a hui hou kakou

Yemen is beautiful and chaotic. Everywhere are people carrying knives, carrying guns, chewing khat. It is poor and feels like it will stay poor. But it's also a fun place to explore if you have the patience for it. Sana'a is amazing architecturally and Aden is laid back. I was in Yemen for a couple weeks in April/May 2008.

Arms of Yemen

Arms of Yemen

Map of Yemen Welcome to Yemen sign. April 2008. Yemeni border guard. He tried to charge me 20 OMR for a visa. Eventually he sold it for 7500 YMR, which is still excessive I think but not as excessive. April 2008. Village on the coast. April 2008. Late afternoon in the east of Yemen. April 2008. Al Ghaydah. April 2008. The bus arrived in Al Mukalla at about two in the morning. Fortunately I hung out with a couple nice Omanis until the sun came up. May 2008. Sunrise near Al Mukalla. May 2008. Sunrise near Al-Mukalla. May 2008. Al Mukalla. May 2008. Mosque in Al Mukalla. May 2008. Door of the mosque in Al Mukalla. May 2008. Mosque in Sana'a near Babo Yemen. May 2008. Bakery in Sana'a. May 2008. Babo Yemen (Yemen Gate). Main gate to the old city. May 2008. Just inside Babo Yemen. May 2008. The old city in Sana'a. May 2008. Some cute girls who wanted me to take their picture. May 2008. The old city in Sana'a. May 2008. The imam's palace near Sana'a. May 2008. The old imam's palace near Sana'a. May 2008. Window in the palace. May 2008. View from the palace. May 2008. Pretty cactus flower. May 2008. When it rains in Sana'a some of the roads become wadis and a few cars are swept away. May 2008. More of old Sana'a. May 2008. Mosque in Sana'a. May 2008. Wadi on the road to Al Hudaydah. May 2008. Gates to Zabid. This is a UNESCO site, and horrible. It is poor and the beggars are thick. The sun beat down and the air was dusty. May 2008. Street in Zabid. May 2008. Inside a mosque in Zabid. May 2008. More of Zabid. May 2008. Zabid. May 2008. Mosque in Zabid. May 2008. More Zabid. May 2008. The sky was full of crows. May 2008. Farmland. May 2008. Sunset near Aden. May 2008. There are a few churches in Aden. But not in good shape. May 2008. Statue of Queen Victoria in Aden. In most of Yemen people didn't seem to like the British colonial period. However people in Aden seemed very positive towards the British. This statue is in a really run down park though. May 2008. Building in the port area of Aden. May 2008. Boats in Aden. May 2008. View of Aden from the port. May 2008. Another church in Aden. The churchs in Aden also have their front doors bricked over. The caretakers let me in to see it but seemed nervous. May 2008. Wild bird in a cage in the Church. May 2008. The alter in the church. May 2008. A military looking area of Aden. May 2008. A clock left over from the British. Quite lovely. Nicknamed "Big Ben". May 2008. View of Aden from the clock tower. May 2008. Square in Aden. May 2008. Hotel where I stayed in Aden. May 2008. Heading back north. May 2008. More of the countryside. May 2008. The villages really blend in to the surrounding rock. May 2008. Me in a shared taxi, the main long distance transport in Yemen. May 2008. View of Old Sana'a from my friend Paul's balcony. May 2008. Outside the Cuban embassy in Sana'a. I was heading to the Djibouti embassy next door. May 2008. Old Sana'a. May 2008. Yemen is full of hills. May 2008. Small farms. May 2008. More farms. May 2008. It's amazing how little villages are all over the place. Even on the side of mountains. May 2008. View in the mountains. May 2008. The port in Mokha. Yemenis say this is where coffee comes from. It was a hot, dirty and poor place. Full of beggers and flies. I waited for a few days for a boat to Djibouti. Every day they told me tomorrow inshallah. After three or four days it became "in 3 or 4 days inshallah". So maybe never. I then gave up and went back to Sana'a to fly to Djibouti. May 2008. View of Mokha from the port. May 2008. The Red Sea from Mokha. May 2008. Hotel where I stayed in Mokha. May 2008. The main form of long distance public transport Yemen. Called "Peugeot" probably because they are all Peugeot 504s. May 2008. Ruins of Mokha. Half the town is just ruins. May 2008. I caught a crab and it pinched me and detached it's claw. It was rather painful. May 2008. Here is the crab. May 2008. Near Mokha salt is made. May 2008. Closeup of the salt. May 2008. Al Mukalla. May 2008. Al Mukalla. May 2008. Near Babo Yemen (Yemen Gate) Sana'a. May 2008. The old imam's palace near Sana'a. May 2008. View from the palace. May 2008. Old Sana'a during a flood. May 2008. Aden, view from the port. May 2008. Aden, view from the clock tower. May 2008. Aden, veiw from the clock tower. May 2008. Sana'a. May 2008. Sana'a. May 2008. Passport Stamps |back to travels |