Hot hot hot!

Getting to Zabid

As a final exploration of Yemen, we are headed to the lowlands and surrounding highlands in the west of the country closest to the Red Sea.

Kim and I, together with Eelco who speaks better Arabic, headed to the shared taxi stand near Bab Al Yemen around 0800. But we were redirected to another place near the transport to Kawkaban.

The Peugeot 504 station wagon shared taxis in Yemen take a total of ten people including the driver, with three in the front row, four in the middle and another three in the back.  For extra comfort, bought an extra seat in the middle row.  The windy road took us near Manakha and I saw my first running river in Yemen.  It then got hot and humid.

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It was mid-afternoon when we got to a roundabout outside Hodeidah.  We had been told that this would be where we change for Zabid.  We had to walk a little bit to find a van headed there.  It was kinda bedlam with a psycho dispatcher who was hell-bent on filling every seat.  Well, that’s normal and understandable but it’s just his nature that was quite crazy.

Once we got on the way, we stopped at a petrol station.  It was bedlam again with people and chaos.  The people and the scene wasn’t like the Yemen that I know.  It was more like pictures I’ve seen of Sudan or Somalia.  And the people here are more African-looking too.

Exploring Zabid

In Zabid, a man gave us a short ride in his pick-up truck to the Zabid Tourist Hotel.  Then it got a little confusing as we were led to another site for our accommodation.  We later realised the first site was only the restaurant whereas the accommodation was a short distance away.

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Zabid is yet another UNESCO World Heritage site.  It has even more minarets than Sana’a per square inch … wish us luck with sleeping.  It is reputedly one of the hottest places in the world … and you’d believe it too from the way Kim carried on when the power went off (as it does in Yemen), cutting off the air-con in our little hotel.  It was definitely uncomfortable, and just beyond bearable for me.  We couldn’t cool down with a cool splash because the water tank was on the roof, meaning it only had hot water!

We went out for a walk around the old town when it was a little cooler.  There were lots of mud-plastered buildings along with some white-washed brick buildings.  Apparently the mosques are all white-washed but I didn’t check!

Our walk included a visit to the the Great Mosque of Zabid.  We also went into the upstairs of a building which had a nice mafraj (lounge) on the top.

But after having stayed so long in Sana’a and visited cities like Yazd in Iran, Zabid was a little disappointing.

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We had dinner at the hotel’s restaurant.  The power went off so it became a candle-lit dinner.  Back in our room, it was hot without power and hence A/C.  Sitting in the courtyard, we were hot and dripping.  Then Kim got bitten by insects and had to return to the room.  He wasn’t having a good time.  Eelco and I handled it better but still, it wasn’t exactly comfortable.

The power returned around 2200 after about 2h waiting.  I couldn’t wait for a shower.  We couldn’t complain about the water being cold.  In fact, it was still hot!