I dreamed I live in Yemen. We had been warned of the bombings, at least three days in advance. Some people attempted to store whatever grain they could store, underground. Rice, wheat and barley. They believed that after 10 years they would be able to retrieve it and plant their crops again.
The siren was really loud and the bombs, the noise of the bombs careening into our village was very, very loud. Along with the screams. Children were being ripped apart. Body parts, limbs and blood everywhere. We ran for cover under our house but we just are not certain how long we can remain there. It is a terrible day.
Brick Laborers
Local Children
Dedicated to the Sun God
Market Place
I found this website that gives a good picture of Yemen. Can we say that the US military have any clue about these people, what is important to them, and how they live their lives??
For pics of Yemen see: http://www.2canadiansonbikes.com/Photo%20Yemen.html
Yemen Trip from March 17 to April 04, 2006http://www.2canadiansonbikes.com/Journal%20Yemen.htmlCountry: Yemen Duration: March 17 to April 04, 2006 Distance Traveled in the Country: ~ 3000 km Memorable Impressions of the Country: Yemen has exceeded our expectations in a very positive way. Most people coming to Yemen are on organized tours, sheltered in pre-booked high end hotels, transported in convoy of 4WD's and escorted by police. We truly feel we have experienced Yemen. The motorcycle has given us the opportunity to be approachable anywhere we stopped. Yemeni people will go out of their way to help you. They are very proud of their country. Even though it is a poor country, the people are happy. We can't count all the smiling faces and laughing eyes we have seen. The western media has blown the situation in Yemen totally out of proportion. There are definite areas with civil unrest (and we have seen it), but in the most part the people are very peaceful. Guns and daggers are very visible, and part of their culture. At no point of our journey did we feel unsave. In addition to its helpful and friendly people, Yemen offers one of most spectacular landscapes. From the desert and no mans land in the west to enormous mountain ranges in the east. Yemen has several World Heritage sites very accessible to the public. We both experienced one of the most memorial days in our lives in Yemen. When I think of Yemen I get emotional, because it has given us so much, a true taste of Arabic people and culture and new found respect for the Muslim religion. People here are much more affectionate toward each other, something that our western society has lost a long time ago. As we traveled through this country we asked ourselves numerous times, who has a better life and there is no answer. Most Yemeni people have a hard life and barely make ends meet, but they are still happy. We will remember forever the dozens of people surrounding us at every stop, welcoming us to Yemen and asking a million questions. Gasoline Cost: Varies from place to place. All gas is leaded and no per litre cost indicated at the pumps. Approx. $0.40/litre Hotel Cost: On average about $30.00CDN Food & Drink Cost: Very Cheap. There is no consistency in pricing. Special Thanks to: Adnan (Yemen), Addy (Yemen), Nader (Canada), Zahara (Canada), who helped us enormously to make this trip happen. |
Wikipedia:
Yemen is one of the oldest centers of civilization in the Near East.[1] Its relatively fertile land and adequate rainfall in a moister climate helped sustain a stable population, a feature recognized by the ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy, who described Yemen as Eudaimon Arabia (better known in its Latin translation, Arabia Felix) meaning "fortunate Arabia" or Happy Arabia. Between the 12th century BCE and the 6th century CE, it was dominated by six successive civilizations which rivaled each other, or were allied with each other and controlled the lucrative spice trade: M'ain, Qataban, Hadhramaut, Awsan, Saba and Himyarite.[2] Islam arrived in 630 CE, and Yemen became part of the Muslim realm.
The Yemeni desert regions (Rub' al Khali and Sayhad) were the core settlements of the Nomadic Semites that would migrate to the North, settling Akkad, later penetrating Mesopotamia,[3] eventually conquering Sumer by 2300 BCE, and assimilating the Amorites of Syria.
Some scholars[who?] believe that Yemen remains the only region in the world that is exclusively Semitic, meaning that Yemen historically did not have any non-Semitic speaking people. Yemeni Semites derived their Musnad script by the 12th - 8th centuries BCE, which explains why most historians will date all the ancient Yemeni kingdoms to the 12th - 8th centuries BCE.
Fabled Enemies
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