It was market day again in Shibam so the main street was packed with vendors. A few people saw me with my back pack and offered me a lift to Sana'a for 2000 riyals. On the face of it this doesn't sound too bad considering that was the fare from the airport but I found the shared taxi and it only cost me 300 riyals.
I got back to the edge of Sana'a and caught a minibus back to Bab Al-Yemen, found the shared taxi for Manakhah and waited for it to fill. And waited. And waited. A man waiting in another taxi for Al-Hudayda said that if I didn't mind paying twice as much (a few dollars more) a could buy a seat to Al-Hudayda and they would drop me off halfway. This sounded reasonable since no one had joined me (I needed eight more people to leave) in the hour I had been waiting.
It was a very scenic drive to Manakhah through the mountains and I may have even enjoyed it if I wasn't sharing the front seat with the fattest man in Yemen throwing his rejected qat and nut shells over me and been felt up the driver every time he changed gears which on the winding hilly roads was often. On the bright side the man who helped me out earlier spoke good English and was able to translate between me and the other passengers. So I spent most of my time answering questions on Australia, my thoughts on America in Iraq (there was a photo of Saddam Hussein hanging from the mirror, pardon the pun) and my thoughts on Islam.
As I arrived in Manakhah it was all clouded over so I had no Idea what to expect when I went hiking over the next few days. A few guys at the hotel wanted to be my guide for about US$20 as day and showed me on a map where they would take me. I just wanted to know where they got their maps. I've looked high And low and haven't found any. I reckon it's a conspiracy. They don't give maps to tourists so they have to pay for guides. Cheeky, very cheeky. Not that it worked.
Thankfully it was bright blue skies so I went with my 'wonder where that path goes' technique. I followed the road around to Al-Harrjah, one of those postcard villages where a tower house occupies every square inch of a rock hanging off the edge of a ridge. It was a obviously a tourist hot spot because as I approached the town guides started approaching me. One guy said, "If bad guide don't pay. If good as you like".
So he showed me around town, predictably took me to his shop, his brothers shop, his cousins shop, his uncles shop..... At the end I gave him a reasonable amount considering the contract. He couldn't hide his disappointment "I usually charge $10." I replied, "take it or leave it, as you like."
He took it and I went on my way around the mountain. After this the only people to approach me were children wanting photos and shepherds yelling hello from a distance before running up for a chat which usually consisted nothing more than "Where are you from?" and "welcome" before returning to their goats. I even got invited into a home for a lunch of spicy vegetable stew, salted milk and cardamom and honey sweetened tea. I have a theory that if a stranger approaches you with a gesture of goodwill you should doubt their good intentions. More often than not it come back at you. This sounds at little pessimistic and it is but at least on the many occasions you'll get screwed you expected as much and you can go about your day. When they do happen genuine acts of generosity will hit you like a smile on the face. Like this one did. I offered some money and they wouldn't have a bar of it. They even showed me a path over the mountain to the next village. Legends.
By the afternoon the clouds started rolling over again and I was worried I would have to back track my way to Manakhah. Thankfully the clouds hit the side of the mountain and hung there allowing me to continue on my way. I have a pretty good sense of direction and even though I had no map and had walked about 20km i was confident that thick cloud(when I couldn't see 5m in front of me) withstanding I could find my way back to Town. I approached from a different side to what I left and didn't recognise any of the buildings. I thought to myself if this isn't it I'm lost but it was and I saved myself $20.
The next day I went over Jebel Shibam rather than around it. As I approached the top I got sent away by two guys waving guns at me. Later the guides at the hotel would tell me there is a Military base on the summit and that if I hired a them I would have known not to go up there. I told them two guys waving guns had the same effect. This might sound strange but what really gets me isn't how high the mountains are but how deep the valleys go. There are villages down there that roads don't reach and must take days to get down there and back with provisions. I can see why the Sunday market in Manakhah is so busy.
This afternoon the cloud did come in but thankfully I was already on the main road when it did. I was a bit over walking by this stage especially now that I couldn't see anything and couldn't believe my luck when a guy on a motorbike offered me lift the 5km back to town. Legend.
I got back to the edge of Sana'a and caught a minibus back to Bab Al-Yemen, found the shared taxi for Manakhah and waited for it to fill. And waited. And waited. A man waiting in another taxi for Al-Hudayda said that if I didn't mind paying twice as much (a few dollars more) a could buy a seat to Al-Hudayda and they would drop me off halfway. This sounded reasonable since no one had joined me (I needed eight more people to leave) in the hour I had been waiting.
It was a very scenic drive to Manakhah through the mountains and I may have even enjoyed it if I wasn't sharing the front seat with the fattest man in Yemen throwing his rejected qat and nut shells over me and been felt up the driver every time he changed gears which on the winding hilly roads was often. On the bright side the man who helped me out earlier spoke good English and was able to translate between me and the other passengers. So I spent most of my time answering questions on Australia, my thoughts on America in Iraq (there was a photo of Saddam Hussein hanging from the mirror, pardon the pun) and my thoughts on Islam.
As I arrived in Manakhah it was all clouded over so I had no Idea what to expect when I went hiking over the next few days. A few guys at the hotel wanted to be my guide for about US$20 as day and showed me on a map where they would take me. I just wanted to know where they got their maps. I've looked high And low and haven't found any. I reckon it's a conspiracy. They don't give maps to tourists so they have to pay for guides. Cheeky, very cheeky. Not that it worked.
Thankfully it was bright blue skies so I went with my 'wonder where that path goes' technique. I followed the road around to Al-Harrjah, one of those postcard villages where a tower house occupies every square inch of a rock hanging off the edge of a ridge. It was a obviously a tourist hot spot because as I approached the town guides started approaching me. One guy said, "If bad guide don't pay. If good as you like".
So he showed me around town, predictably took me to his shop, his brothers shop, his cousins shop, his uncles shop..... At the end I gave him a reasonable amount considering the contract. He couldn't hide his disappointment "I usually charge $10." I replied, "take it or leave it, as you like."
He took it and I went on my way around the mountain. After this the only people to approach me were children wanting photos and shepherds yelling hello from a distance before running up for a chat which usually consisted nothing more than "Where are you from?" and "welcome" before returning to their goats. I even got invited into a home for a lunch of spicy vegetable stew, salted milk and cardamom and honey sweetened tea. I have a theory that if a stranger approaches you with a gesture of goodwill you should doubt their good intentions. More often than not it come back at you. This sounds at little pessimistic and it is but at least on the many occasions you'll get screwed you expected as much and you can go about your day. When they do happen genuine acts of generosity will hit you like a smile on the face. Like this one did. I offered some money and they wouldn't have a bar of it. They even showed me a path over the mountain to the next village. Legends.
By the afternoon the clouds started rolling over again and I was worried I would have to back track my way to Manakhah. Thankfully the clouds hit the side of the mountain and hung there allowing me to continue on my way. I have a pretty good sense of direction and even though I had no map and had walked about 20km i was confident that thick cloud(when I couldn't see 5m in front of me) withstanding I could find my way back to Town. I approached from a different side to what I left and didn't recognise any of the buildings. I thought to myself if this isn't it I'm lost but it was and I saved myself $20.
The next day I went over Jebel Shibam rather than around it. As I approached the top I got sent away by two guys waving guns at me. Later the guides at the hotel would tell me there is a Military base on the summit and that if I hired a them I would have known not to go up there. I told them two guys waving guns had the same effect. This might sound strange but what really gets me isn't how high the mountains are but how deep the valleys go. There are villages down there that roads don't reach and must take days to get down there and back with provisions. I can see why the Sunday market in Manakhah is so busy.
This afternoon the cloud did come in but thankfully I was already on the main road when it did. I was a bit over walking by this stage especially now that I couldn't see anything and couldn't believe my luck when a guy on a motorbike offered me lift the 5km back to town. Legend.
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