Ryboon City Hotel Mukalla

... back seat of a motorcycle, zooming up a winding mountain road. I felt like apologizing to Suzan for doing such a thing, as she had made me promise that I would be safe and not do anything dangerous. The moto-taxi ride was just about a promise-breaker. We got to the village of Hoteib without incident, an important Ismaili (sect of Shia Islam) pilgrimage destination with a saint's tomb. Plenty of Pakistani and Indian pilgrims were milling ...

... especially warm in the day's first light. It was only the pervasive trash that compromised the mood I had for Kawkaban, and I wondered how difficult it would be to launch a massive campaign to clean up Yemen and educate the populace to not litter. Back in my room I had breakfast in my room, on the carpet, and I ate much of the "bint" dessert of the night before which Yahia had told me to save. He sat in my room and chatted while I ate, making himself at home ...

... of space. The room measured only about 10' by 7', with a bare light bulb hanging from the 15' tall ceiling, with one window looking out on the other tower houses of old Sana'a. I wandered around a bit, soaking up my new surroundings, overlooking the trash strewn about the dusty streets, cautiously crossing streets with a defensive pedestrian mentality. It was fascinating and typically Yemeni to see the men not only in head gear, robes, and sandals, but ...

... the reserved airstrip, and made our way to the plant. Entering the secure area we went through a checkpoint, where Yemenis have to surrender their weapons. There are 60 million firearms in Yemen, for a population of 20 million. In the morning we had all our safety inductions, including a security presentation where the security advisor, a French ex-officer, showed us the map of terrorist and pirate attacks in Yemen and in the ...

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

... disappointed to find that even they only sold non-alcoholic beer. This year the new year on the western calender happens to coincide with the Muslim festival of Eid ul-Adha which commemorates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son for God. It is a time when families get togehter, dressed in their finest clothes sacrifice a animal, mostly goats here. The town of Mukalla itself was a welcome change to the ...

... So we took off on Thursday morning and rode in a shared taxi. We girls wore the nikab (the full covering) because we thought that it would speed up our trip if we didn't stand out as white people traveling through "dangerous areas".

However, our plan didn't work because we had to reveal our identity at the checkpoints and get a police escort. This sounds really extreme, but it is pretty much standard procedure here when you travel through "kidnapping ...

... transats en jonc et bois. Coup de pot où je m'installe, juste à côté je vois un serpent de 20-30 cm rentrait entre les branches du transat voisin. Un des mecs vient pour voir et je lui explique qu'il fait 30 cm et l'autre pense que sa tête fait 30 cm. C'est plus un serpent, c'est le monstre du Loch Ness. Du coup pour dormir la nuit dessus, il fait trop chaud dans les paillotes, tu ...

... dit que si je les donne au prof, le prof demandera de l'argent aux enfants pour les stylos...Le problème est que quand tu en donnes à un, ils sont cinquante après à en vouloir. Parlons un peu bouffe : je suis descendu dans le meilleur hôtel du Yémen (oui juste une fois), piscine et tout le tintouin. Je demande si c'est possible de dîner dehors, on me dit non à cause des moustiques. Bon ok. Je prends une douche et en revenant vers la r ...

... 130f), which is simply unbearable. Seyoun was small but quite charming, the focal point being a grand white palace that once housed the local Sultan. The main point of note I think was the difference in the people of the south in comparison with the north both in look and in culture. Obviously with the heat they were noticeably darker and the men all wore a futah (really nice, light, woven and hand-stitched patterned material that wraps around the waist like a long skirt); in the ...