"Yemen - Color Amidst the Dust" a Yemen Travel Page by flynboxes

According to the Lonely Planet's Middle East Guide book people who travel to Yemen and Saudi Arabia that visitors "tend to be almost festishistic in their singleminded fixation on the country"
My reasons for visiting were simply that I met a French couple while I was backpacking through Jordan around the same time in 04'. They advised me that if I liked Petra I would love Yemen. Knowing that I have never been steered wrong by fellow travelers I had to go. When I talked about it at home the first thing I heard was "Yemen??? Isn't that where they blew the USS Cole up?" (The US Navy and their inept shipboard firefighting skills reportedly made the situation worse after the initial blast by introducing oxygen to the scene before all the fires were out)....this was what I was told during my stint in the Coast Guard Reserve....
Yemen's reputation as being one of the more unsafe destinations in the world is unwarrented. I will do my best in my pages to avoid any negative
connotations about the country. While I was only here for a week I saw more guns druing a week in Lebanon (prior to the present conflict) than I did in Yemen. I acutally had to look for them here aside from a few checkpoints.

Yemeni's like other people in the region that I have met are great people.
They probably have one of the purest blood lines in the Peninsula...they can trace their heritage.. generations back. Being an American this is a bit of a novelty that few of us have...my own bloodline jumps the Atlantic over to Germany after a few generations. And for those that can speak (there is a high illiteracy rate amongst Yemeni's just under 50% and speak one of the purest forms of Arabic in the region....This combined with the low cost of living makes it an ideal place to learn Arabic according to many. The country has been referred to as a less developed nation but that depends on how you measure it. I met the group below in the Hadramawt Valley and the were considerably more well versed in world events/politics than their American counterparts. In the end.. contrary to the sometimes monstrous image that the US media portrays them as we are all pretty much the same. Getting a chance to talk to these people in their great land only compliments the visual stimulation you will overwhelm yourself with during your visit.

With tree/timber being almost nonexistant in the area most buildings are built out of either stone or mud brick. How they use these matericals is one of the things that makes Yemen so unique. Countless villages are built on hillsides or mesas which have made them easily defendable by the locals. This is also one of the things that has helped keep the country relatively pure since no foreign army has ever been able to gain control over the entire country.

These pages are a work in progress for me. I have over 200 photo's so be patient with me. I would be happy to answer any questions you might have in the mean time but I would also suggest talking to another VT'er like dutchwindmill who is presently living there if you want up to date advise prior to a visit.