Sanaa, Yemen Travel Blogs

Turkish Bath
Dec 19, 2005

... , "I had a great time, thank you!". Okey dokey, well I guess this is the end for the time being. Insha'allah, I will return to Yemen in the new year as I'm now determined to crack this pain-in-the-ass language now that I've started. I've had a great 10 ...

The Big Match: Yemen vs. India!
Nov 17, 2006 (15 photos)

... more enjoyable to watch had I been able to vent my frustration with some good old English chanting - unfortunately, this being Yemen and thus somewhat conservative, I hadn't had the bottle prior to the game to ask my teacher for the Arabic translations to ...

My Yemenia article...
Dec 17, 2005

... to be published. Apparently, Yemenia have contacts with my school for any pieces of student work that reflect positive Western experiences in Yemen. They publish them in their magazine so as to boost tourism in the country. So, if any of you happen to ...

Back in Yemen... finally!
Mar 26, 2006

... compelled for now to purchase Season 1 having missed the second half of the series on TV because of my first trip to Yemen. Yesterday I joined a gym called 'The Officers' Club'. It's really expensive in Yemeni terms at $50 per month, and upon entry I ...

Yemeni reaction to Saddam's death sentence
Nov 23, 2006 (6 photos)

... his favourite word). Well anyway, I think this newspaper is fairly representative of the general sentiment of people on the streets of Yemen to Saddam's death sentence. When they look at it they see only the sad demise from great strength of an Arab ...

Hangin' with Royalty
Nov 5, 2005

... and had apparently got bored of being waited on by her many servants back in Saudi (as you do, obviously), so had come to Yemen some years ago to earn an honest living. Well, whatever, she was just stunning - rather upsettingly so actually, as I have a ...

Ramadan cometh... bringeth the hunger pangs
Sep 26, 2006

... it's more likely that a close result would have led to violence. Either way, I'm disappointed... both for the people of Yemen who deserve better than a corrupt dictator in all but name, and for myself because I kinda wanted the excitement of civil unrest! ...

Ramadan endeth... cometh my pithy retrospective
Oct 24, 2006

... itself a sacrifice of sorts I guess, but it sure made Ramadan easier. Had I been back in the West (or probably anywhere but Yemen) and had to maintain a 9-5 schedule, I'd have probably not made it. I also have to confess that I had to break my fast for ...

Election fever - Middle East style!
Sep 19, 2006 (10 photos)

... 'democracy' Middle Eastern style. It ain't just the weather that's hot here right now folks! A quick politics lesson: Yemen is a 'democracy', yet the rampantly corrupt President Saleh has held office for 28 years, receiving 96.5% of the vote at the last ...

Catch-up
Nov 26, 2005

Hello all, Not too much to report really, but just thought I'd check in. Actually - shock horror - since returning to class after Eid, and with the impetus of a new teacher, I've become a hard-working student. This is in stark contrast to the lay-about ...

Orientation
Oct 16, 2005 (26 photos)

... my MA and I figured learning it properly would boost my employment prospects to go with the International Relations Masters. So, I chose Yemen because it's cheap, it's non-Westernised so you pick up the language quicker as you're forced more to use it, ...

Observations
Oct 18, 2005

Evening all, Can I first of all thank you for the many emails you have sent me. So many in fact that I'm going to have to break my promise to answer them individually this time, but please don't let that deter you from writing in the future. Okay, ...

Yemen...yeah mon...Yemen
Nov 8, 2008 (13 photos)

... this is the Yemen I wanted to visit.  Why?  When I told people (both you and others) that I planned to visit Yemen on vacation everyone was quizzical if not skeptical or concerned.  Even to many Arabs, Yemen is the black sheep of the Middle ...

BVAWT024 - OYSN
Oct 1, 2008

OYSN - Sanaa International Airport

Arabia Felix
Dec 28, 2006 (27 photos)

     Salaam Alaykum. Welcome to Yemen!  This is the greeting I received from the customs officer who stamped my visa when I arrived in this wonderful jewel of a country it seems the modern world has largely passed by.  Here in ...

Last day in Yemen
Dec 23, 2008 (3 photos)

... to Socotra island since it's so different from the mainland, but it really wasn't possible in my short time frame. Highlights of Yemen: 1. Watching the activity of old Sana'a, from the Taj Talha Hotel rooftop, from the top of Bab al-Yemen, and from ...

Back to Sana'a
Dec 21, 2008 (9 photos)

... her that I was fine.  I probably shouldn't have told her before the trip about the tourist kidnapping incidents in Yemen.  I also updated my travel blog and uploaded some photos onto Picasaweb.  I checked the United flights and the Dubai- ...

Happy Valentine's Day, suckers!
Feb 14, 2007

... be happy with a box of chocolates. Fortunately, neither of these things are going to happen to me this Valentine's Day because Yemen is one country that this humiliating debacle has yet to penetrate.  I am free at last.  Thank God! Happy ...

Hello from Yemen
Feb 13, 2007

... 's sanity.  The plane suddenly went into a nosedive, and we landed. (Ooops,almost missed the landing strip!  Thud.) In Sanaa, I was lucky...an American woman who knew what she was doing took me under her wing and helped me ...

Climbing around in archaeological ruins is fun
Feb 16, 2007 (1 photos)

... any old ordinary village...this was the Jewish village.  Did you know that there used to be a sizeable Jewish community in Yemen?  Neither did I, but I think I can imagine. We took a taxi, who didn't know how to get through the surrounding ...

You know you're in Sanaa/Yemen when...
Feb 17, 2007 (10 photos)

... covered with long, messy fake fur.  (Why, though?) Yeah.  That's how you know you're in Sanaa.  Yemen is still (thankfully) quite conservative and old-fashioned, so Kim and her roomate posed as a married couple--and certainly bickered as ...

How to...
Feb 15, 2007 (1 photos)

... AND MATH. Off the books (and this is a rule of thumb for anywhere in the world, I'm not singling out dear Yemen)--make sure there's a cute girl with you.  I hate to be crude and chauvinist, but this probably actually works, no matter where ...

Yemen
Jun 23, 2007 (13 photos)

... . That afternoon. I got to the airport very early and boarded an Ethiopian air flight to Addis Ababa. My quick impression of Yemen- for what it's worth being there only a day and a half-is overall good. Yemen really is classic Arabia in the modern ...

Hikes in the hills
Aug 25, 2007

... works at the centre, to the mountains above Sanaa. We travelled to Shibam and Kawkabam, fortified mountain villages about 50km from Sanaa, where there was a very lively Friday market going on. After a short hike, we went on to a very impressive waterfall. ...

First week
Aug 21, 2007

... living in the heart of the Old Quarter. The ancient mud buildings are decorated with coloured-glass windows, white plasterwork and roof terraces. Yemen is so different from Syria - quite a bit poorer, for one thing. It is takin a bit of getting used to, ...

Hash House Harriers, Hotels and the Hadramawt
Aug 28, 2007

... of these rugged, lush outcrops of rock, dotted here and there with ancient abandoned villages and houses. The views over Sanaa were stunning too, though Ursula mentioned that twenty years ago, most of the urban sprawl that is cropping up daily outside the ...

Heraz mountains
Sep 7, 2007

... before I leave, then I will head back to Ursula's house. Tomorrow we are having lunch with Tim Mackingtosh-Smith, author of 'Yemen: Travels in Dictionary Land' - a really good book. On Sunday I will make a quick visit to Wadi Dhar to see the famous rock ...

Welcome to Tom's travel Blog
Aug 20, 2007

Tom is now in Sana'a. He is doing two weeks intensive Arabic and then is hoping to travel around. We were there in '83 to '84 - before Tom was born - so he is enjoying visiting places where his famly lived. Now over to Tom... Duncan Tom's Dad

First week
Aug 22, 2007

... a traditional Yemeni meal, salta, by my Adil, one of my teachers. Later, I will meet Abdullah, a Yemeni who livbes here in Sanaa and was one of Mum and Dad's first students at their language centre. After meals, and in fact much of the time, Yemenis chew ...

Qat and Conversation
Aug 23, 2007

... ;t help comparing it with Damascus, where I spent several amazing weeks last year. It is fair to say that Yemen is a lot poorer than Syria, and Sanaa lacks Damscus' coffee shops and nargileh bars, and general chicness. However, it is of course a very ...