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food

A hint for nice breath

The last time I went to the Indian place, they brought the check (Al heesab) on top of a bed of what I believe were anise seeds. I asked him what they were and he indicated that they were for counteracting my onion, garlic, curry breath. I chewed on several and they tasted like licorice, that’s anise, right? I happen to enjoy licorice, so I thought that they were rather tasty. They did a remarkable job of neutralizing my breath as well. I expected them to be stronger, maybe they were only weak as compared to my recently consumed curry:-) I’ll have to pick up some of those seeds…

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Yemen

Yemen is trying

There is a flurry of activity going on after the first “Invest in Yemen” extravaganza. Some of the things sound quite good and I’m impressed by what has been proposed. One of the best things is the elimination of an entire division of the government. I don’t remember the exact names of the departments, but there are currently two different departments that foreign investors have to go through to get the required permissions. The president has make it clear that he wants what he calls a “Single window” approach. I think that that is his goal, to be able to go to one department (and perhaps one person) and take care of everything that relates to opening a business here. To start, he has ordered (not really sure how this works and who has jurisdiction over what) the elimination of one of the departments so that there is only one that is responsible for these sorts of things. That is going to be huge, making things simpler is much more attractive. It also removes a potential layer of corruption. In an ideal world, those positions in the old department would just be done away with and the government shrunk a little. My cynical view is that those people will probably just be reassigned to other parts of the government.

They are also going to lower tax rates (although they want to impose a sales tax), have generous land privileges (they will just give you the land if the capital investment is over $10 million), and try to get the weapons thing under control (see earlier post). One of the more refreshing things has been the admission of the amount of corruption and the toll it has taken on the economy and the investment world. Admitting there is a problem is a first step… only 11 more steps to go, LOL. A recent article in the paper talks about how the military police will start to crack down on traffic incidents involving military vehicles. It has become a bit of a problem, more than a few military people flout the laws, cause accidents, or otherwise just bully traffic. The police have also admitted that a lot of the vehicles that have the blue police license plates aren’t police vehicles at all, they only have them so that they can get through customs check points. Once again, they didn’t give any details on how they hope to combat this problem, but it is refreshing to hear them admit some of their problems. Here’s hoping that it is the start of a real reform that will move this place forward. Yemen, I’m giving you a break for a while, but don’t regress!:-)

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Categories
food

Back to the Indian place

I went back to the Indian place tonight. Had a ton of food, and it didn’t cost an arm and a leg. I have also found a new, cheap way of getting there. I can also get to Luchiano’s place that way. This is extremely cool because it takes my round trip from 1000 riyals to 40. I win!

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Rants

I can’t take it

I read yet another editorial going on and on about the American/Zionist hegemony, the failure of Iraq, and the danger that the US presents to the region. Look, I’ll be the first one to say that Bush and his buddies should be brought up on charges for this whole mess. We shouldn’t have gone in, if we were bound to go in we should have had a plan, and we have helped out iran considerably in the power balance scene. But for God’s sake, there isn’t any proof of us wanting to annex the place, and while we may be guilty of letting the genie out of the bottle, we are certainly not “responsible” for the Iraqis blowing each other up. The editorial claims that this has been one of the worst catastrophes of human history and that Bush and his neo-con buddies are just as bad as the nazis. First off, the author doesn’t seem to have a very good grasp of history. Even my history challenged self could probably come up with 50 worse things that have happened, someone that is into history could probably come up with a list of a 100 pretty easily. Yes, a lot of people have died, yes, the US killed many civilians during the initial wave. That’s what happens in wars, it’s the prime reason not to engage in them. But that number surely doesn’t compare with the carnage that Iraqis have inflicted on themselves. Say what you want, but the US does not target pilgrims, we do not target holy sites, we do not intentionally stir up sunni/shia emotions. As for the Nazi comparison, that’s not really fair to either side. Bush is no Hitler, I do not like him, but he has no “final solution” in mind, he (or the rest of the US) is not interested in annexing countries or expanding the borders of the US. On the flip side, the Nazis were organized, had a plan, and while they made tactical mistakes, they rarely made strategic ones.

Yes, Bush screwed up and dragged us all down with him. He has done incalculable damage to our foreign policy and wasted trillions of dollars and thousands of lives. But for the last time, that’s about all he did. There is no Zionist conspiracy (Israel’s most likely sneaky wish? They would have it so people would stop bugging them.), there was never a desire or a plan to “own” Iraq, and for God’s sake, we have nothing against Muslims (although you guys are really trying to make us that way.). The US now has a very well deserved bad reputation as a bully and meddler. The reaction of Iraqis blowing each other up and then blaming it on the US has solidified many American’s view that everyone over here is out of their freaking minds. That includes Israel incidentally. At this point, I think the people in the middle east will get their wish, I am sure that it will be a long time before America sticks its nose into this part of the world again. I am also sure that the US will then be blamed for whatever bad things happen over here because we weren’t here.

Sheesh, rant over.

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Categories
Yemen

Gun control in Yemen

Yes, that has always been an oxymoron, but the government is going to attempt to limit and control weapon ownership soon. The idea is that so called medium and heavy weapons will be banned altogether whereas “personal” weapons will be allowed with a permit. Pistols and kalashnikovs are considered personal, so I guess medium weapons would be higher caliber guns and heavy would be tanks and things that can take out tanks and airplanes.

This is going to be difficult. Tribal traditions place a lot of importance on weapons. Some Sheiks have their own armies and are at least as well equipped as the government’s army. I’m pretty sure they are the real targets of the new laws. I can’t imagine trying to disarm the Bedouins, that just wouldn’t happen…

We’ll see how much political conflict there will be over this. These laws are a pretty straightforward defanging operation, and people have every reason to be nervous about this government subjugating them. Here’s the thing, Yemen really needs to get the weapon thing under control. It isn’t as though there’s a lot of gun violence, but government control is vital to allowing the country to grow. People have to be under the same justice system, the same laws, and be on the same page if they are to improve economically. Right now, the “justice” system consists primarily of scattered tribes and their customs. Sheiks have their own jails, and revenge is an accepted way of settling conflicts. I think that Somalia has made this government a little nervous. Yemen is in much better shape than their neighbor across the horn, but one can imagine things getting bad over the years. I’m not usually a fan of a stronger government, but this is a case where the government’s weakness is holding back the development of the country. I wish them luck…

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Categories
travel

Ok, it’s official

I got my Chinese visa today and my brain has immediately checked out on vacation. That’s not good because I still have a couple of weeks to go. No problems at the embassy today, they were even open early(!?), there was no line, things went very smoothly. I guess practice makes perfect:-).

Categories
Computer/tech

New Rss settings..

I’ve changed a few things about the workings of the blog, I think the RSS feed is a different one. Those of you who were using RSS, you might want to check into that…

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odds and ends

technorati, again…

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food

Oh yeah, the Indian place…

…was pretty good. It’s no Handi (a great Indian place in Falls Church), but for here it is wonderful. 12 of us ate pretty large meals for around 60 bucks. It’s at on end of Sharia Baghdad. The simplest way to get there is to take a cab to the supermax store, turn down Baghdad, and it’ll be on your right about 2 the equivalent of two blocks down the street.

Isaac

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Yemen

What to bring to Yemen

For those of you reading this that are thinking of coming to Yemen, I have some suggestions on what to bring. To be honest, you can get most things here. The trick is that you may not always have the selection of quality that you’d like. If the higher quality stuff is available, it will often times cost more here than back home.
Here are some things that everyone, regardless of your length of stay, should bring.

1) Good shoes. That may seem obvious, but I recommend having shoes that have a relatively stiff sole. I have some really nice “walking” shoes, but they seem to be made for Europe/US streets. The cobblestones here are really uneven and lumpy and I find that my feet get sore very easily when I use these shoes. The ideal shoes would be light, breathable, with a fairly stiff sole. It doesn’t hurt to have them be waterproof. Sandals are very popular, but beware of burnt feet, stepping in “stuff”, and people stepping on your toes in the souk. I like my shoes thank you very much… I found a pair of Soloman shoes to be ideal (but my feet are now too wide). Can’t remember the model, but they have the “seamless” construction and have a soft shell.

2) A flashlight. When I first got here, power outages at night were very common. They seem to be not as common any more, but they still happen. It is very very very common in the other cities and outlaying villages. My flashlight stopped me from walking over a cliff in Kokahbahn… I have a 3 watt LED flashlight that uses 123 lithium batteries. I recommend a similar one highly. It is small enough to carry almost all the time, it is BRIGHT, and I get about 15 hours of useful battery life out of a pair of 123s. I brought 4 sets of batteries and I’m still using the first set.

3) Sunglasses. Make sure that they are actual sunglasses and not just dark glasses. You can get very cheap dark glasses here, just like all over the world. But if you are going to wear dark glasses, make sure that you are blocking as much UV as possible! Darker glasses make your pupils dilate, if you don’t have UV blocking sunglasses, you’ll actually be doing more damage with them than without them… One hint, prescription glasses here are pretty cheap. I got an eye exam, new lenses for my regular glasses, and a pair of prescription Ray bans for around $160. You can get much cheaper if you don’t want the fancy name brand. Bring your prescription and get new glasses!

4) Pocket sized English Arabic dictionary. Try to get an MSA or Fusa one. I don’t think there’s a Yemeni dialect one. The MSA will be closer to the locals speech than the Egyptian one will be. Most people do not know English, so knowing the words for bathroom, doctor, etc. can really be useful. There’s a good book called “Emergency Arabic” which is pretty good for those sorts of phrases, but it might be a little big to carry everywhere.

5) If you are coming from a place that really knows sun protection like Australia, the EU, South America, basically any place except the US, bring your super duper sunscreen. If you’re coming from the US, buy some in Dubai or Egypt or whatever connecting airport you go through. The US sun screens are really wimpy and oily in comparison to the good stuff.

6) Plug adaptors. The electricity is 240 volts here, but God only knows what kind of plug you will see. I have seen everything except the US style ones. The most common is the large 3 prong jobs. You can usually get a set of adaptors and that should cover you.

If you will be here for a while, here are some other things to bring.

1) A laptop computer. There are internet cafes here, and many of them will allow you to use your laptop. That’s a good thing since the computers at the cafes are inevitably slow, virus and adware plagued pains in the ass. I have not heard of any wireless spots outside of the school, but if you are willing to drive around the richer areas, I’m sure you can find a hot spot somewhere. Bring a jump drive as well. They are great for printing things at the cafes, much easier than trying to navigate their printer system, trust me… Also bring a decent laptop case, the ones here are cheap, but they suck and fall apart in no time. Once again, trust me…

2) If you shave with a blade, bring them with you. For some reason, the good blades cost a fortune here. Back home Mach III blades are almost a third of the price here.

3) Meat. This may sound strange, but if you are staying for several months it may make sense. It is difficult to find nice beef here, and of course impossible to find pork. I am wishing I had brought a couple of sticks of pepperoni in with me… I had a couple sharing this house with me and they had brought their own beef. They didn’t regret it.

4) A lot of patience and/or the occasional flight out of here. You really can get just about everything else that you’ll need here, but you will need some patience. I am assuming that you’ll be in Sana’a. If you plan on staying in an outlaying area, you’ll have to bring more stuff. Drop me a line if you have any questions!

Isaac