The traffic here is non existent in the morning when we go to school, that's because it is Ramadan now. Muslims fast during daylight, and are allowed to eat once it gets dark. Basically, they live at night during the Ramadan month. They're up till 4 am, eat a little bite before it gets light, and go to bed. They get up in the early afternoon. By the time it's dinner time, the city starts to come alive again. As soon as it gets dark, they eat, and eat, and eat. Apparently, during the Ramadan month, a lot more food gets sold. So much for fasting and purifying.
You can see people sleep everywhere. There's poor, homeless people, but also people who just lie down wherever they are and sleep.
Some of the pictures show some creative sleeping spots. The picture of the underpass shows a person sleeping on the edge on the side, it's probably only a foot wide. He has a rock in front of his head. I've seen people sleeping right under the underpass, in the dark, where cars are racing by!! I couldn't stop there to take the picture, and it was too dark. The other picture shows a guy sleeping in the shade of his little cart that is all filled up with bags.
Some of these pictures were done in the morning, the streets are empty. During normal business hours the traffic is tremendous. I'll do some 'traffic' pictures another time. Marian prefers to close her eyes most of the time, it's too nerve wrecking.
The pictures probably give you some idea of what the streets look like. Here and there is a nice building or a few stores. In between these places is a lot of trash, rocky areas, and just plain chaos. There is a lot of building going on, not so much as in a booming town, it just seems to take forever to finish a house or project. A lot of the houses that are inhabited have several unfinished floors.
Here and there you see some women moving around in their black abayas and scarves. One of the pictures has a couple of women tending a herd of goats, right on a major road.
More to come...
BY THE WAY, YOU CAN CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO ENLARGE THEM.
if this is the capital of the country how does the rest of the towns look like ? It looks like an anacronism... trying to build a modern state in a culture that is still living like ages ago... it is obvious that ther is not realy a common will nor organisation to start and finish what they undertake. I also can see the influence of Japan; China and other oriental countries. Somethimes i think that is realy sad that countries and cultures loose their identity by trying to "modernise" and to copy what the ocidental powers present us as the optimum life style and the road to happyness. I am looking forward for more of your impressions and experiences.
ReplyDeleteDirk
You'll get an idea of a more rural setting in our Socotra post, coming up.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, this is a mix of East and West, ancient culture and new technology... (more and more people walking around with cell phones, it really look funny at times).
I couldn't open these pictures, for some reason. My PC is pretty old - 6 years. I think PCs age 10 years every year.
ReplyDeleteAnyway I like your commentaries and explanations. It helps me connect to Yemen a little more easily.
I admire what you are doing. Imagine if we all knew other cultures, life styles, hopes and dreams. What a wonderful world it might be.