Seiyun

A city in the Hadhramaut valley in southern Yemen, and where Harry’s road trip to the coast begins. He lands here from Cairo and is met by his guide Jamal and a driver, Abdul.

The first thing he notices is how many people are carrying guns, and a feeling in the air he can’t place.

The gun market

Open on a central road, with no gate and no discretion — which is the part that surprises him. Stalls sell army gear, knives, uniforms you can dress up in, and weapons.

• A Kalashnikov, $1,000. Harry’s read is that this is expensive for the average person, and that people buy them anyway.
• An RPG launcher on display.
• A “bomb” quoted at $200, described by the seller as cheap.
• His guide’s estimate: 30–40% of people carry a gun wherever they go.

A seller gives him a necklace as a gift. Harry accepts it warmly and then notes the pattern he has seen elsewhere — in Egypt, he says, the gift is presented the same way and is followed by a price of about $30.

The wedding

He is invited on his first day, which he says is a piece of luck, and puts it down to guides willing to go further than a tour guide has to.

• A large tent pitched in the middle of town, dancing in the middle of it.
• It runs two or three nights, depending on how wealthy the family is.
• There are no women in it at all. Men and women are separated throughout. Harry expected some and says so.
• Marriages are arranged. You ask your parents to find a suitable wife and they go and do it; in some marriages, he is told, the man does not know who he is marrying until afterwards.

He also notes the stares as he walks in, and predicts them before he goes.

Mandi

The dish Yemen is known for, and Harry is taken into the preparation room of what he is told is the best mandi in Seiyun — the cook has been to Malaysia to demonstrate his ingredients and method.

• Goat, in every part. Heads and intestines included; Harry declines to put some of it on camera.
• Thirty goats a day, at about $100 each.
• Cooked outside in a stone oven, slowly, with the rice done separately in large containers. He compares the finish to a barbecue.
• His verdict: some of the best meat he has ever eaten anywhere.

The scale is the other half of it — a constant stream of customers, an operation feeding thousands, and a business plainly doing well in a country where almost nothing is.

Harry’s tips

• Go to the gun market. It’s open, it’s on the main road, and it explains more about the country than any monument.
• Accept a “gift” knowing what usually follows — see the gift that isn’t free. Harry names Egypt as where the same gesture arrives with a bill.
• Say yes to the wedding invitation. It came on day one and it was the best thing in the first half of the trip.
• Eat mandi. He rates it among the best meat of his travels, and the kitchen is worth asking to see.

Source

• I Ignored Western Media and Went to Yemen 🇾🇪 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxN5BcLetqA
• Inside Yemen: A Country in Freefall 🇾🇪 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy2AGeH8u3c (the mandi kitchen)