Travel Tips

Onward to Hammam Damt. Travelling, there are three options other than a private $WD or private taxi. Around towns and cities are the feisty little mini buses. At around 20 riyals a ride (10c / 5p) they are cheap, frequent, fast and fun.

For longer journeys up to two hours I take a shared, or service taxi. These can potentially be a little terrifying, depending on the driver. Usually a Peugeot 405 estate, they leave when full, which means a standard ten passengers plus driver. A little cramped, to say the least, but they are unavoidably sociable, where passengers share food and drink, chat and qat. Total strangers become best pals in minutes.

Anything longer, which in my case was only two journeys, I take a more comfortable, if slower coach.

Jumping into a shared taxi this time, I greeted everyone as normal and waited to leave. A middle aged man next to me, speaking no English, gave me an Arabic coin that had a loop soldered onto it so it could be worn as a pendant. It probably wasn’t worth much, not in a monetary sense at least. But such spontaneous generosity is, for me, absolutely priceless. Lately, I haven’t been able to find it. I think I've accidentally spent it. What a muppet.

Hammam Damt is a village in the most volcanically active part of Yemen. That is not to say there are any erupting volcanoes here sadly, but there are many hot springs.

I had wanted to stay in a hotel with a hot spring swimming pool, but declined over the price. Instead, I opted for one that promised an ensuite with a hot spring shower. The receptionist showed me to the room, proudly reiterating that the water for the shower came from the underground hot springs. Why then, I pointed out, was there an enormous boiler mounted beside the shower head with a red electric light on? Oh… he hadn't noticed that before. Rolling my eyes, I took the room anyway.

I climbed a rather odd, small volcano near the town. It had a natural, level walkway around the crater rim from where I could look down into a green lake below.

Some of the backstreets of the town were several inches deep in litter and debris. Most Yemeni towns are like this, the whole concept of waste disposal, let alone recycling, being a complete mystery.

Small plastic bags proliferate the countryside, creating 'bag trees' and 'bag fields' as they become entangled in anything and everything. Littered on the ground, the predominantly pink and blue mosaic gives the unsightly impression of toilet paper at a sewerage outlet.

Moving on, I traveled to the most southerly point, the city of Aden.

(.. continue)