Inside Yemen: A Country in Freefall 🇾🇪

The second half of the road trip, from Wadi Doan down to the coast at Al-Mukalla.

The through-line Harry sets himself is the one he flagged at the end of the first video and admits he could have overlooked: Yemen is ranked the worst place in the world to be a woman, and he wants that subject from women rather than about them. He gets it from a group of widows from the north, and from a woman in al-Mukalla who says she would drive if she had the means.

Around it: a khat market with competing sellers, a fish market where the Somali workers earn more than the Yemenis, a camel walking in circles to press sesame oil, and a stranger who insists over tea that this place is not Yemen at all.

Key moments

• [00:00] The framing — a country on the edge of collapse, the worst place in the world to be a woman, and khat.
• [00:31] Wadi Doan from the hotel, which he calls one of the most insane views he has seen. No tourists. The power went off for part of the night.
• [01:06] Checkpoints — up to an hour waiting for one security shift to hand over to the next. He names this as the only bad thing about Yemen.
• [01:37] The women who agree to talk, and his own caveat on camera that being able to pay is part of why. They are widows from the north.
• [02:12] Their answers: government help does not reach them.
• [02:48] The burka explained to him — covering the body so it is not an object of attraction.
• [02:48] The male equivalent, asked for directly: nothing above the knee, so shorts are forbidden in Yemen.
• [03:21] The figures — 6% of women in the workforce, over 50% of girls married before 18 — and the four reasons he gives: patriarchal tradition, a legal system shaped by Sharia, and a war that destroyed the schools and hospitals.
• [03:52] Stopped in the street by two men who want to practise their English.
• [04:23] Khalid, studying English, calls it a town of history and invites him home for coffee.
• [04:53] Their explanation for the absence of tourists, and their message: they love all people and are against war anywhere.
• [05:29] Gaza, named as what they want stopped.
• [05:59] The khat market — about half the people he has met chew it.
• [06:31] Around 30,000 for the good grade (from video – unverified), with good and bad quality sold side by side and every seller pushing his own.
• [07:03] Why it’s expensive here: it’s grown in the north, which is Houthi-held. Tough negotiations follow.
• [07:03] His description of the effect — about ten coffees.
• [08:11] Boys arriving on bikes the moment they see a camera, asking his football team. He notes how unusually confident people are here; India is his comparison and even there people are shy.
• [09:17] Al-Mukalla, the trade port and the end of the road.
• [09:48] Huda, on the “worst place in the world to be a woman” ranking, and on driving: if she had the ability and the money, she would.
• [10:53] Her henna, shown to the camera.
• [11:23] A sesame oil press turned by a blindfolded camel walking in circles — thousands of years old and needing no electricity. It has no name, so Harry names it Bing Bong.
• [11:56] The port is owned by the United Arab Emirates, which he offers as the clearest sign of how fragmented the country is.
• [12:31] The fish market — the main thing to do here, reached before the catch is fully in.
• [13:02] Somali workers, from directly across the water, who earn more than Yemenis because they are paid in dollars.
• [13:39] Around 6,000 a kilogram (from video – unverified) — about $6 for one of the big fish, which he calls very reasonable.
• [13:39] Saddam Hussein’s portrait in car windows all over the city. Jamal explains: a martyr and a hero for never betraying Muslims and for standing against the United States.
• [14:15] Generators, which the richer households run for power around the clock. He recognises them from Lebanon and notes the environment isn’t a priority anyone here can afford.
• [14:47] A second wedding invitation, and how different it is from the first — one day rather than three nights, the contract signed on the spot, and four people marrying at once. The bride is at home again.
• [15:56] Inside the preparation room of what he’s told is the best mandi in Seiyun — goat in every part, including the heads he declines to film.
• [16:29] Thirty goats a day, about $100 each. The cook has been to Malaysia to demonstrate his method.
• [16:59] Cooked outside in a stone oven, slow, with the rice done separately.
• [18:03] His verdict: some of the best meat he has eaten anywhere.
• [18:38] Tea with a stranger who tells him this is not Yemen — it is South Arabia, its own country until sixty years ago and British before that.
• [19:42] The closing: a transformative trip, and permanent gratitude for water, electricity, food and a clean bed.
• [19:42] What Yemenis themselves hope for — that people recognise their shared interest and unite.

Extracted pages

• Places: Al-Mukalla, Wadi Doan, Seiyun
• Country: Yemen
• Person: Jamal
• Tips: Walk into the fish market, Haggle with a reference price