The Yemen Chronicles - A day trip to Thula and Kaukaban

Hello,

As some of you know I've been in Yemen for the past two and a half weeks. It's my first time in the country of my ancestry! So far it's been an amazing experience.
There is simply too much that I want to tell you about this country, so instead of a rambling monologue I'm going to use photos to provide a glimpse of what lies within... Oh.. and ok I'll throw in one or two blabberings..




The flight to Yemen was pretty smooth.. this is a part of the Rub' Al-Khali (Empty Quarter).. its the largest sand desert in the world. If you want to be alone, its the best place to go.

Not only am I a travelling bum, I'm also a part-time shawarma/mango juice connoisseur.. So on the flight to Yemen I decided to try the "Shawarma with a date delight" dish.
The shawarma wasn't really a shawarma.. it was more like... a disgrace to all arabs!!!! How can an airline that calls itself Air Arabia sell chicken salad in an oversized hot dog bun and call it a shawarma?! I almost felt like typing an email.. but then I got lazy. And.. well, ok .. it was filling.. and the date delight was quite delightful.



Sooo I arrived in San'a.. the capital of Yemen, a gazillion feet above sea level. It's one of the oldest cities on Earth.. Some scholars say it was founded by Sham, the son of Noah.. Some people call it Sam City. It was declared by UNESCO as a "World Heritage of Mankind" site or something to that effect.. buut I'm not going to show you pictures of San'a (not today).
Instead .. these pictures are of my day trip with my cool cousin Maher and Aunty Ghania to the old mountain villges of Thula and Kaukaban.
San'a is already in the mountains, but sort of on a plateau.. so we headed towards higher mountains, in the mountains. Do you see those mountains on the horizon? That's where we are going! The landscape here looks a bit Martian.... Notice the camouflaged goats!



And we're getting closer.. I love mirages!



and some more driving.. around every turn was a surprise!



This reminds me of something I once read in a book that I can't remember



There are probably some crazy Yemenis up in that mountain having a cloud bath



The dog looks worried, dont u think?



Don't mess with Yemeni women, chances are.. they can beat you up!


And yes, we kept driving.. .. we're not there yet.



and driving...


Oh and here's our first sight of Kawkaban!!



People live at the top of the mountain, and in the valley or.. Wadi.. as we call it in arabic. A lot of the valleys in Yemen have been terraced to increase the cultivatible land. When it rains, you can imagine how much water they get! :) Right now its winter in Yemen, so they've harvested most of their crops.. If one comes in June, July or August.. everything is green.. I'm told it is much more beautiful.


Phew, so we made it to the top of this mountain.. we're approaching the town.





Kaukaban used to be a fortress town in the 16th century for the Imam (paranoid, despotic leader) of Northern Yemen. He would retreat here or to other fortresses when battling with the Ottomans.



It's common to see houses built right on the edge of mountains. In Yemen it's not a good idea to jump out of windows.



There is only one gate into the town.. it's just wide enough for a jeep to fit through.




Yemeni's are known for their flair for architecture. Notice the different shaped windows..






Women in the villages surrounding San'a usually wear this type of covering. My cousin/uncle Munir says that the whole act of covering up in public came from the Turks and was adopted by the Arabs.







Ah, the best sport in the whole world! Hadi, imagine getting the ball after one of your wild kicks!


These kids approached us with their wheel barrels as soon as we arrived. They had lots of touristy stuff for sale inside each wb.


But we weren't really interested.



Looks like a war of words!



I think the girl in green is like the big bully! She reminds me of you.. zahra.. heheh







This is the view from the other side of the village.. the side we didnt see when we were going up. And yes.. there are baboons in Yemen!








I wasn't sure what this green stuff was, so I took a picture of it.









This is the village damn. There was a little bit of water in there when I looked.



And we're on the road again.. now we're heading to Thula, another mountain village. There are Yemenis chewing qat in those big water pipes.



and we kept driving.. you can see some small scale terracing.



If you look closely, you can distinguish caves in this section of the mountain. People used to live in them.. back in the cave people days.



If you climb these stairs they will take you up to Thula.



We are not in the best shape.. so we continued to drive.. and here's the gate! It has some really old Islamic script on the top.. I can't remember what it said.
Thula was also a 16th century fortress town.. The Imam had one of his palaces here.. now it's a hotel.





At the very top of this peak. The Imam had his troops stationed. He also had small barracks built on many of the surrounding peaks. Soldiers were still posted there, up to three years ago.


We arrived here in the evening.. the sun was starting to set.. so we didnt have as much time.



We were followed around by a bunch of young kids. I started chatting with this one kid.. he was very friendly and kept telling me how old each house was and how many people lived inside.. I forget his arabic name, but his English name is "John", he has about 7 names for the 7 languages that he's taught himself. He learned the langauges simply from speaking with tourists. It turns out, it's common to meet kids like these in Yemen.









And then.. we drove home.