpoint where we were!

We watched gaggles of abaya's (the black veiled women) haggle over the best of the honey coated Dates. We watched solitary men try to sell us their finest Jimbaya (the Arabian hooked dagger that is tucked into their belt, used for traditional dancing and decoration). We watched the cheekiest children play in the streets; these same children who then invited us to play darts with them on the side of the road.

The following day we journied into the nearby mountain areas to experience the village life of these people. Already altitudinally very high in Sana'a, the altimeter peaked at 3,000m above sea level in the village of Kawkaban. If you are not sure of the effects this has on your body, climb to the top of Mt Cook in New Zealand, which is only 700m higher than where we were in Yemen. It is by no means the highest area in the world, but difficult to take a deep breath all the same! We visited Wadi Dhahr to the Imam's Palace (the religious leader) which is perched on top of a rock like a black and white mushroom. We walked around the old Yemeni Jewish village of Thula, which still housed these people until they were kicked out of the country by Islamic tribes in 2007. We ate lunch (a term to be used very loosely) at a Tourist House in Shabam which consisted of bowls of local delights. Potatoes with rice, yum. Vegatables with rice, yum. Buckwheat and Chive cold omelette, not so yum. Lamb shins snapped to expose the bone marrow and then boiled in a big pot, wrong.com!

Our Uniquely Yemen adventure was amazing. It was spontaneous, a little risky, but overall one of the most wonderful experiences I could have imagined. Being able to explore with Miguel was certainly a highlight which proved constantly hilarious and I am grateful for his insistance that he wanted to go despite all the signs pointing otherwise. Rest assured though, I have drawn the line at Yemen on the terror-o-meter. The Flying Kiwi has no plans on a trip to Iraq, Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan, however I won't say no to visiting other places in the Middle East if the opportunity came up!