San'a

It sounded simple. Walk through the jambiyya (dagger) souq, turn left at the sleeping dog, pass the 17th century hammam, and follow the clucking chickens through a small door. There, I would find Ali and his one-eyed camel. A friend who had returned from Yemen a year earlier had given me an envelope full of photos, so armed with these and directions not dissimilar to the ones above, Osama (my former Arabic teacher) and I set off through the souqs of Old Sana'a in search of one-eyed camels. Of course, a walk in Sana'a's old city is never simple at the best of times, especially if you are looking for something in particular. Within minutes ...  Read the complete review

"If people knew how much God blesses travellers, people would travel all the time". This adage written by Mohammed about 1400 years ago, rung particularly true during my soporific afternoons spent chewing qat in the ancient capital of Yemen. If I had heeded the words of the foreign office rather than the prophet, I might not have experienced the late afternoon sun shining through the colourful takhrim windows, creating kaleidoscopic swirls on the plaster walls. I might also have missed the view across the biblical architecture of the old city, the daily calls to prayer, the appley smell of tobacco burning in hookahs, the Sananites whose frowns and curved ...  Read the complete review