Yemen: Yo!

Yemen starts where Saudi Arabia ends. Or it could be the looming landmass, witnessed when held captive by the somali pirates, off the Gulf of aden.

This country has never had anyone who won the noble prize, the academy awards, olympics or any international level accolades. Some of us might remember USS Cole which was bombed while refuelling at Aden. Even that distinction was later passed to the Sudanese government. in fact, while researching (ahem!) for this blog (which is why it is coming four months after the travel), i came across the name of Akram Abdullah. This gent lost his final 16 taekwondo bout to a person 17 cm taller than him. Mr Abdullah was the shortest olympian in 2000 olympics. Apparently, the idea of superior reach was not available to his coaches.

This country has sea on one side and saudi arabia on the other. and yet its only oil field gives out 500bpd. Agriculture is limited to producing Qat, which is a distant cousin of Marijuana and is chewn not smoked. 40% of agricultural water goes to irrigating Qat beating Coffee and other Cash Crops. Thanks to Wikipedia, i also know that between 1970 and 2000 area under Qat production grew from 8000 hectares to 103000. Locals believes it makes them comfortable and sexy. two adjectives which cannot go together.

In the Global Gender Index, which measures the progress of women in a society through their representation in government and other public bodies, Yemen ranked 128. A grand total of 128 countries were surveyed

The Yemeni Ministry of Education, asked the parents of school children questions to gauge their readiness to coach their kids. One of them was - what is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (the one across the border - with the oil). One of the respondents, thoughtfully answered - A Soap.

The above two are published in the in flight magazine of Yemenia. The only airlines which allowed its passangers to carry daggers and an occasional Kalashnikov (as long as ammunition was checked in or at least kept in the safe custody of the crew), till late 90s. They've never been hijacked.

So with the above information, I landed with a sense of trepidation and other big words, at Sana'a in 2007. Since then I've been there thrice and totally love the country.

Yemen, missed the women's touch and they're not missing it. Men dress and smell as they would like to. Other men don't bother or compare. Most have done away with some part of the body. A missing eye or hand or at least a few teeth are considered fashionable. All men carry daggers (at least the scabbard) and consequently six inch scars goes as body art.

While travelling, one should be aware of the risk of kidnapping, which is quite common. The only side effect is a severely increased BMI. Most kidnapper turn out to be dreadful hosts, not much unlike visting mothers, insisting that their wards are in poor health and torture by overstuffing.

So I leave you at this cliffhanger moment. In the next post we look at the women, the food and the civilization. Also the naughty pleasures at Taj Awsan.