Re-visiting Shibam
To avoid the daytime heat, we woke around 0600 to have an early start. We walked to town and caught a taxi to revisit Shibam.
Damn! The sun wasn’t right again, with the facade not illuminated by the morning sun.
Today, we made a better effort to walk around inside to explore the town’s alleys. It was good to see restoration works in progress. Mud-brick buildings plastered in mud don’t really stand up against the occasional wet weather without any maintenance.
We were all done by 1000 and back at the hotel for a rest. We stayed in our room for most of the time except for lunch and a swim.
Text continues after this gallery.
-
- Men chatting over smoke and tea.
-
- Maintenance work in progress.
-
- Maintenance work in progress.
-
- Curious children.
-
- Google: It is believed that these skin appendages are evolutionary remnants of a gland no longer needed or required by the body, hence its outward appearance. They serve absolutely no known function.
-
- Inside Shibam’s walled city.
-
- Around the alleys of Shibam’s walled city.
-
- From a rooftop in Shibam’s walled city.
-
- From a rooftop in Shibam’s walled city.
-
- From a rooftop in Shibam’s walled city.
-
- From a rooftop in Shibam’s walled city.
-
- Mud-brick buildings of Shibam’s walled city.
-
- Looking across the dry river bed to the other side.
-
- Looking across the dry river bed to the other side.
-
- Looking across the dry river bed to the other side.
-
- An accident waiting to happen?
-
- Across the dry river bed on the other side.
To Tarim
In the late afternoon, we taxied to Tarim. There was a good collection of mud houses against the backdrop of cliffs. But with the sun behind it, there were no good photos.
There was a big cemetery in front of the collection of houses. Again, I just couldn’t get the right light for a good photo. This seems to be the story of my time in Hadhramawt!
Per Wikipedia: Tarim is widely acknowledged as the theological, juridical, and academic center of the Hadhramaut Valley. An important focus of Islamic learning, it is estimated to contain the highest concentration of descendants of the Prophet Muhammad (sayyids) anywhere in the world.
Text continues after this gallery.
-
- Cemetery in Tarim.
-
- Cemetery in Tarim.
-
- Playful kids in Tarim.
-
- He has scars from burn or scalding.
Back in Seiyun
We taxied back to Seiyun to find restaurants closed. Street food beckoned. We settled for murtabak filled with a green herb and egg, with a squeeze of lime. Unlike in Malaysia, there’s no curry sauce on the side but it was still nice.
We finished the day with tea outside the Sultan’s Palace. We met a French man and his Slovak female partner and chatted with them and a local guide till 1930. With the early start and the early sunset here, it felt late.
I had actually met the French man in Old Sana’a some days before. I thought he had been staring (or even making eyes) at me. Now that I’ve met him and his woman, and know that they’re wanting to adopt children, I must have been very mistaken!