TAIPEI TIMES THURSDAY, MAY 2 8 , 2 0 0 9 PAGE 1 3 itting on a concrete wall I gaze out across the broad anchorage that lies on the tip of the Arabian peninsula. There’s a wrecked Indian ship, hull upturned, a couple of ocean-battered yachts and a few distant container ships. Further away are the hazy mountains of Yemen’s interior and behind me is Aden, a great Spurple crust of a volcanic island attached to the Yemeni mainland by a causeway. This, I remind myself, is the Arabia Felix of the Romans, a land of fabulous mountain scenery and stunning architecture, the original home of frankincense and coffee, a place that has inspired towering stacks of sumptuous photography books. The rock of Aden itself is lifeless in the early morning heat, the streets that skirt the crag are empty. Everything here is either broken or dilapidated: the worn adverts from the 1960s, the faded hotels with their empty cocktail lounges, the grand entrance hall for boat arrivals with its archaic signs. This viewpoint, I reflect, tells the story of how a town can lose its place in the tourist world and go from riches to rags. Yousif, an out-of-work Russian-trained engineer who drives a taxi, points out the significant landmarks. “Just behind us is the Gold Mohur Hotel — that was where Osama A child walks through the streets of Thula, Yemen. bin Laden exploded his first terrorist bomb in The British government warns PHOTO: BLOOMBERG 1992. You know, we used to have tourists in against travel to Yemen, the late 80s and early 90s.” His finger moves some amazing food, most memorably, salta, on ... “In front of us is where the USS Cole was but that doesn’t stop tourists a foaming green monster of a fenugreek dish blown up in 2000. The 1950s and early 1960s enjoying its spectacular scenery eaten before qat sessions. were good for visitors — lots of ships — but Strolling around the market there are the that stopped when communism came. And and stunning architecture usual enquiries faced by any stranger, but no over here at the head of the causeway is the questions about religion, no attempts to convert Movenpick Hotel, looted in the 1994 war when BY KEVIN RushBY me and, I notice, no big beards. Previous the communists were finally defeated.” THE GUARDIAN, LONDON experience in Yemen tells me this is unusual. I nodded. A memory of The Movenpick night Next day in the villages along our route north, club back in 1993 crossed my mind: the image of and then in the town of Mahwit, I notice the a blonde Ukrainian belly dancer gyrating on the same. Has there been a sea-change I wonder table, an 11-piece Egyptian orchestra building up — here in the heartland of the Islamic revival? a fever, and a mixed crowd of tourists and locals For our party, however, there are more drinking beer and going wild. Aden did have immediate concerns. A phone call from Britain visitors then. It had a brewery too — the only alerts the group leader to the change in [UK one in Arabia. That world is long gone. government] guidelines about visiting San’a: it Yousif sighs. “Now we have pirates instead is “essential business only” once again, possibly of tourists.” invalidating some travel insurance policies. It’s a bad, bad world, and Yemen has long That evening there is some serious discussion see-sawed between the delightful and dangerous about whether we should proceed to San’a. for its visitors. Having lived in the place, and Perhaps it would be wise to linger here in the visited many times, I’d come back to meet beautiful mountains, before slipping into the a party of intrepid British tourists coming airport for the flight out? The group weighs up across to Aden from Djibouti by boat with the risks, consults guides and drivers, assimilates local adventure travel company Wild Frontiers. I information. But it is Gloria, a straight-talking and wanted to write about how one reaches those well-traveled prison officer, who tackles the issue difficult decisions: whether to go, or not to go; with both precision and brevity. “Look at it this whether to heed the warnings, or not. Where way,” she says. “I don’t give a flying fuck what the is that tricky line between courage and folly? I [UK] government says — I’m going to San’a.” also wanted to see if this lost corner of Arabia, The discussion closes with a unanimous one of the Earth’s most stunning landscapes and decision. cultures, is safe to visit. In the event San’a is as welcoming as anywhere in Yemen. This is the kind of city HOSTAGE-TAKING AND HOSPITALITY where someone might just come over and Yemen has long been one of those countries bellow in your face, “Welcome to Yemen!” Then that visitors treat with extreme caution, and not invite you to drink tea, or for an afternoon qat without good reason. In 1612 the first British session. My old friend Abdulwahab al Sairafi is visitor, Sir Henry Middleton, a director of the pleased to hear of a British tour group. “I had to British East India Company, came to buy sacks close my shop for lack of tourists,” he says. In of an exciting new commodity called coffee, previous generations Abdulwahab’s family fitted but instead was bundled into captivity, rolled most of San’a with the distinctive amber-colored around and spat out, ruffled but unharmed, alabaster windows that make it such a delight to some months later. Others, like the Italian wander the old city at night. Now he makes table Ludovico Varthema, here a century earlier, lamps and wall lights, but business is slow. were also taken prisoner, but treated regally. The Italian’s picaresque account captures both RISK ASSESSMENT sides: the mysterious romance of the country, At Hammam al-Maidan, a 16th-century Ottoman and its xenophobic brutality. Yemen was a steam bath house, I bump into an old friend, place where hostage-taking and hospitality Mohammed, and ask about the decline of the could become blurred. Yemeni beard. Does it signify anything? Since the late 1990s, however, it has been “The television pictures of suicide bombings violent extremists who have grabbed the in Iraq have had a big effect here,” he says. He shakes his head. “It’s the best place in the then zigzagging up 2,400m of terraced hillsides, town is in the heart of Jabal Haraz region where, headlines with several deadly attacks on “People are no longer sympathetic to terrorism. world to live.” most of them covered in qat bushes. The mildly among the villages perched on improbable crags, tourists. Just one day before I set out for Yemen, A lot of beards have been cut.” “Most foreigners might find that hard to stimulating leaves of this plant provide Yemenis many of the inhabitants are Ismaili Muslims, a terrorist attack on the US embassy led to the If ordinary Muslims in countries like Yemen believe. Maybe if you visited England, you would with a social drug that, as Nabil points out, never something that sets them apart from other deaths of 18 local people. The downgrading of have lost all sympathy with radicalism, then the change your mind.” leads to fights. Yemenis. I walk up to one of the settlements, Yemen’s security risk by the UK government was high water mark of Islamic terrorism may have He grins. “But I did visit England! I went in This mountainous escarpment of Yemen is enjoying the mountain trails that open up looking like it might be rather short-lived. passed. I recall an incident a few days earlier in the late 1980s and stayed for three months. I did the secret of its fertility: hot air from the Red spectacular views. The village is a warren of Down on the sea wall at Steamer Point in the town of Ta’izz. Wandering through the market like the countryside a lot, but ...” he shakes his Sea is forced up, cooling rapidly and creating a narrow alleyways, often simply bare rock worn Aden, a spot still presided over by a rather at night, inspecting the stalls selling bandoliers head. “In the towns, with so much drinking of mysterious world of villages glimpsed through smooth by centuries of human feet and donkey forlorn statue of Queen Victoria, a Frenchman and daggers, I notice that I am being followed. A alcohol, I think it is very dangerous — fighting mist. In the deep valleys you can find African hooves. The walls of the houses are white-washed appears, the skipper of a yacht. Isn’t it reckless smartly dressed young man 18m behind me who and everything.” Several of the group look like birds like the paradise flycatcher flitting among with bright zigzag patterns. Children call from to be sailing through pirate-infested waters to a stops when I stop. Alarm bells ring. Finally I lose the thought of a cold beer might send them into a stands of rustling bamboo. There are even a few windows and run after me excitedly. A donkey bandit-infested country — just for the hell of it? patience and turn on him. swoon at that point. leopards that live here, though they are hard- clatters past, apparently en route for home. “Pah!” He waves his hands in the air. “You “Are you following me?” We re-embark and set out for the mountains, pressed by an expanding human population.