Eagle Tourism Hotel Sanaa

This is Wadi Dhuhr, location of an old home of Imam YaHya - who ruled with an iron fist from the early 1900's to 1948. The old home has been well kept as a museum, even though he is not a beloved figure of Yemen. When he gained true autonomy from the Ottomans (1904) and the British (1918), his kingdom was basically what Yemen is now today with the exclusion of Aden. After his death, his son took over and continued his father's oppresive practices. The ...

... had ever seen. I didn't ask the price, because that would have offered the shopkeeper some false hope. I did make some nice purchases, like the 3 miniature tower houses with translucent windows that are illuminated beautifully when a candle is burning inside. They only cost $2.50 each. I got a couple of Yemen t-shirts for $2 each, very low quality with a sort of eye-rolling design. I also bought some frankincense and myrrh, absolutely the only thing I saw ...

... would pay R3000 ($15) (based on what the 2007 Bradt guidebook said), and he said, "If you are happy you can pay R7000, 8000 ($35-40). If you are not happy you don't pay me anything." I repeated that I would pay him R3000. We really should have written it down to avoid later misunderstanding or hard feelings. So this morning he asked for another R4000, and I said no. Ahmed also politely told me to pay it but I didn't ...

... office for no charge, thanks to a nice employee there. Next I had to find transport to Shibam and Hababah. At first I was going to take a public minibus, but after waiting almost 10 minutes it still was sitting there waiting to fill up so I got off and snagged a taxi. The driver was the son of a diplomat and spoke good English, although I probably ended up paying more than I should have. He didn't even give me a price at the end, just saying to pay whatever I ...

... had two purposes. First, it insured that the tour operator was legitimate and licensed. Secondly, it was to track my whereabouts in case there was a "problem". (Remember the US embassy here was just bombed in September.) Later on that day I would discover why we needed to register at the ministry. Also by registering, we would have been informed if there were any "security concerns" or any other reason not to visit ...

... Even boarding is exclusive. When it was time to board, Qatar had special First Class coaches waiting to bring passengers to the aircraft as there are no jet bridges here. Economy passengers board from the rear, and only first class passengers are allowed to board from the front. The curtain between the two cabins is securely shut throughout the boarding. I was flying on a Qatari A320 today. All 12 seats in First were ...

... taken in Yemen so far. We drove up on Thursday morning, through some of the most breath-taking scenery I have ever seen in my life. In ancient Yemen, tribes built their villages on extremely high, difficult-to-reach places in order to protect themselves from rival tribes. The people in these villages were primarily subsistence farmers whose farms were built into the mountain on terraces that climb all the way down the mountain. Amazingly, not ...

... wadi in the Middle East, and consists of a large, level plane hemmed in on both sides by equally level-topped mountains of sedimentary rock. The desertified floor of the Wadi is punctuated here and there by lush oases of date palms. We soon met up witk Karsten and Elli, a German and Bulgarian respectively who are working with a German NGO on the restoration and preservation of the ancient mud city of Shibam (not to be confused with the Shibam near Sanaa that I visited a ...

... floors. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven! Of course, I couldn't leave Sana'a without exploring the Old City, which was absolutely amazing. In many ways, it reminded me of the Old City in Fes, but I dare say....it was cooler...eek! Maybe it was because there aren't as many tourists as in the Fes Medina and so you don't get harassed when you walk through the Old City in Sana'a. But also, the architecture was ...

... with leeks, tomatoes, eggs and spices, then folded into a package and fried. We ate it with a twist of lemon, yoghurt and chili and needless to say it was delicious. Today I had my first taste of 'bun' - the true Yemeni coffee that is made from the husk of the plant, and is a sort of greenish colour - spiced and very tasty. It helped get me through a mammoth four hour lesson with Ghalib, who had been ill for our last lesson. Also, even though ...