I Wasted no time in Sayun and headed straight for Tarim about 35km away. The drive through the fields,date palm plantations and Mud brick villages of the Wadi could have been through rural Egypt. Tarim was famous for two reasons, its mud brick palaces and Islamic scholarship. Most of the 'palaces' were crumbling to pieces but the one in center of town was still pretty impressive. I didn't come across the scholarship side of town until I was drinking Tea just outside the taxi station watching some old men playing dominoes.
ost.
Some teachers invited me over to have a chat. Like most teachers I had met on this trip they wanted to practice their English and find out about where I was from. When I said Australia they said that there were some Australians studying at the school and offered to take me to see him. It never occurred to me that people would come from all over the world to this little village in Eastern Yemen to study Islam. It turns out there were also people from the US, UK and all over South East Asia. The Australian was from Melbourne and after not speaking to anyone with a decent grasp of English for over a month it was nice to talk some footy and cricket again. He was also kind enough to give me a tour of the school and answered any questions I threw at him.
My good fortunes in cultural exchange continued when I was invited to the home of one of the teachers for lunch. From the outside his family home was just another mud brick building but on the inside it was surprisingly modern. As I watched BBC World on their wide screen plasma TV a plastic sheet was lay on the floor and out came plate after plate of chicken, fish, rice, salad..... My hosted filled my plate and thankfully gave me a spoon as I'm yet to master the art of eating rice with my hands and not making a mess. Anytime I got low it would top it up until I pleaded that I couldn't eat anymore, it was probably more than I'd eaten in the past three days combined. Though I was happy to note that his cousins would have eaten more than me. Afterwards the tea, coffee and dates were brought out (finally a decent coffee in Yemen) and we chatted again but this time mostly about family and religion.
After this I got invited to cafe to chew some qat with Teacher and soem of his friends. Until know I had kind of avoided it mostly because the people who had offered to chew it with me looked like they wanted my wallet more than my company. It was also the last chance I would have to try it as its illegal in pretty much every other country, so I went along. Qat tastes exactly like you would expect it to taste, like leaves. Kind of bitter and unpleasant only made bearable by continually drinking really sweet tea or gin gin (ginger tea). Its a pretty mild effect, it just makes you a little light headed. A bit like a smoke if you haven't had one for a while. It lubricates the conversation a bit and the usual discussion about family and religion went to learning each others language, Premier League and surprisingly women (along with why at 25 I wasn't married yet). They were really a nice bunch of blokes, they kept me well stocked with drugs, translated what was going on around me and one even offered me his mobile phone to call my family back in Australia. It ended late in the evening after the shared taxis had stopped running so one of them gave me a lift back to my hotel in Sayun.
Shibam is Yemen's third UNESCO site. The eight story building of the village tower around the nearby Wadi and it really is quite impressive. Only I wouldn't recommend you visit on a Friday. The only people I saw were shy children yelling Hello from high up windows and all the 'open houses' were closed.
Sayun itself was a nice town dominated by the palace in the center of town. It was short on specific things to see or do but walking along the souqs kept me entertained until my bus for Salalah left that evening.
The start of the bus trip was interesting as we drove through the Wadi but gradually the date palms and wheat fields gave way to the desert and dark. After the sun went down there was nothing to do but watch the wildly popular Mr Bean videos. We stopped once before the border for dinner in what would be best described as Darke Peak. I walked into the Cafe and straight got that 'you're not from around here are ya boy' look from the twenty or so people in the room. And my Arabic that was understood everywhere else in Yemen was met with blank stares. At about 2am we reached the border with no hassles on either side but the process took about two hours, most of which was spent waiting in the freezing cold trying to get some sleep.
ost.
Some teachers invited me over to have a chat. Like most teachers I had met on this trip they wanted to practice their English and find out about where I was from. When I said Australia they said that there were some Australians studying at the school and offered to take me to see him. It never occurred to me that people would come from all over the world to this little village in Eastern Yemen to study Islam. It turns out there were also people from the US, UK and all over South East Asia. The Australian was from Melbourne and after not speaking to anyone with a decent grasp of English for over a month it was nice to talk some footy and cricket again. He was also kind enough to give me a tour of the school and answered any questions I threw at him.
My good fortunes in cultural exchange continued when I was invited to the home of one of the teachers for lunch. From the outside his family home was just another mud brick building but on the inside it was surprisingly modern. As I watched BBC World on their wide screen plasma TV a plastic sheet was lay on the floor and out came plate after plate of chicken, fish, rice, salad..... My hosted filled my plate and thankfully gave me a spoon as I'm yet to master the art of eating rice with my hands and not making a mess. Anytime I got low it would top it up until I pleaded that I couldn't eat anymore, it was probably more than I'd eaten in the past three days combined. Though I was happy to note that his cousins would have eaten more than me. Afterwards the tea, coffee and dates were brought out (finally a decent coffee in Yemen) and we chatted again but this time mostly about family and religion.
After this I got invited to cafe to chew some qat with Teacher and soem of his friends. Until know I had kind of avoided it mostly because the people who had offered to chew it with me looked like they wanted my wallet more than my company. It was also the last chance I would have to try it as its illegal in pretty much every other country, so I went along. Qat tastes exactly like you would expect it to taste, like leaves. Kind of bitter and unpleasant only made bearable by continually drinking really sweet tea or gin gin (ginger tea). Its a pretty mild effect, it just makes you a little light headed. A bit like a smoke if you haven't had one for a while. It lubricates the conversation a bit and the usual discussion about family and religion went to learning each others language, Premier League and surprisingly women (along with why at 25 I wasn't married yet). They were really a nice bunch of blokes, they kept me well stocked with drugs, translated what was going on around me and one even offered me his mobile phone to call my family back in Australia. It ended late in the evening after the shared taxis had stopped running so one of them gave me a lift back to my hotel in Sayun.
Shibam is Yemen's third UNESCO site. The eight story building of the village tower around the nearby Wadi and it really is quite impressive. Only I wouldn't recommend you visit on a Friday. The only people I saw were shy children yelling Hello from high up windows and all the 'open houses' were closed.
Sayun itself was a nice town dominated by the palace in the center of town. It was short on specific things to see or do but walking along the souqs kept me entertained until my bus for Salalah left that evening.
The start of the bus trip was interesting as we drove through the Wadi but gradually the date palms and wheat fields gave way to the desert and dark. After the sun went down there was nothing to do but watch the wildly popular Mr Bean videos. We stopped once before the border for dinner in what would be best described as Darke Peak. I walked into the Cafe and straight got that 'you're not from around here are ya boy' look from the twenty or so people in the room. And my Arabic that was understood everywhere else in Yemen was met with blank stares. At about 2am we reached the border with no hassles on either side but the process took about two hours, most of which was spent waiting in the freezing cold trying to get some sleep.
Comments
Post a Comment