Part 3 - Yemen!

Many of you know that I have been waiting to get to Yemen for years now. Joey went long before I met him and then again while we were dating. It is a country that has a special place in our hearts and I have been anxiously waiting for the chance to go. Unfortunately it is incredibly expensive to get there from the states (we've seen tickets for as much as $3000!). Fortunately it is not so expensive traveling when you're already almost half way there!

We arrived in Yemen around 2 am and headed to our hotel. Since it is Ramadan lots of people were still out and about and the city wasn't quiet yet. Almost all of the women there dress in all black and most of them cover their faces entirely so that only their eyes show. It strikes you pretty quickly as you glance over a crowd of people. We settled into our hotel room and got some much needed sleep. Josiah had a VERY rough flight from Istanbul and was anxious to snooze (me too!)

The next day we realized that since it was Ramadan we were going to have a hard time getting anything to eat. No one gets up before 12 and even thing things aren't open. Joey was able to find some water and a little bread. So we munched on that and then headed out to see a bit of the city. We were staying in Sana'a, the capital city. Sana'a is the one city in Yemen that does get some tourists, so it has a bit of a western influence. They have a KFC, Pizza Hut and even a Baskin and Robins with REAL Baskin and Robins' Ice Cream!!! The old city - where we walked - is incredible. Most of the buildings are over 1000 years old and beautiful. The people there are great too. Always saying "Welcome to Yemen" wherever we went.

Some buildings in the old city

A shop owner in Sana'a - those are knives on the back wall, an important part of your daily attire!

Most of our time in Sana'a was spent walking around the old city, relaxing for the afternoons and finding yummy food in the evenings. Yemeni food doesn't have a lot of variety but it is really good. They make a fresh bread that is thin kinda like pita bread, but really nothing the same as far as consistency. It is SO good. They also eat something called "fool" which in Arabic means beans. They are basically refried beans, but oh so much more. The food really was incredible.

Joey and Josiah enjoying some yummy "fool"

After a few days in Sana'a we headed to Taiz. Taiz is about 5 hours south of Sana'a and it is the city where Joey taught English for a summer. He still has some friends there and we were excited to see them and hear about what is going on in Taiz. We were hoping to take a bus there, but again because of Ramadan things were a little messed up so we took a taxi called a "peugeot" Basically they take a station wagon, a small station wagon, and they add a third seat. Then they put three people up front, four in the middle and three in the back. It is pretty squished. We paid for an extra seat and sat in the middle. It worked out great and in no time we were in Taiz.

Cairo Castle built by the Ottoman Empire, we had a great view of it from the guest house.

It was really exciting to see the place where Joey taught English. I could imagine him teaching students and spending his days preparing lessons and meeting with friends. We stayed in a guest house that the school provides and had a wonderful relaxing time. We were blessed with an opportunity to have lunch with some friends of Joeys and to get the scoop on all the different things happening. We also got the chance to drive up Saber mountain. Unfortunately we couldn't find a taxi to take us all the way up, but we got to see some great views anyways. We also got to experience a huge rain storm and Joey got to participate in an English Cafe thing put on by the school. It was a great taste of the country and I truly loved it.

A view of Taiz from Saber mountain

It was a pretty short taste. Due to the fact that not a lot of people go to Yemen, there aren't many flights so we had to head back after only 5 days in the country. Little did I know that Joey had more surprises up his sleeve. We flew out of Sana'a at midnight or so and headed back again to Turkey, but this time we were renting a car and driving off into the countryside to some unknown city!