Gharib Ajib
July 18th, 2007 by Torstein Schiøtz Worren
Yemen is a wonderfully crazy country. Yesterday, while Kåre, my Norwegian friend, and I were standing by the street outside waiting for a bus, a car stopps and the guy on the passanger side leans out and gives us each a piece of fried fish. Initial attempts at saying no thanks is met with a smile and shaking the head and we are left by the road holding our fish… A few hours later we’re walking through the street and a police officer and his friend walking next to us are carrying a cup of tea each and automatically offer us a sip.
These are everyday occurences in Yemen. Each time you sit down in a restaurant, the people at the next table will offer you to partake in the joys of their fried beans. Sometimes, especially when I have been travelling on my own in the countryside, people are so forceful and telling me it’s ‘ayb (shame) not to accept, forcing me to sit down on the floor and sharing their meager meals.
At breakfast today, Kåre and me, eating foul (beans, beans and more beans) were sitting next to some rough-looking tribal guys at the next table. A friend of theirs comes by to talk to them and he is just as rough looking as them and furthermore carrying a Kalashnikov AK47 on over his shoulder. Seeing us he immediately breaks into a smile and asks us where we are from. ‘I love you,’ he says before he leaves to do whatever it is these people do.
Or like the day before, when we were taking a taxi and Kåre was telling the taxi driver in Arabi to keep going to “the bridge under the road.” The driver thought this was so hilarious, repeating it the whole ride, that he gave us the ride for free and just waved away my money while still laughing. Kåre didn’t get why we got the ride for free…
Other great news is that Kåre and I are going on a trip this Saturday for six days or so. We’re going to a place called Yafe’ in the southern mountains of Yemen. I have only come across information about this place in a book from the late 1990s and it sounded like a pretty crazy place. Kåre, wanting to write about tribes in his thesis, which he’s going to do research for over Christmas, looked into the place and heard that the tribes there are really strong and he also heard from a Harvard-professor setting up a study programme here that if he went there he would want to do his research there instead of in the typical tribal north.
It used to be on the frontier between the British colony of Aden and the Ottoman Turks in the north, and then later between North Yemen and communist South Yemen. The region has supplied soldiers and mercenaries for centuries to all kinds of political and religious causes, from the communist uprising against the British in the 1960s to the Mujaheddin fighting the Russians in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Yet, the reputation of the men of Yafe’ in Yemen is one of being honourable men and warriors. We anticipate to cause a stir and receive a warm welcome 
So we went to the tourist police yesterday to get our mandatory ‘tasrih’, a permit required for all foreigners travelling anywhere outside of Sana’a. It’s getting really difficult now after the attack on the Spanish tourists and also following unrest in the south due to the forceful retirement of army officers following the civil war of 1994. We did our best Arabic impression and got really friendly with the officers there and they were quite positive. But they had to call the boss who had left to chew his qat and he said no. Kåre tried to talk to him on the phone, but he was not co-operating. We tried everything, but all we got was ‘It’s forbidden!’ They were still friendly and sorry they couldn’t help us though, but less so when we tried to suggest a new route next to Yafe’. ‘Hey, that’s almost Yafe’!! I told you it’s forbidden.’
We asked if it’s always forbidden and they said it changes all the time so we suggested we come back the next day to talk to the boss and they said that, God willing, it would be ok.
So we came back this morning wearing our ma’wazes (skirts) and sweettalked the boss telling him how experienced we are and how good our Arabic is and that we’ve travelled everywhere else in Yemen, and not least that we heard the qat in Yafe’ is really good, and suddenly, before we had even played our last card (Kåres later plans to do research) he concedes. Back and forth a bit, but in the end we get our permit and the blessing of the main officer who we spoke to the previous day. Coming from an area nearby, he even gave us his private mobile number and the name of his brother who lives there. The lesser officers who had to do the paperwork were really surprised when they saw where we were going, but got shouted at when they asked if we were really allowed to go there. We felt like running once we got it in case they changed their minds.
They even told us that they have never given tourists permission to go there before. Not that anyone has ever asked though…
Now we just have to negotiate the check-points with soldiers who are not used to whities travelling those roads. We’ll give the ’sleeping Arab-trick’ and wear our skirts and shawls over our heads whenever we reach one and hope they let us pass. If not, we anticipate questions and calls to Sana’a to check our papers.
Saturday we’re off and back Friday the 27th at the latest.
Stay tuned.
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EDIT:
Found a clip on YouTube from the region, so you can get a clue about where we’re inshallah headed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jAGVgwh9mQ&mode=related&search=
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