Constance Lodge Tsarabanjina

... I wasn't that interested in going there but had deferred to the guide's suggested itinerary. Later I wondered if he chose this as our starting point to make the hike a little easier for himself, with several hundred feet gained by riding the motorcycles on that initial stretch. We wandered through the village before starting our hike, and I marveled at the antique wooden doors with large latches, but now with an added padlock of some sort. Our ...

... after all, well, it was his home. He was a great guy, friendly, unassuming, and his English was better than most of the Yemenis I had met. He worked in Sana'a one day a week and said he didn't like the city. It was understandable why he would feel that way, living in a small, peaceful village with no traffic or noise (except from the mosques), far-reaching views and clean air. Just thinking about the comparison reduced the height of my first impression of Sana ...

... with the curved jambiyya (dagger) in each man's waistband, and a huge wad of qat in their cheek, looking like they had a golf ball in there. Qat is a mild stimulant that is deeply embedded in Yemeni's male culture, like the coca chewed in the Andes of South America. I had gone nearly 24 hours without an actual meal (only a few snacks in Dubai) so I stopped at Palestine Restaurant near Tahrir Square where I ordered some rice, a potato stew, and a bottle of ...

despite the many fears that resulted from civil disputes, yemen is definitely worth a visit. i see the backward way of life as refreshing and a good change from the fast paced way of life in other countries. and yes, a lot of its people are real and engaging

... desert climate in Seiyun. Normally, except during Eid, hundreds of fishermen go out in small boats everyday to catch fish. The town is surrounded by steep cliffs and stetches for miles along a mostly rocky beach with dark blue waters. While here Brian and I met some well educated college students who spoke fluent English. We enjoyed the evening talking and smoking a sheesha, waterpipe with flavored tobacco.

... So this slowed down our trip some, but we were grateful to have the policemen along. They also got a kick out of our disguises and they even gave us advice on how to improve it, telling us that we also needed some gloves and when we pull the flap down to cover our eyes, next time we can say that we are from Sana'a and no one would know the difference. We tried to explain to them that this was our original plan, but when you have police cars with ...

... je passe vers la piscine et je vois un groupe installé à une table. Du coup je m'installe et je retombe sur le même serveur qui m'avait dit qu'il fallait manger dedans. Apparemment les moustiques ont peur de l'eau, on peut manger au bord de la piscine mais pas sur la terrasse du restaurant....Donc, j'ai dîné au bord de la piscine et j'ai commandé un cocktail de crevettes, (2 dollars) et j'ai eu 1 crevette avec de la salade et une ...

... Mareb. Dés que tu sors de Sanaa, tous les mecs sont armés (même les gamins de 12 ans), je ne parle pas de la djambia, je parle de kalashnikov et autres engins du genre. La tenue officielle : la djambia pour la tradition, le kalash pour épater les filles... et le téléphone portable pour la modernité...il fonctionne même en plein désert. Alors le convoi, ce qui est étonnant, c'est que c'est notre bagnole qui a ouvert la marche et de temps ...

... the men wear the traditional all-in-one robe thing (thobe) with the janbia on the belt (that hooked-sword thing). People in the south also do not seem to chew qat or are at least not obsessed with it like in the north. There were also a lot more English-speakers among the southern people and they seemed a lot more educated generally. I guess all these differences are remnants of pre-unification. That Monday afternoon we headed by taxi to Shibam, a small (tiny actually) city of ...

... than 6pm. I've learnt to accept these things as par for the course out here but not so my German companions who at 6.02pm were already bemoaning the poor level of Yemen efficiency: "shiser, veyer is dee bas, das is just not good." Upon its arrival we were immediately disappointed by the standard of the bus having been promised a shiny new one when we purchased the tickets. It was a right old heap and we were filled with dread for the 9 hours ahead of us. Things ...