i had my last class of arabic today. i thought i'd study for a month but i actually studied for a total of 2 weeks. that's cause i'm gonna be travelling soon, insha'Allah.
there were 2 cities i was dying to visit. one...ma'rib...was where queen sheba lived. i wanted to visit that place so badly. muhammad the majnoon was willing to take me and others there. however, alia (my yemeni roommate) absolutely would not allow it. she said it was too dangerous to go there because of bombings, kidnappings and killing of tourists in the past. she convinced me not to go.
the second place...shahara...is an amazing city where the famous bridge is...over a huge gorge between two mountains. it is extremely difficult to get there...the roads are extremely narrow and not built well. it's a bit dangerous to get there. when i was at the tourist police station, i said i wanted to go there but the police officer said it was not permitted for foreigners to go there. remember, to go anywhere, we need a permit. no permits were given to that city. however, muhammad the majnoon said he could get us there. he has connections everywhere and anywhere. he said that we would have to dress up like a yemeni...meaning we would have to wear niqab. the police officers at the checkpoints would not ask for identification or permits from a yemeni women. he said it'd be easy for us to go but we could not tell anyone about this trip. alia, kyla and i went to the souq to purchase niqabs. unfortunately, the day before we were supposed to leave for the trip, muhammad the majnoon said there was some difficulty in going there so the trip was cancelled for now. he did go on his own just to check out the condition of the place and when he came back, he said it was too dangerous for us to go. the police were asking yemeni women for identification and there was some fighting going on there as well.
alia and i bought tickets to socotra island. the island has unique species of plants and animals. it's also known for it's 'dragon blood'. we're leaving friday morning, returning monday. then we plus kyla are leaving the next day to hadramawt and we'll be travelling for about 3 weeks around yemen, insha'Allah.
more later...
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
djibouti?
unfortunately, there's a problem with all our visas especially kyla's. CALES (the language institute) should have made it clear on their website about the whole process so that we could've avoided this trouble. the thing is, when kyla and i entered yemen, we got a tourist visa which lasts for a month. for me, it's sort of okay 'cause i'll be leaving like 2 weeks after my visa expires and i can just pay a fine of $1 a day. not a big deal. but kyla....she's staying for a whole year so she has to renew her visa and get a student visa. only problem is that yemen will not allow her to pay for a new visa. she has to LEAVE the country and then renter it to get the right visa.
after class today, alia and kyla said they had good news. what was the good news? we were gonna go to djibouti!!! alia had called the airlines to ask where would be the cheapest airfare and it looked like djibouti was the answer. and of course, we didn't want kyla to go by herself so we were all gonna go with her and make it a little vacation. so we started looking up info about the country...places we could stay, things we could do. then we went to yemeniya airlines to book tickets. we were thinking of staying for just a few days...maybe thursday till sunday. i'd only miss 2 days of class since we have off thursday and friday.
unfortunately, it was not that easy. the man helping us at yemeniya, muhammad, was a family friend of alia. there were flights on specific days to djibouti, none of which were ideal for us. so we started to think of other surrounding countries we could go to. oman was too expensive. saudi wouldn't let 3 women in without a man. we thought, what about ethiopia or eritrea or somolia? muhammad started laughing at us. he was like, 'are you guys crazy? they're so hungry over there, they'll eat you!' he was not very p.c.
morocco, libya, lebanon, syria, afghanistan, india, iran, iraq, algeria, sudan were just a few of the countries we threw out. relax...we weren't serious about going to some of the suggested countries. plus, muhammad wouldn't let us. but we were desperate to go somewhere. muhammad suggested cairo, but we'd been there, done that. anyway, after about 2 hours of searching, we reserved tickets to djibouti. but we decided we'd go to the ethiopian airlines and check with them after we ate to see if we could get better flights.
well, during our meal, we discussed this trip further and decided that alia and i would not go to djibouti. only kyla would. however, after returning home, kyla did some research on the internet and decided she'd go to jordan to visit her friends.
it was exciting to think we were gonna go to djibouti but i guess it wasn't meant to be. however, now, alia and i are thinking of going to socotra island, insha'Allah. have to see how that works out...
in other news, i have not worn my sunglasses yet even though it's sunny here 'cause the women just don't (their faces are already covered by their niqaabs). and i brought 2 pairs with me. what a shame.
after class today, alia and kyla said they had good news. what was the good news? we were gonna go to djibouti!!! alia had called the airlines to ask where would be the cheapest airfare and it looked like djibouti was the answer. and of course, we didn't want kyla to go by herself so we were all gonna go with her and make it a little vacation. so we started looking up info about the country...places we could stay, things we could do. then we went to yemeniya airlines to book tickets. we were thinking of staying for just a few days...maybe thursday till sunday. i'd only miss 2 days of class since we have off thursday and friday.
unfortunately, it was not that easy. the man helping us at yemeniya, muhammad, was a family friend of alia. there were flights on specific days to djibouti, none of which were ideal for us. so we started to think of other surrounding countries we could go to. oman was too expensive. saudi wouldn't let 3 women in without a man. we thought, what about ethiopia or eritrea or somolia? muhammad started laughing at us. he was like, 'are you guys crazy? they're so hungry over there, they'll eat you!' he was not very p.c.
morocco, libya, lebanon, syria, afghanistan, india, iran, iraq, algeria, sudan were just a few of the countries we threw out. relax...we weren't serious about going to some of the suggested countries. plus, muhammad wouldn't let us. but we were desperate to go somewhere. muhammad suggested cairo, but we'd been there, done that. anyway, after about 2 hours of searching, we reserved tickets to djibouti. but we decided we'd go to the ethiopian airlines and check with them after we ate to see if we could get better flights.
well, during our meal, we discussed this trip further and decided that alia and i would not go to djibouti. only kyla would. however, after returning home, kyla did some research on the internet and decided she'd go to jordan to visit her friends.
it was exciting to think we were gonna go to djibouti but i guess it wasn't meant to be. however, now, alia and i are thinking of going to socotra island, insha'Allah. have to see how that works out...
in other news, i have not worn my sunglasses yet even though it's sunny here 'cause the women just don't (their faces are already covered by their niqaabs). and i brought 2 pairs with me. what a shame.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
mountain of the prophet shu'ayb
in the guide books, there's info on hiking through the haraz mountains. the highest mountain on the arabian peninsula is jabal an-nabi shu'ayb (mountain of prophet shu'ayb) with an altitude of 12,333 feet. his grave and a mosque is on top of the mountain. when i read about it, i was like, 'i totally have to climb it and pray in the masjid on top!' so i told muhammad majnoon last week that kyla and i wanted to climb it. i asked if we could pray in the mosque on top and he said we could. the guide books said that foriegners were not allowed to the top. so anyway, muhammad organized a trip last week for a bunch of students to go to jabal an-nabi shu'ayb.
amongst the 8 students, alia and i were the only muslims. kyla got sick so she did not come. in addition to the students, there was the driver, an assistant and muhammad majnoon. we went in a mini van to the mountain. the mountain view along the way there was absolutely stunning. vast fields of qaat and other crops, ruins of old homes, watch towers and fortresses along the mountain side. kinda like what i wrote in my last post. i thought we were gonna stop at some point along the mountain and hike to the top, but we actually drove all the way up there.
about 10 minutes before reaching the summit, there was a check point. at that checkpoint, we all had to leave our cameras and phones behind. nothing was allowed at the top. alia had her $4,000.00 camera with her 'cause she's filming for a documentary and she did not want to leave her stuff with the men so she decided to stay behind while the rest of us went to the top. muhammad majnoon stayed behind with her. the rest of us went up with the driver and his assistant.
we get to the top. there's a gate guarded by 5 military officers with kalashnikovs...their faces wrapped in kuffiyehs. we had to stop the van a distance from the gate and a couple of guards approached the van and took all our passports. they told us all to come outside and wait by the van. we weren't allowed near the gate. so we waited while the guards and the driver and assistant disappeared behind the gate. after about 10 minutes, the driver and the assistant come out and tell us to get back in the van 'cause the mosque is closed. i asked, 'well, can i at least pray in the mosque?' i was the only muslim amongst the students. so the driver went back inside the gate...took another 10 minutes and came out with a bunch of military guards with kalashnikovs. one of the military guards...the leader...was a mean looking guy. i could tell there was trouble. he wanted us all to gather around as he looked through the passport pictures and eyed each of us suspiciously. then he told us to leave. again, i asked one of the military guards if i could pray in the mosque. he asked the leader. the leader told me rudely that i could pray anywhere. and then he made us leave. i was a bit upset. first of all, we didn't hike up to the top and secondly, i didn't even get to pray in the mosque or see the grave!
the leader and another guard rode down to the check point with us. i knew something bad was up. the driver, assistant and the two men from the top disappeared into the bunker to talk to muhammad majnoon. after a while, alia and the men returned and we were told to leave.
so what exactly happened? i'll tell you. foriegners were not allowed to the top. the leader was pissed off that we came to the top. also, remember i said in past posts that we need permits to go anywhere outside of sana'a. well, muhammad had our permits and forgot to give them to the driver so when we went to the top, we had no papers to show the guards. they were gonna arrest the driver and the assistant for bringing us to the top without permits and then ask us students if any of us knew how to drive so that we could go back to the checkpoint but none of them spoke any english.
apparently, behind the gate on the top of the mountain is now a military training camp and they use the mosque to store weapons.
amongst the 8 students, alia and i were the only muslims. kyla got sick so she did not come. in addition to the students, there was the driver, an assistant and muhammad majnoon. we went in a mini van to the mountain. the mountain view along the way there was absolutely stunning. vast fields of qaat and other crops, ruins of old homes, watch towers and fortresses along the mountain side. kinda like what i wrote in my last post. i thought we were gonna stop at some point along the mountain and hike to the top, but we actually drove all the way up there.
about 10 minutes before reaching the summit, there was a check point. at that checkpoint, we all had to leave our cameras and phones behind. nothing was allowed at the top. alia had her $4,000.00 camera with her 'cause she's filming for a documentary and she did not want to leave her stuff with the men so she decided to stay behind while the rest of us went to the top. muhammad majnoon stayed behind with her. the rest of us went up with the driver and his assistant.
we get to the top. there's a gate guarded by 5 military officers with kalashnikovs...their faces wrapped in kuffiyehs. we had to stop the van a distance from the gate and a couple of guards approached the van and took all our passports. they told us all to come outside and wait by the van. we weren't allowed near the gate. so we waited while the guards and the driver and assistant disappeared behind the gate. after about 10 minutes, the driver and the assistant come out and tell us to get back in the van 'cause the mosque is closed. i asked, 'well, can i at least pray in the mosque?' i was the only muslim amongst the students. so the driver went back inside the gate...took another 10 minutes and came out with a bunch of military guards with kalashnikovs. one of the military guards...the leader...was a mean looking guy. i could tell there was trouble. he wanted us all to gather around as he looked through the passport pictures and eyed each of us suspiciously. then he told us to leave. again, i asked one of the military guards if i could pray in the mosque. he asked the leader. the leader told me rudely that i could pray anywhere. and then he made us leave. i was a bit upset. first of all, we didn't hike up to the top and secondly, i didn't even get to pray in the mosque or see the grave!
the leader and another guard rode down to the check point with us. i knew something bad was up. the driver, assistant and the two men from the top disappeared into the bunker to talk to muhammad majnoon. after a while, alia and the men returned and we were told to leave.
so what exactly happened? i'll tell you. foriegners were not allowed to the top. the leader was pissed off that we came to the top. also, remember i said in past posts that we need permits to go anywhere outside of sana'a. well, muhammad had our permits and forgot to give them to the driver so when we went to the top, we had no papers to show the guards. they were gonna arrest the driver and the assistant for bringing us to the top without permits and then ask us students if any of us knew how to drive so that we could go back to the checkpoint but none of them spoke any english.
apparently, behind the gate on the top of the mountain is now a military training camp and they use the mosque to store weapons.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
the haraz mountains
over the week, i went on a few trips with muhammad 'the majnoon' to various places in the haraz mountains. the mountain scenery is absolutely breathtaking. i shot so many pictures but for real, they just don't capture the beauty of it all. there are villages on top of mountains and in the valleys. there are ruins of watch towers probably dating back to the himyarite kingdom (around 1 b.c.). i saw many fortresses on top of huge boulders and stone homes carved in the side of mountains. just imagine the grand canyon but a million times more stunning.
on the first trip, kyla and i went to wadi dhahr. wadi means 'valley'. actually, before that, we were taken to a mountain top where we could see wadi dhahr below us and also within it the famous daar al-hajar 'palace on the rock'. this mansion was built in the 1920s on top of a large boulder in the middle of the valley as a retreat for imam yahya (zaydi leader) and is a very popular place to visit on fridays by yemenis and foreginers. that's cause on that day you can see a barra'a which is a traditional dagger dance performed by the men. that specific boulder actually has a longer history and was probably settled by people a long time ago because of the deep wells and prehistoric cave burial rooms found in it.
that same day, we also drove to al-ahjar where we saw ruins of old homes and watch towers scattered around the mountain and built on cliffs, boulders or within the mountains. we also drove to shibam which is a city in the valley. we ate at a famous restaurant called hameda's restaurant. all the tourists go there. muhammad knows the owner. actually, muhammad knows everyone and everyone knows him. we sat in a private mafraj (room) and were served tradtional yemeni food. again, no individual plates. kyla, myself, muhammad and the taxi driver just ate from the same plate of food. we had meat, shafoota (kinda like the ethiopian bread, injera), vegetables, potatoes, saltah (piping hot stew containing meat, beans, lentils and topped with fenugreek...comes in a cast iron dish), 2 different types of rice, rashoosh (bread), something else that was really good and bint as-sahn (dessert). everything was so delicious.
we continued our drive up to kawkaban. this place is absolutely stunning. it's a fortified city that was built way before the 9th century on top of the mountain. there's only one gate to enter the town. from kawkaban, you can look down at shibam and from shibam, you can look up to the mountaintop and see kawkaban. you can also see in the middle of the mountain side, a home. it's the only home on that mountain side and only one gate to enter it. when you're looking up at it from shibam, you can't imagine how anyone could enter it. i told muhammad i wanted to go there. so once we got up to kawkaban, we hiked down to this palace. it was built by a man named ghayl ali. we entered it and rested while looking down the valley. it's probably not a place to go to if you're afraid of heights.
while going up and down the mountains, we also saw a vast number of qaat fields in addition to corn, wheat, almonds and some other stuff. but the majority was qaat. we saw people working in the fields too...usually women covered up...face and everything even though they were the only ones in the fields.
i still have to write about the other trips which i will do later. but alhamdulillah, kyla and i had a wonderful experience with muhammad. he wasn't really crazy. he's actually a good person to travel with 'cause he is well connected and very street smart. anyway, more later...
on the first trip, kyla and i went to wadi dhahr. wadi means 'valley'. actually, before that, we were taken to a mountain top where we could see wadi dhahr below us and also within it the famous daar al-hajar 'palace on the rock'. this mansion was built in the 1920s on top of a large boulder in the middle of the valley as a retreat for imam yahya (zaydi leader) and is a very popular place to visit on fridays by yemenis and foreginers. that's cause on that day you can see a barra'a which is a traditional dagger dance performed by the men. that specific boulder actually has a longer history and was probably settled by people a long time ago because of the deep wells and prehistoric cave burial rooms found in it.
that same day, we also drove to al-ahjar where we saw ruins of old homes and watch towers scattered around the mountain and built on cliffs, boulders or within the mountains. we also drove to shibam which is a city in the valley. we ate at a famous restaurant called hameda's restaurant. all the tourists go there. muhammad knows the owner. actually, muhammad knows everyone and everyone knows him. we sat in a private mafraj (room) and were served tradtional yemeni food. again, no individual plates. kyla, myself, muhammad and the taxi driver just ate from the same plate of food. we had meat, shafoota (kinda like the ethiopian bread, injera), vegetables, potatoes, saltah (piping hot stew containing meat, beans, lentils and topped with fenugreek...comes in a cast iron dish), 2 different types of rice, rashoosh (bread), something else that was really good and bint as-sahn (dessert). everything was so delicious.
we continued our drive up to kawkaban. this place is absolutely stunning. it's a fortified city that was built way before the 9th century on top of the mountain. there's only one gate to enter the town. from kawkaban, you can look down at shibam and from shibam, you can look up to the mountaintop and see kawkaban. you can also see in the middle of the mountain side, a home. it's the only home on that mountain side and only one gate to enter it. when you're looking up at it from shibam, you can't imagine how anyone could enter it. i told muhammad i wanted to go there. so once we got up to kawkaban, we hiked down to this palace. it was built by a man named ghayl ali. we entered it and rested while looking down the valley. it's probably not a place to go to if you're afraid of heights.
while going up and down the mountains, we also saw a vast number of qaat fields in addition to corn, wheat, almonds and some other stuff. but the majority was qaat. we saw people working in the fields too...usually women covered up...face and everything even though they were the only ones in the fields.
i still have to write about the other trips which i will do later. but alhamdulillah, kyla and i had a wonderful experience with muhammad. he wasn't really crazy. he's actually a good person to travel with 'cause he is well connected and very street smart. anyway, more later...
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
i'll be back
okay, so i've gotten a few comments and emails encouraging me to continue my blog. i'm so touched. thank you. i know there's more of you out there. but anyway, i'm tired at the moment so i will try to catch you up on what's been going on tomorrow. everyday is exciting here and alhamdulillah, i'm so happy to be living with such wonderful people in such a wonderful country. this place is totally under rated. i also feel lucky 'cause one of my dorm mates, alia is half yemeni and grew up in yemen so she's got connections everywhere and knows so much about the place. it's kinda like i've got my own private guide. anyway, more later...
Sunday, June 22, 2008
good riddance
i just wanna thank all my friends and family for reading my blog and not leaving any comments. i mean seriously, i take time out of my busy day to entertain you with my experiences but none of you guys acknowledge me. whatever...i'm boycotting this blog.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
day of feast
i woke up today excited about the food we were gonna eat. we had an invitation for both breakfast and lunch. at around 8 am, we went to the ADRA office which is the organization that kyle works for. met nagi again and he welcomed us. i also met another worker who is cousins with alia. apparently, she was supposed to come to breakfast too but she couldn't. what a small world. we were taken downstairs where the men and women were sitting around a long rectangular table. newspapers were spread out along the table and plates of food...pancake, fasoolia, chicken, eggs, ful, other bean dishes and bread. a man read a surah from the quran and nagi gave little talk welcoming us and others. then it was time to eat. we weren't given plates or utensils to eat with. everyone just got up, broke some bread and huddled around plates of food eating together. they even spread syrup on the pancake and ate it with their hands. it was interesting to eat that way. they all tried to make us eat a lot and would put plates of food in front of us. i was stuffed to the max. kyla and i had to go back to the old city 'cause we had class. we were gonna take a taxi but nagi got one of the drivers of the organization to drive us back to bab al yemen. so nice of him.
i thought i had class today with ustadha ahlam since we didn't have class yesterday but i was wrong. i was free. ustadh abdullah had told me the day before to meet him at 12 noon with kyla because he wanted to take us and another one of his students to his house for lunch. the other student was a girl from pakistan who studies in the states. we took a taxi to ustadh abdullah's house. met his wife and 3 little kids. his wife was so sweet and it was really cute to see ustadh abduallah interact with his wife and kids. they joked around and teased each other. i totally had a different impression of how i thought the men would interact with their wives. it was a pleasant surprise.
his wife cooked so much food for us...salad, fish, fries, potatoe balls, shafoot (it looks like injera--ethiopian bread--with yogurt and other stuff....kinda tastes like dahi bara), chicken with rice....looked like biryani, freshly squeezed mango juice and for dessert...bint as-sahn which is a very famous yemeni dish. its a bread like cake with honey and very delicious. again, the food was presented on plates but none of us were given plates to eat on. we were, however, given spoons to eat with. so we all just dug in...my teacher, his wife, kids and us 3 students. it's kinda nice to eat that way. i think i'm gonna try that when i return to the states. it brings people closer together. anyway, after dessert, we were served chai. ustadh abdullah left after a bit and we all went to his wife's parent's house down the street. there, we met her sisters and friends and their children. we sat in the mafraj and just chatted. it was good practice for our arabic. we stayed there till 5 pm. i wanted to leave earlier but they insisted we stay.
we went back to the old city and walked around the souq. we went to an art gallery where if you stand on the top floor, you can get a great view of the old city.
back in the dorm, we tried to plan a trip for tomorrow. alia said she spoke to muhammad also known as 'majnoon' and he was willing to take us to wadi dhahr but we had to meet him and discuss the plan. so we went downstairs and saw him sitting with the guards to our building. muhammad said he would take us to wadi dhahr, shibam, kowkabaan and al-ahjar. i'll explain what's so great about these places in my next post, insha'Allah. we discussed everything and had to pay him a little bit upfront so that he could bribe the police to get us permission to leave the city. anytime you wanna go anywhere, you have to get clearance from the police like a day before. it was already late so the only way he could get a clearance was to bribe them by buying them qat.
anyway, i was happy that i was finally gonna go on a trip. an adventure with muhammad the majnoon. how exciting...
i thought i had class today with ustadha ahlam since we didn't have class yesterday but i was wrong. i was free. ustadh abdullah had told me the day before to meet him at 12 noon with kyla because he wanted to take us and another one of his students to his house for lunch. the other student was a girl from pakistan who studies in the states. we took a taxi to ustadh abdullah's house. met his wife and 3 little kids. his wife was so sweet and it was really cute to see ustadh abduallah interact with his wife and kids. they joked around and teased each other. i totally had a different impression of how i thought the men would interact with their wives. it was a pleasant surprise.
his wife cooked so much food for us...salad, fish, fries, potatoe balls, shafoot (it looks like injera--ethiopian bread--with yogurt and other stuff....kinda tastes like dahi bara), chicken with rice....looked like biryani, freshly squeezed mango juice and for dessert...bint as-sahn which is a very famous yemeni dish. its a bread like cake with honey and very delicious. again, the food was presented on plates but none of us were given plates to eat on. we were, however, given spoons to eat with. so we all just dug in...my teacher, his wife, kids and us 3 students. it's kinda nice to eat that way. i think i'm gonna try that when i return to the states. it brings people closer together. anyway, after dessert, we were served chai. ustadh abdullah left after a bit and we all went to his wife's parent's house down the street. there, we met her sisters and friends and their children. we sat in the mafraj and just chatted. it was good practice for our arabic. we stayed there till 5 pm. i wanted to leave earlier but they insisted we stay.
we went back to the old city and walked around the souq. we went to an art gallery where if you stand on the top floor, you can get a great view of the old city.
back in the dorm, we tried to plan a trip for tomorrow. alia said she spoke to muhammad also known as 'majnoon' and he was willing to take us to wadi dhahr but we had to meet him and discuss the plan. so we went downstairs and saw him sitting with the guards to our building. muhammad said he would take us to wadi dhahr, shibam, kowkabaan and al-ahjar. i'll explain what's so great about these places in my next post, insha'Allah. we discussed everything and had to pay him a little bit upfront so that he could bribe the police to get us permission to leave the city. anytime you wanna go anywhere, you have to get clearance from the police like a day before. it was already late so the only way he could get a clearance was to bribe them by buying them qat.
anyway, i was happy that i was finally gonna go on a trip. an adventure with muhammad the majnoon. how exciting...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)