Yemen

So how did my friends and I end up on a holiday in Yemen you ask?  That is the same thing we were wondering.  Basically we arrived to the Riyadh airport ready for a trip to Eritrea and they said the flight from San'a, Yemen to Asmara, Eritrea was cancelled but we could go to Yemen and spend one night and day there and then catch the first available flight to Asmara.  We were ready to start vacation even if it was in Yemen!  And as it turned out we spent 2 nights/2 days there.  It was actually a really lovely weekend in Yemen.  I would have had no other reason to play in Yemen but would actually recommend it to others.  I would probably not, however, recommend flying Yemen Air.

So on the first morning when I told the hotel concierge that i wanted to go for a walk around town he said "why", I gave a blank stare, and he said "you know there is a war out there?"  and then proceeded to shuffle me out of the hotel for a walk.  Funny guy.  We were staying in San'a the capital and from our hotel we could see the Presidential palace which was recently bombed by protesters and left the president burned who sought treatment in neighboring Saudi Arabia.  There was a lot of security.  On the way from the airport to the hotel, about a 40 min ride, we went through about 10 check points or road blocks, passing military who looked like kids holding automatic riffles their cheeks full of leafy stimulants that grow wild in Yemen.  But other than all this, really Yemen felt very safe.  We were told that there is still fighting at night, however.

A guy from the hotel took us all around the old town, one of the oldest towns on the Arabian Peninsula.  Apparently the Arabic language was started in Yemen.  We went to an old little mosque where old men sit around reading from the Qu'ran all day.  These books are huge and beautiful and they just lounge around getting in touch with Allah throughout the entire day.  And even though I was wearing an abaya and head scarf two people stopped to ask if I was actually Muslim or not.  Eeks.  This guy took us everywhere around Old Town.  I got dressed up as a typical Yemen woman and Yemen man!  Fun times!  Also it was really nice in the market area where none of the men really paid us much attention, they weren't trying to sell us stuff or yelling for us, just going about their business.  It probably helped that the two friends I was with kept being mistaken for Yemeni Women....our taxi driver later said he was wondering what blondie was doing with a couple of Yemeni women.  It was also interesting that really there were very few women on the streets period.  I hear they are just meant to be at home making food and tending to the family. We visited the 5th largest Mosque in the world.  It is very new and beautiful.  There was pretty high security to get into this area because it is very close to the palace.  The Yemen guy who was showing us around for the day interestingly was openly against the current president in Yemen.  He said he's been president for several decades just like many other rulers in the Arab world and that is why Yemen is angry and want him gone, they need a new more moderate president.  We were really surprised that he could talk so openly about this, especially with foreigners.  Also since in other countries in this part of the world people die or go to jail for saying or thinking such things.  Oh actually as a side note, a friend of a friend who is a Saudi citizen sent a joking text message about the president of KSA to a friend and apparently the police came to her house and she hasn't been heard from since.  But ya in Yemen you can tell the president to his face you don't like what he's doing and nothing will happen, so we hear.  We only really chatted with one guy in Yemen who was on the side of the President.  But he too chatted up politics with us.

It was really nice to be in Yemen with friends who speak Arabic as they were my translators!  Yay!  But some people knew English as well.  Everyone was so friendly and accommodating to us.  The tour guide from the hotel said he hadn't taken anyone around for a tour of town in 4 months, but really think about what's been going on there the last 4 months.  I guess other travelers who transit in San'a don't leave the hotel?  But that sounds boring!  Especially when Yemen is so lovely!  We also went to a canyon outside of town where there was this beautiful castle.

Also the gas stations were out of gas.  Petrol is only sold on the black market and when the government decides to sell it at the stations.  There were lines of 100s of cars parked for days surrounding the gas stations.  At most gas stations the traffic was actually rerouted to drive on the side of oncoming traffic because the cars were stacked up 3 or 4 rows of cars in long long lines, filling one side of the highway. 

It seemed like a very laid back culture.  Keep in mind I am comparing it to Saudi Arabia.  But really there were women in the restaurants smoking shisha with their head scarves off like it was no big deal.  One there is no shisha in Saudi, and two women would never take off their head scarves in public unless shielded by a huge movable wall (this is how they eat at restaurants).  And the politics seem laid back too, freedom to talk about it and debate it without fear of persecution, well except now, since there is a war going on.  Ok I don't know, it just felt more free than it is in Saudi Arabia.  It was a lovely couple of days and we still had a big trip in Eritrea to look forward to as well!