G'day From Yemen!
This is my second trip to Yemen this year. The first being about 7 months ago. i loved this place so much that i had do it again! This time i took my brother his wife with me.
From the first trip, i felt like Yemen was relatively untouched from the outside world. i refer to it as a time warp. a country that uses old methods in current times. everything here is old. the cars, the capital city, the souqs, the mentality. its a place where time stands still. a day here feels like 2. it really does. people dont use watches here, they just go about doing whatever they have to do until they do it. their timings is the Athan (the 5 time daily prayer call). everything revolves around the prayer times.
Their wanton use of qat however(the hallucinagenic plant they chew) contributes to the easy going attitudes. here, everyone is in 'inshallah mode' as i call it. [the term inshallah literally means 'god willing', but people use it in everyday sentences - 'inshallah ill be there at 5pm' usually means ill be there at 7:30.
i had 6 days off from work in Dubai because of Eid Al Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice, where according to tradition the prophet Abraham under Gods command was going to sacrifice his son Ishmail (in jewish tradition its Isaac). For his complete faith and trust in God, Abraham was then commanded to sacrifice a ram instead, and thus the islamic tradition of the 'Festival of Sacrifice' came about. it is a time of celebration throughout the muslim world, and a time for sharing with those less fortunate.
it would have been great to see Yemen at this time where everything would be buzzing and everybody would be out on the streets getting ready for Eid. \
we arrived in Sanaa the capital and stayed the night there. we visited the Bab Al Yemen (Doors of Yemen) where everything was a total blur. The last time i visited this place just before summer it was almost busy, but nothing like what we were about to encounter. Now two days before Eid we walked shoulder to shoulder in the 1000 year old souq. we visited shop after shop that ranged from pots and pans to herbs and spices souqs. all well organised into seperate neghbourhoods. it was abuzz with busy yemenis getting ready foe the festivities of Eid where sharing your homes and food with friends and relatives is not just common, but imperative.
It is common tradition in islamic culture to emulate the prophetic biblical traditions. so muslims worldwide sacrifice a goat, ram, camel, sheep, cow, or whetever they can afford to sacrifice. setting aside a small portion of the sacrifice for themselves, and giving the rest in charity to those less needy, like neighbours, friends or even total strangers. This type of communal culture breeds brotherhood within communities and increases the bond between friends, families, and tribes. It is an ancient tradition that works well. The act of giving in the festive season is common amongst all faiths.
we spent the night in Sanaa, enroute to Seiyun. a small town about 10 hrs away by road. Its airport was smaller than the jet that flew us over there.
we visited the burial place of prophet Hud (refered to as prophet Eber in the Bible). a deserted township that houses the burial place of Hud and is a common place of visitation amonst Yemenis and foreignors alike. when we went there, there was no one but us, and it was soothing to sit in the cooling breeze with only the sounds of drums beating in the distance from a local wedding ceremony in the next town.
The next day was a day of fasting. the day before Eid Al Adha, almost all people fast from sunrise to sunset (same as Ramadan), so it was a lazy day and we couldnt do much. we decided to visit Shibam. a two thousand year old city that is referred to as the 'Manhattan of the desert'. the first place to ever use vertical construction and high rise as well as vertical communal living. its urban planning was used as a protection from bedouin invaders. it is a city that is built entirely from mudbricks and has UNESCO heritage protection.
on my previous visit to Yemen i visited Shibam/Kawkaban near Sanaa. This Shibam is in the state of Hadramawt and is south east of the Capital Sanaa(ironically Hadramawt when translated literally means "death has come").
the city is still occupied by a few thousand inhabitants, although the devastation of the recent floods only 2 months ago was still prevalent. these floods affected areas all the way from Mukalla which is a coastal town about 500km away all the way to Seiyun and blocked roads and literally cut Mukalla and Seiyun off from the rest of the country. floods reached 5m high, but sadly news of the floods in Yemen gained little international attention.
day 3 was Eid Al Adha. it started with Eid prayers in the morning at 7. Common tradition is to wear your best clothes for Eid and attend the Eid prayers. after the sermon, strangers would hug and congratulate each other on the Feast of Sacrifice. i met many many people from all over the muslim world who would approach us to give glad tidings and shake our hands. we were 'strangers' so to speak and attracted attention from yemenis and non yemenis alike.
from here, we decided to find the local butcher who would make our sacrifice and clean our goat. we eventually found him, and after a short motorbike ride away, we got the the picking yard. we chose 2 goats that got carted away to the abbotoir. There our goats were sacrificed. islamic practices have stringent conditions for the slaughtering of any animal. but generally the proclamation that this slaughter is to be in Gods name and a relatively swift death is necesary.
from there our butcher prepared and cut our meat and delivered it to our house. from there we seperated the sacrifice into different bags and went door knocking on doors where we were told that those that were not well to do live. they graciously accepted our offerings.
the night was spent celebrating with small fireworks and food. it was a grande experience.
we were booked in to fly out the next day, but our flights got cancelled around midnight that night, so the next day was spent lazing around trying to sort out how to get out of Seiyun to Sanaa, the capital. the next available flight was in a weeks time, or we could take the 10.5 hr bus trip to Sanaa or 5.5hr bus trip to Mukalla airport and then an hour flight to Sanaa.
our hopes faded when we were told that the bus doesnt take westerners due to the bus route running through kidnap territory and that all papers would be checked at checkpoints. i was booked in to go to work the next day, so i had to inform them of my situation.
up until this point, the trip was ok...the shimozzle in trying to organise anything adhoc in yemen was painful. eventually we decided to chance it and take the 5.5hr private taxi to Mukalla and spend the night there and catch the plane the next afternoon. Mukalla is a pretty seaside city that was devastated by the floods a few months back. we spent a pleasant day there, followed by a night in Sanaa again in a shabby hotel. we caught our re-scheduled flight from Yemen to Dubai the next morning. This transit taking 3 days. it was tiring, but finally we made it through in one piece.
hope you enjoyed my little trip into another dimension and time. feel free to ask me any questions. ive gone into a little bit more detail this time due to a request i got. so feel free to ask me whatever you guys want on anything yemeni or islamic practices that i saw.
despite my bad end to the trip, i still think it is a wonderful place. a place full of poverty, but full of life. pics will follow!
Yemen an ancient land of honey, coffee, and qat!
-----Added 26/12/2008 at 02 : 50 : 12-----
pics of the first night in Yemen. ill upload the rest when i can
Bab Al Yemen (the doors of yemen) 2 days out before eid. it was buzzing like crazy
camel milling weat inside bab Al Yemen
my sister in law. This is how a typical yemeni woman would like like and standard dress. This time around i decided that we would go in 'tradtional clothes'. makes it easier to get around without being spotted as a westerner and slugged in the souqs.
one of my fav pics on the trip. the spices of yemen
a sultana deal
me being a 'lawrence of arabia' as i got called
Ali Abdulla Saleh Mosque