Yemen Mukalla 7

The Bugshan residence in Wadi Doan

It was already dark when we reached Mohamed's village . From the road looking down I saw a road lined with street lamps leading to a building that looked from the distance like a hotel.
It was the Bugshan residence, like a castle rising up from the bare stone of the terrain, like a fairy tale castle transported to this bare windswept village by a genie.

We never got to see the Osama Ben Laden residence , but we were told that he had a large house there , but he has never been back for very many years!Indeed , he must be the most famous or shall we say notorious resident who hails from Wadi Doan.

The Toyota Hilux lumbered on like a camel onto the road that was not , to Mohamed's family home. I am told that the rains wash away most of the roads here as well. Another square 4 story building that had 12 rooms . It was now very dark and we could not see the village in its entirety . It was the price I and my friends paid for my carelessness in losing my passport or, perhaps it is meant to be , for having not had the chance to fully appreciate this mountain village , my wanderlust might just take me there once again in the future.

We were met at the door by Mohamed's mother , two sisters and nephew. They were very happy to see us and we had brought some gifts for them.

Mohamed's mother is young in spite of having r children. Mohamad is number 4 and the younger of two boys. I talked to her in my broken Arabic and we got along well in spite of the language barrier.

We could not stay long and she made Mohamed promise to drive slowly and take us to dinner on the way back.

Eating at a roadside restaurant on the way back to Mukalla

We stopped by a roadside restaurant where there were no tables and chairs, only partitioned carpeted areas where we ate on the floor , from a tray, Yemeni style and finished the meal with Chai , the sweet strong tea that is typical of the Arab world.

When we got back to Mohamed's town apartment , it was late but we had the difficult task of packing and throwing out whatever we could to lessen our luggage. In an earlier post I had mentioned we had too much luggage because we had to carry back exhibition materia since the freighter refused to carry it back.

At this point in time I remembered that our worldly existence is like a journey and understood well that traveling light was the best way . Blessed is the 'insan' who has few needs and travelled light!

In the morning , we said our goodbyes to the downstairs neighbour and went to the airport only to discover we had forgotten the long box of buntings. The very same box that had caused us to be late when arriving.

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise for , we were in excess by about 30 kgs having given away as many things as we could. Luckily for us , Mohamed negotiated with the airline people and we did not have to pay for excess luggage. Saying goodbye to Mohamed was not so difficult for we promised ourselves and him that we would meet again in Malaysia since he was coming to Malaysia again in January to continue his studies. He promised to bring the box of buntings with him and at the time of writing , the box is back with Mas!

Within an hour , we were in Sanaa airport.

Our connecting flight on Jazeera airways was delayed by two hours. That gave us a chance to meet up with a Malaysian couple who had been staying in Sanaa for three years.

Our meal at a restaurant in Sanaa. Bread on the table is typical!

Mas left with her a box of t shirts to help sell and the couple took us out for lunch . As in Mukalla , the restaurant immediately put a screen around our table so we could eat in private. The generosity of the Malaysian couple resulted in an overwhelming amount of food and I told them that there was no necessity for the huge tray of rice and I think a quarter of lamb! The waiter took it away and we had instead soup , Yemeni bread , vegetables and chicken !

Jazeera airways is like Air Asia and they did not tolerated access baggage. The ground crew looked at me and told me we were 17 kgs overweight. I stood dumbfounded for an instance and then asked her if we could hand carry some luggage. She said yes and then started to ask if we already had hand luggage and that we were only allowed 7 kg each. Before I could answer her superior called out to her that the line was slow and she was to hurry up and get the passengers checked it. It saved us because after Mas took out two catalogue stands, we were still about 7 kg in access.

Again I felt burdened by having to carry very heavy hand luggage but was grateful for the reprieve we got , Alhamdulillah!

Almost 3 hours later, we touched down and Dubai airport walked the very long halls with our heavy luggage , collected our bags , passed immigration and took a taxi back to the apartment which Mas's nephew shared with his friends.

As soon as we got down from the taxi I had an argument with Mas about dialling a local number.
I soon realised that all the time we were in Yemen , we never had any arguments that were as heated as the one we were having then and this realisation made me silent.

It was the energy of the place . In Yemen , no matter what troubles we were in the energy was calming. In Dubai there was a certain urgency and and certain tension in the air which heightened our emotions.

I will keep this in mind when I am back in Malaysia and working. I will bear in mind that the energy of the city is urgent and tense and will recollect the hills and valleys and the seas of Yemen and bring back the calming peace that helps me to surrender my will to that of the Beloved.

Hasbi Allah wa nikmal Wakeel.....

I think it would not be out of place for me to record the most important lesson I learnt from this trip.

I learned the true meaning of hospitality embodied in the the person of Mohamed, who had been longing to rest after a hectic time with the Malaysians in Mukalla only to find himself having to look after and entertain three ladies who were really rather unimportant, except to him, because we were his guests.

The End.....