With all of my constant carping, you might wonder why I also want people to come out and visit. Well first of all, I miss you guys! Secondly, this place is a pretty amazing place to visit. The general consensus among students here is that 2 weeks would be the optimal amount of time to spend here. It’s long enough to see the sights (and there are plenty) but not long enough for the “adventure” to turn into a pain in the ass.
First off, the sights. This place is truly beautiful and there is a wide range of geographic variety. The mountains, the sea (Arabian and Red), the plains, the city, etc. The old city of Sana’a is worth the trip alone. There is no other place like it on earth, it is a UN world heritage site, and it is old. It’s best to visit the plains (which hook around the west and souther parts of the country along the water) in the fall or winter, otherwise you’ll get a full dose of Saudi peninsula heat and humidity. The other parts of the country are at a fairly high elevation, so they can be comfortably visited any time of the year.
For you westerners out there, the culture here is definitely worth experiencing. It is completely different from America and that in itself makes it worth seeing. Different food, different customs, different clothes, you name it, it’s different here.
If you are interested in an education in arabic, this is also a great place. Everyone speaks Arabic, Yemeni dialect to be sure, but Arabic nonetheless. If you are a muslim, this place also has many religious schools that date back to the time of the prophet Mohammed (MPBUH). To say that this place has a long history of hadith study is an understatement…
And lastly, it’s a really cheap vacation. This place is pretty poor, there are some significant downsides to that. But like I said before, with only 2 weeks, it retains it’s “adventure” status. A really good meal, as good as you can get in a restaurant here will set you back about 10 bucks a person. Typical meals will cost between a buck (for street food) and 5 bucks. The best hotel in the old city runs 68 bucks a night. The regular ones are closer to 35 a night. Once you get outside Sana’a, you can expect the price (and quality) to drop. There are what are called 5 star hotels here, but most people I talk to say that they are really more like 3 to 4 star hotels. They are very expensive (100-150 a night) and are never near anything that is worth seeing. I would recommend skipping them.
But what about safety? Isn’t Yemen a lawless, American hating hot bed of muslim extremism? I have to admit, I was appalled when I read the latest bulletin from the state department. It made it sound like the place is a powder keg and they do nothing but hate Americans. I have never had anything but positive reactions to the news that I am an American. Even people that may not be crazy about me would be very upset if something bad happened to a “guest” in his country. Sana’a is the safest city I have ever been in crime-wise. I never hesitate to walk through the city late at night, crime like theft and robbery is almost unheard of, especially against foreigners. I have a feeling that the combination of lack of illegal drug use, conservative muslim upbringing, traditional respect for guests, and very harsh punishments account for this.
Having said that, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if areas further north were more anti-American/west. The areas around Saudi are the very definition of conservative and poor. This isn’t anything to worry about though there’s no reason to go up there. I relate it to American cities. Every city has an area that it is not wise to go into, especially at night alone. Once again, there really isn’t any reason to go into those parts of cities any way. The worst part of Sana’a is safer than the best part of DC or NYC crime-wise. Even if you did want to go up there, the police won’t let you… You don’t have to worry about people from up north coming down to cause trouble either. They, along with most Yemenis tend to stick close to their tribe and homes. There’s really not much of a reason for them to come down here.
So, in short, this place is a very interesting, beautiful, cheap, and SAFE place to visit. I really hope that some of my family gets the chance to come out here (Nathan, are you reading this?) but I encourage anyone that is thinking of doing it to just do it. You won’t regret it….