| |
The purpose of the June 1990 expedition wasto see Aden and Wadi Hadramawt, to simply be there (i.e., to be ableto tell envious colleagues that we had ...), but the official coverstory was that AIYS president Sheila Carapico and board member BobBurrowes were travelling south to introduce AIYS to officials at AdenUniversity and the Yemeni Centre for Cultural and ArchaeologicalResearch in anticipation of the extension of activities of AIYS tothe southern part of the new Republic of Yemen.
The crossing of the old border on 17 Junewas marred by an unseemly incident for which we both wish toapologize to AIYS. There was a lot of pushing and shoving to see whowould be the first American political scientist to set foot in thesouthern part of unified Yemen. The scene was as unnecessary as itwas undignified, since a photo has recently turned up with anauthenticated mid-June 1990 development date and the image of agrinning Michael Hudson standing tall on the southern side of thissame crossing point.
Our efforts to establish contacts for AIYSin Aden were only partially successful, both because our travel plansnecessarily had been of a last-minute sort and because so manyYemenis were on the move between Aden and Sanaa onunification-related matters. The officers of the Yemeni Centre werenot in Aden when we were. We did meet with Deputy Rector Jamil 'Abdal-'Aziz of Aden University, and did introduce him and his staff toAIYS and its activities; he, in turn, sent us to the Faculty ofEducation in Khormaksar where we had a useful exchange with theChairman and Deputy Chairman of the History Department. The severalacademics with whom we met were enthusiastic about the newpossibilities for increased contact and collaboration with westernscholars, academic institutions, and research centers. They seemedto be expressing relief at the opening of new windows and at theending of at least a partial intellectual and physical isolation. They do want outside funding and other help for research, teaching,and other scholarly activities. They were very interested inSheila's description of the activities of AIYS and itsmembers.
More generally, we found the people of Adenand elswhere in the south to be very friendly, courteous, andhelpful. Several persons went far out of their way to assist us. The sense that this was the beginning of a new and probably betterera, and that the increased presence of Westerners was going to be apart of it, seemed to be widely shared by hotel personnel and taxidrivers as well as the academics and other intellectuals. People arenot defensive or apologetic about their socialist experiment. Instead, they admit the failures, claim some real successes, and wantto get on with the solving of their many problems. The welcome matis out.
The trip to Aden was easy, and securing theneeded travel permit (tasrih) was the easiest part of it: amatter of minutes at the Tourist Corporation on Tahrir Square. Whenwe said that we wanted to go to Aden via Ta'izz, the young officialfilling out the tasrih insisted on listing the several placesbetween Sanaa and Ta'izz: Dhamar, Ibb, etc. When we said that wealso intended to go out to Wadi Hadramawt, and probably should listit, he said: "Never mind, that's covered by listing 'Aden'." Iwondered how far this 'Aden' would have gotten us if we tried todrive to the oil fields near Shabwa or to Mahra and the border withOman. I am sure that this anomaly will be worked out of the systemas issuing permits to foreigners for travel to the south becomes lessnovel. [Editor's Note: In June 1991 the government announcedthat tourists no longer needed permits to travel in most parts of thecountry.] Oh yes, if you ask a Yemeni now whether a visa isrequired to go south, he will probably get insulted. Do you have tohave a visa to go from New York to Virginia?
The actual drive down to Aden is on a goodpaved two-lane highway which traces a great arc to the east andsouth, first skirting the huge massif crowned by Jabal Sabr. And itis "down," a gradual, almost unbroken descent from about 4,500 feetto sea level. Habitation and cultivation (indeed, vegetation per se)drop off markedly as you approach and go beyond the old border, andthis is less a matter of increasing socialism than of decliningelevation and rainfall. The increasingly inhospitable scene, lookingmore and more like the Red Sea Tihama, is broken by a couple ofgreen, watered wadis, and then there is the great oasis of Lahj. Thetrip covers 167 km, first the 62 km from the Sanaa -Ta'izz road justnorth of Ta'izz to the old border beyond Rayhada, and then the 105 kmfrom there to Aden itself.
And there is Aden, emerging out of thesummer haze as you approach Khormaksar after crossing Shaykh Othman. It looks like a volcanic island, but is a peninsula just barelyconnected to the mainland by a low stretch of sand. It is black,steeply sided, rugged, and mostly barren. Physical features clearlydemark and give their special character to the city's different zonesof activity and habitation: Crater, Maalla, Tawahi, and SteamerPoint. Across the beautiful bay and fine harbor is the smallervolcanic peninsula, called Little Aden, and Charles Johnston got itright when he said that the rocky heights of Aden and Little Aden"stick out into the sea like the claws of a lobster buried in thesand."
Aden is a wonderful, vibrant city, even inthe oppressive heat and humidity of June. It is surely shabby, drab,and worse for wear, but you can still see in a minute what itwas&emdash;and can again become. There are many restaurants, andseafood is the order of the day. The new Aden Hotel, badly damagedin January 1986 and now open, is probably first class. Beat up butwonderful are the old Crescent Hotel and the newer Gold Muhur Hotel,the latter facing on a small gem of a cove with a fine curved, sandbeach.
The relatively close-to-the-ground flightfrom Aden to Say'un in Wadi Hadramawt was very dramatic, and thedark, barren, mountainous Jol gave way suddenly to the beige andgreen that marks the long, wide, and deep wadi. Say'un (populationabout 30,000) lies 20 km to the east of Shibam (pop 10,000) and 40 kmto the west of Tarim (40,000), and these three large towns of WadiHadramawt are connected by a good, paved two-lane highway. All threetrace their origins to the Second or Third Century B.C.E. and arethriving now in the present century. Summer temperatures hit 115degrees F (45 degrees C), but the heat is bone dry andtolerable.
Say'un is the modern government center inthe wadi, and its major landmark is the sultan's palace, a massivestructure that now houses modest agricultural, archaeological, andcultural museums. It is a clean, sunlit, milky-brown and white townof mostly low buildings built in the traditional style with bricks ofmud and straw; it sprawls pleasantly and is surrounded by walled lushgardens and date palm groves. In one of these outlying areas,al-Garin, is located the al-Salam Hotel, a truly lovely structurewith two-story wings that contain 36 air-conditioned rooms (each withbath) and a good restaurant. The Department of Tourist Informationand Guidance has an office in the hotel, and is there to arrangetrips (and cars and drivers), cultural events, traditional banquets,and other things of a touristic nature. The office was operated byMr. Hasan 'Ali Shaykh Bahamid, and he proved to be a helpful andknowledgeable guide during our whirlwind one-day tour of Say'un andits two large neighbors.
Shibam as a whole was much less impressivethat the long, tall, wadi-facing fascade that fills the classic photoof the place, the one taken from just across the wadi bottom. After the old city of Sanaa, Shibam seems surprisingly small,compact and dense like Sanaa, but small.
By Sanaa standards, too, it is not veryinteresting to look at, lacking the former place's wild asymmetry andidiosyncratic decoration. Finally, Sanaa is a city and Shibam is buta town, and that also makes the former generally more interestingthan the latter. Having said this, it must also be said that theancient skyscrapers of Shibam are breathtaking. They are, onaverage, at least two stories taller than their counterparts inSanaa. Moreover, although built on stone fondations, they are of mudand sun-dried mud and straw bricks, apparently over some wooden beamframing. They simply defy my miniscule knowledge of the laws ofphysics. Remarkably, too, virtually all of Shibam is contained in anearly perfectly-drawn rectangular area: the skyscrapers within thatarea and empty, arid land beyond it. It is an odd place to thislayman's eye, and this may be one reason why UNESCO is working hardto conserve Shibam. The state tourism corporation maintains a smallhotel in Shibam.
Tarim, the largest of the three wadi towns,resembles Say'un in appearance more than it resembles Shibam. It isnoted for its builders and architecture. The al-Muhdhur minaret, 175feet tall, dominates the skyline, and the mansions of the al-Kaf andother great wealthy, learned sayyid families dominate the town'sstreets. These huge, boxy but ornately decorated brick structureslook strangely Italianate to this layman (is that possible?); one ofthem appeared to have a hundred rooms. The buildings of sun-driedmud and straw bricks being built today are every bit as impressiveand aesthetically pleasing as those built in the past and present inSa'da. Unlike the sensuous curves of the buildings of the latterplace, those of Tarim have a clean, square, functional modern look. (I was about to say that Frank Lloyd Wright would have praised thearchitecture of Tarim but, on second thought, I think he would havebeen equally taken by that of Sa'da.
Tarim is also famous for its scholars. Theal-Kaf manuscript library, a basketball-court-sized room withbookcases lining all four walls, holds some 5,000 volumes that wereconfiscated from or donated by the great families of the wadi afterindependence in 1967. It is the main library of its sort in thecountry, and is cared for by a number of traditionalscholars.
The state tourist corporation maintains theal-Gubba rest house, a good garden spot for eating and relaxing, andeven a quick swim. The corporation also maintains hotelaccommodations in Tarim.
The flight out of the wadi and down to theHadramawt coast takes one to Rayyan, the airport 40 km to the east ofMukalla which serves that city as well as Shihr and points east. Theclassic photo of Mukalla taken from the sea is as deceptive as theclassic photo of Shibam. Mukalla only appears to be pinned betweenhigh cliffs and the sea. Not at all claustrophobic in feeling, itspreads far inland along a tidal flat that skirts the western end ofthose formidable cliffs. It is a surprisingly attractive, bustlingArab port city (population about 50,000?), a little window on theworld, a little Aden. It is full of shops, stalls, restaurants, andcafes, and these places are full of people from the city, thecountryside, and the sea. The state tourist corporation alsomaintains hotel accommodations here. Glimpsed several times alongthe paved road from Rayyan and Mukalla, the coastline looks beautifuland inviting.
Aden's modern airport is comparable to thatof Sanaa, whereas the facilities in Say'un and Rayyan (Mukalla) aremore modest in all respects. Al-Yemda (now Yemen Airways) hasflights to and from Aden and both Say'un and Rayyan go several timesa week. The flights from Aden to Say'un (an hour and a half) andfrom Say'un to Rayyan (45 minutes) were on Russian four-enginepropeller planes, whereas that from Rayyan to Aden (1 hour) was on afaster Soviet version of the Boeing 7O7 that stopped at Rayyan on areturn flight to Aden from somewhere in the Gulf. The flights werecomfortable and the service good.
(A note of caution: Reservations to theHadhramawt made in advance from abroad should be confirmed in personupon arrival in Aden and again on the day before departure, becauseflights and planes seem to be juggled around a bit, especially duringthe hajj season and on the feasts. Another note of caution: Hotel reservations in Aden should be made well in advance becauseaccommodations are in short supply and the demand since unificationis high.)
A final word of praise: The local Adenibeer, "Sira", is world class, and the seafood is fresh and wellprepared by people who have been doing it for a long, long time. [Editor's Note: The Sira beer factory may be closed by the timethis issue goes to press.]
| |