july 2007
more dagger/rifle dancers. for a while, they gave me the chance to sit-in on the silver plate, which you can see in the lower-left corner. listen and watch here.
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the road from sana'a to manakha. this drive was possibly the best three hours i've spent in a bus. it's hard to imagine how Explosions could have recorded this album without having ever beaten this path.
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manakha means "the place where the camels kneel" -- basically a rest-stop. i've never been to nepal before. maybe this is what it might look like. [thanks jw].
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these terraces are hundreds of years old, possibly a great deal older. many are used for growing qat.
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alhajar. there's about 850 people who live here.
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alhajar was famous for its jewish community. a few kids pointed this place out to me as a bayt medrash.
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the star of a david is a very popular decoration in yemen, although it's quite possible this one indicated a jewish family or business was once here. the date in arabic is 1268 after hijra, which is late 18th century c.e.
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shahreena and heather in the mafraj after the hike.
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our escorts in manakha.
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our escorts to manakha.
before i left, my brother ian informed me that i would need an armed escort if i wanted to leave sana'a. skeptical as i was at the time, it turned out he was right.
the truth is that weapons in yemen aren't that alarming -- they're a fact of life. but if this seems alarming to you, learn more here.
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