Yemen Part II
Yemen Trip Letter Part II
http://web.mit.edu/akpia/www/AKPsite/4.239/sanaa/yemen.html - a good article on Old Sana’a
Part II covers the buildings, the old souq, what to buy, and my favorite topic FOOD.
The buildings in Old Sana’a look like they are made of gingerbread and trimmed with white icing. How could you not fall in love with a place looking like this? The buildings are typically tall and narrow with the top floor being dedicated to lounging and is called a Mafraj. I have decided to have a Mafraj in my house when ever and where ever that may be. It will have big windows, carpets, cushions on the floor, low tables, shesha pipes, and music. The windows of the buildings intrigued me the most with the wooden framework, unique metal hinges, and the colorful half moon windows above called a kamariah after the Arabic word for moon. I noticed the kamariah consisted of two different designs; the inside one being different than the outside one. I wondered why, in the first place, did they use two fan panels instead of only one and then why did they use two different ones? Was it a way to refract the sun coming in?
I also had many questions on how these kamariah windows were made. I have read the white trim of these lights and other decorative trim on the buildings is from lime and gypsum. The designs are geometric and intricate and many of the old designs came from the Jewish Yemenis. I assume molds have been created and the gypsum plaster is poured into the molds. But who are the artists and do they use computer aided drafting to make the designs? On my weekend travels outside Sana’a, I did see many of these kamariah windows standing outside shops ready to be purchased. I would have liked to have stopped and see what happens inside these shops but maybe next time. My photos will give you a better idea of both types of windows.
Having the school in Old Sana’a was a treat because my friend Jehaan described Old Sana’a as a living museum. Old Sana’a is a walled in city containing the beautiful old gingerbread buildings, a tangle of streets and alleys, clusters of shopping areas called souqs, food vendors pushing their wheelbarrow of roasted corn, sweets, nuts, egg sandwiches, or fruit, and throngs of people in traditional dress of robes and the local cotton wrap for men, the decorative knife called the jambiya, head scarves and the women covered in black.
The souq area is divided into different sections comprised of narrow alleys wide enough for small truck to make deliveries or walkways used by people, bicycles, motorcycles, and the infamous green wheelbarrow. The wheelbarrow or arabiya as I often heard people from behind call out and wondered what they wanted (it meant move aside a wheelbarrow is coming through) is everywhere and used for every thing. It is used for not only moving goods about but also to haul around the gas containers used in homes to cook with, and to rest in. I strolled through many of the souqs as I got my bearings using some of the minarets as guide posts. The souq areas, 40 total and over 1,700 shops, consisted of antique silver, gold, jambiyas, qat (the leaves they chew on), raisins, spices and incense, nuts, cloth, a very small one for carpets, the original food court concept, brass, windows, clay, stone, shawls, clothes, shoes, pretty much anything you can think of.
Another interesting feature of the souq is the camel driven oil press. I walked passed three of these rather dark and dungeon like looking places. It takes a whole day to press three liters of sesame oil. A camel walks around a small circular dirt track wearing something that looks like flying goggles and he is attached to the central pole of the wooden press. It looks like a very slow process. This is not a profitable business but I have read it is something their father did and their grandfathers did and they want to carry on the business. I have a photo of a camel standing outside one of these places.
Old Sana’a is a shopping paradise with the exchange rate being favorable. I limited my purchases to local items because most of what I saw there is also available in Saudi. My brother will get a jambiya for his travel wall in New Hampshire. The others things that weighed down my backpack on my return included: the local cotton wrap called a m’auz worn by the men, the colorful cloth worn by the older women, a candle holder using the designs of the kamariah windows, goat hair rope, a small wooden window frame that doubles as a picture frame, coffee, tea, raisins, frankincense, olive oil soap, a small wooden container used as a measuring cup in the souq (it was a gift from the owner of a shop that makes them because I brought over several groups of people to his shop and one bought a set of 4 wooden measuring cups) a small brass horse, a small metal horse designed to be used as a padlock, hanging lanterns, and Jewish silver jewelry. Through the grapevine at the language school, I learned of a silver shop with unique designs using the old Bedouin jewelry. Among the many silver shops, this store did have the best selection of designs for earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings. One night when I was showing my Yemeni friends this place, it was crowded with 4 Italian tourists – one in particular was buying out the shop to resell the items in Italy. He was there for over an hour but my friends did manage to find pieces they liked. After packing for the return to Saudi, I have decided to, once again, limit my shopping to jewelry. I will write that down as a New Year’s resolution.
To keep up my strength between classes and walks through the souq I ate locally. The food is cheap, fresh, and simple. Breakfast was a glass of milk tea and an egg sandwich. Down the street from the school was a small open square lined with pharmacies, 4 in total, juice places, a fruit store, a call cabin to make local and international calls and to use the “enternet”, a tea/coffee stall, and a place to get hot food. This square also had wheelbarrow food in the mornings and some nights. The tea stall consists of a man standing at a large gas burner roaring away to make tea and coffee to order. He uses the Turkish style coffee pots to make the hot drinks. The rest of the space is big enough for about three people to order a drink. The rest of the crowd yells over the roaring stove with their order. I would wait to make eye contact and then place my order. The tea runner would bring it outside in a glass to the small rickety table next door that belonged to the hot food stall. With the tea I had an egg sandwich from one of the wheelbarrow vendors. The wheelbarrow would have a huge pot of hot boiled potatoes, stacks of hardboiled eggs, soft cheese, bags of fresh, small, thick pita bread, and several colored spices to sprinkle on top of the sandwich. The white is salt, the red is hot and could be chili powder, and the yellow is maybe turmeric. You should try it at home, the sandwich is good. Start with the small pita and open it up half way. Spread the soft cheese on the bottom. Place about 5 slices of hot potato on the cheese then put the sliced egg on top. Sprinkle with the yellow or red or white or all the spices to top it off. The total cost for this filling breakfast rings in at 80 riyals or 40 cents. The tea is 30 riyals per cup and the egg sandwich is 50 riyals if you know the price. I also kept bananas, oranges, and apples in my room if I was running late for class.
From what I observed it is mostly (99%) men eating at the various cantina style places. I was always welcomed into these establishments and the food was hot and good. Twice I was invited to join a group for a meal. The first invitation was my first night out sitting at the rickety table by the tea stall. I was drinking tea and doing my Arabic homework when a group of three men sat down. One spoke English and we had a polite conversation until their food came. He invited me to join in and on the second prompting I agreed – I didn’t want to offend. This was a good way to try food and to ask what it is. This food stall made sizzling minced meat. It is served in a blackened stone bowl with long rolls and the three colored spices used on the egg sandwich. More tea followed the meal. Once they finished they went on their way. Lingering over a meal or after a meal is not the fashion. They linger plenty while they have their chew on the qat leaves.
On the other occasion I went to the donkey market by the square. It was crowded with about 50 donkeys and twice as many men stuffed into a small side square. The man standing next to me started talking to me in English. Turns out he lived in Germany for many years and picked up English along the way. He was working in the area putting up new phone lines. The conversation lead to a glass of Yemeni coffee followed by an invitation to the mid morning meal with him and the lead engineer at another place in the heart of the food souq. This meal was also the sizzling meat but with large flat bread. As the engineer stood in line with numerous others to place an order, we wedged our way between other diners at a rickety table covered with newspaper. As we waited a few minutes for the food I watched as the deliver guy would run off through the crowds with a piece of cardboard carrying the hot stone bowl with the sizzling meat and then return empty handed to run off again in a few minutes with another sizzling bowl. This was about 10:30am and by noon time places are closed for several hours. I read this is the time the men relax while chewing qat and it looks like they continue to chew qat until late into the night as I observed in the souq.
Besides the sizzling minced meat, I had other memorable meals. Jehaan took me to her favorite fish restaurant. The fish is split down the center and spices are added before cooking it. It is served with the large pieces of flat bread and a sour yoghurt dip that is on the spicy side. The lunch in Shibaam had a host of traditional dishes that were very good (700 YARS). Lunch and dinners at the local cantinas were a combination of rice, roasted chicken, fava beans, vegetables, flat bread, and/or yoghurt with fresh mango juice. Meal prices ranged from 300 – 500 YARS ($1.50 - $2.50).
I was very happy with the food and fresh juice. See www.clubphoto.com for pictures of the food.
Now that you are probably hunger, go ahead and make yourself an egg sandwich.
http://web.mit.edu/akpia/www/AKPsite/4.239/sanaa/yemen.html - a good article on Old Sana’a
Part II covers the buildings, the old souq, what to buy, and my favorite topic FOOD.
The buildings in Old Sana’a look like they are made of gingerbread and trimmed with white icing. How could you not fall in love with a place looking like this? The buildings are typically tall and narrow with the top floor being dedicated to lounging and is called a Mafraj. I have decided to have a Mafraj in my house when ever and where ever that may be. It will have big windows, carpets, cushions on the floor, low tables, shesha pipes, and music. The windows of the buildings intrigued me the most with the wooden framework, unique metal hinges, and the colorful half moon windows above called a kamariah after the Arabic word for moon. I noticed the kamariah consisted of two different designs; the inside one being different than the outside one. I wondered why, in the first place, did they use two fan panels instead of only one and then why did they use two different ones? Was it a way to refract the sun coming in?
I also had many questions on how these kamariah windows were made. I have read the white trim of these lights and other decorative trim on the buildings is from lime and gypsum. The designs are geometric and intricate and many of the old designs came from the Jewish Yemenis. I assume molds have been created and the gypsum plaster is poured into the molds. But who are the artists and do they use computer aided drafting to make the designs? On my weekend travels outside Sana’a, I did see many of these kamariah windows standing outside shops ready to be purchased. I would have liked to have stopped and see what happens inside these shops but maybe next time. My photos will give you a better idea of both types of windows.
Having the school in Old Sana’a was a treat because my friend Jehaan described Old Sana’a as a living museum. Old Sana’a is a walled in city containing the beautiful old gingerbread buildings, a tangle of streets and alleys, clusters of shopping areas called souqs, food vendors pushing their wheelbarrow of roasted corn, sweets, nuts, egg sandwiches, or fruit, and throngs of people in traditional dress of robes and the local cotton wrap for men, the decorative knife called the jambiya, head scarves and the women covered in black.
The souq area is divided into different sections comprised of narrow alleys wide enough for small truck to make deliveries or walkways used by people, bicycles, motorcycles, and the infamous green wheelbarrow. The wheelbarrow or arabiya as I often heard people from behind call out and wondered what they wanted (it meant move aside a wheelbarrow is coming through) is everywhere and used for every thing. It is used for not only moving goods about but also to haul around the gas containers used in homes to cook with, and to rest in. I strolled through many of the souqs as I got my bearings using some of the minarets as guide posts. The souq areas, 40 total and over 1,700 shops, consisted of antique silver, gold, jambiyas, qat (the leaves they chew on), raisins, spices and incense, nuts, cloth, a very small one for carpets, the original food court concept, brass, windows, clay, stone, shawls, clothes, shoes, pretty much anything you can think of.
Another interesting feature of the souq is the camel driven oil press. I walked passed three of these rather dark and dungeon like looking places. It takes a whole day to press three liters of sesame oil. A camel walks around a small circular dirt track wearing something that looks like flying goggles and he is attached to the central pole of the wooden press. It looks like a very slow process. This is not a profitable business but I have read it is something their father did and their grandfathers did and they want to carry on the business. I have a photo of a camel standing outside one of these places.
Old Sana’a is a shopping paradise with the exchange rate being favorable. I limited my purchases to local items because most of what I saw there is also available in Saudi. My brother will get a jambiya for his travel wall in New Hampshire. The others things that weighed down my backpack on my return included: the local cotton wrap called a m’auz worn by the men, the colorful cloth worn by the older women, a candle holder using the designs of the kamariah windows, goat hair rope, a small wooden window frame that doubles as a picture frame, coffee, tea, raisins, frankincense, olive oil soap, a small wooden container used as a measuring cup in the souq (it was a gift from the owner of a shop that makes them because I brought over several groups of people to his shop and one bought a set of 4 wooden measuring cups) a small brass horse, a small metal horse designed to be used as a padlock, hanging lanterns, and Jewish silver jewelry. Through the grapevine at the language school, I learned of a silver shop with unique designs using the old Bedouin jewelry. Among the many silver shops, this store did have the best selection of designs for earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings. One night when I was showing my Yemeni friends this place, it was crowded with 4 Italian tourists – one in particular was buying out the shop to resell the items in Italy. He was there for over an hour but my friends did manage to find pieces they liked. After packing for the return to Saudi, I have decided to, once again, limit my shopping to jewelry. I will write that down as a New Year’s resolution.
To keep up my strength between classes and walks through the souq I ate locally. The food is cheap, fresh, and simple. Breakfast was a glass of milk tea and an egg sandwich. Down the street from the school was a small open square lined with pharmacies, 4 in total, juice places, a fruit store, a call cabin to make local and international calls and to use the “enternet”, a tea/coffee stall, and a place to get hot food. This square also had wheelbarrow food in the mornings and some nights. The tea stall consists of a man standing at a large gas burner roaring away to make tea and coffee to order. He uses the Turkish style coffee pots to make the hot drinks. The rest of the space is big enough for about three people to order a drink. The rest of the crowd yells over the roaring stove with their order. I would wait to make eye contact and then place my order. The tea runner would bring it outside in a glass to the small rickety table next door that belonged to the hot food stall. With the tea I had an egg sandwich from one of the wheelbarrow vendors. The wheelbarrow would have a huge pot of hot boiled potatoes, stacks of hardboiled eggs, soft cheese, bags of fresh, small, thick pita bread, and several colored spices to sprinkle on top of the sandwich. The white is salt, the red is hot and could be chili powder, and the yellow is maybe turmeric. You should try it at home, the sandwich is good. Start with the small pita and open it up half way. Spread the soft cheese on the bottom. Place about 5 slices of hot potato on the cheese then put the sliced egg on top. Sprinkle with the yellow or red or white or all the spices to top it off. The total cost for this filling breakfast rings in at 80 riyals or 40 cents. The tea is 30 riyals per cup and the egg sandwich is 50 riyals if you know the price. I also kept bananas, oranges, and apples in my room if I was running late for class.
From what I observed it is mostly (99%) men eating at the various cantina style places. I was always welcomed into these establishments and the food was hot and good. Twice I was invited to join a group for a meal. The first invitation was my first night out sitting at the rickety table by the tea stall. I was drinking tea and doing my Arabic homework when a group of three men sat down. One spoke English and we had a polite conversation until their food came. He invited me to join in and on the second prompting I agreed – I didn’t want to offend. This was a good way to try food and to ask what it is. This food stall made sizzling minced meat. It is served in a blackened stone bowl with long rolls and the three colored spices used on the egg sandwich. More tea followed the meal. Once they finished they went on their way. Lingering over a meal or after a meal is not the fashion. They linger plenty while they have their chew on the qat leaves.
On the other occasion I went to the donkey market by the square. It was crowded with about 50 donkeys and twice as many men stuffed into a small side square. The man standing next to me started talking to me in English. Turns out he lived in Germany for many years and picked up English along the way. He was working in the area putting up new phone lines. The conversation lead to a glass of Yemeni coffee followed by an invitation to the mid morning meal with him and the lead engineer at another place in the heart of the food souq. This meal was also the sizzling meat but with large flat bread. As the engineer stood in line with numerous others to place an order, we wedged our way between other diners at a rickety table covered with newspaper. As we waited a few minutes for the food I watched as the deliver guy would run off through the crowds with a piece of cardboard carrying the hot stone bowl with the sizzling meat and then return empty handed to run off again in a few minutes with another sizzling bowl. This was about 10:30am and by noon time places are closed for several hours. I read this is the time the men relax while chewing qat and it looks like they continue to chew qat until late into the night as I observed in the souq.
Besides the sizzling minced meat, I had other memorable meals. Jehaan took me to her favorite fish restaurant. The fish is split down the center and spices are added before cooking it. It is served with the large pieces of flat bread and a sour yoghurt dip that is on the spicy side. The lunch in Shibaam had a host of traditional dishes that were very good (700 YARS). Lunch and dinners at the local cantinas were a combination of rice, roasted chicken, fava beans, vegetables, flat bread, and/or yoghurt with fresh mango juice. Meal prices ranged from 300 – 500 YARS ($1.50 - $2.50).
I was very happy with the food and fresh juice. See www.clubphoto.com for pictures of the food.
Now that you are probably hunger, go ahead and make yourself an egg sandwich.
posted by Becky of Arabia at 6:49 AM
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