Visiting Seiyun and Tarim In Wadi Hadhramawt
Seiyun is the largest town in the Wadi Hadhramawt, a 220-mile wadi which has a collection of 31 small sultanates with Aden in the middle. Hadhramawt is the biggest wadi (seasonal river) in the Arabian Peninsula and runs for 99 miles through a stony desert along a valley. This area has been settled since at least the 3rd century AD and brilliant green fields ran alongside the wadi. The area is also known for mud-brick architecture and palaces.
Northern and Southern Yemen are also quite different with many Somalis, Ethiopians (we have a trip planned to Ethiopia in February, 2008) and Indians in this area. Many Hadhramawtis migrated to Indonesia and Malaysia for work which resulted in many Yemenis with mixed Southeast Asian blood. The djambiya , a traditional curved dagger, is also outlawed in this area but we saw plenty in the North.
We spent two nights at the Al Howta Palace Hotel in Seiyun, with a daytrip to visit Tarim and Shibam. By now, Sarah had rejoined us (more dead than alive after her non-stop journey across the desert). Bill was medivaced to Turkey for surgery and his appendix had ruptured. The reason why we always take out insurance unless you have a spare $100,000 sitting around for an emergency like this. Yes...that is what it costs to get medivaced and medical care when an emergency like this comes up. Again, we use Travel Guard. Travel insurance starts at $30 and depends on your trip cost.
in Seiyun, young boys practiced their English on ex-Marine...and then we moved on again...
All of the 4WD's screeched to a photo stop when we saw women working in the fields around Seiyun. They were dressed completely in black with the exception of tall, straw, witch-looking hats on top of their veiled heads. Now this had to be one of the most unique sights in Yemen, and I even ended up buying a tall, pointy hat for myself in the market (less than $1). What a great souvenir. The reason for the extreme height? Coolness...more room for air to circulate. You probably knew this...I didn't.
Seiyun had an excellent suq /souk selling frankincense, myrrh and antique silver. This is where we finally ran out of money. So much to buy...so little money...
A visit to the Kathiri Sultan's former palace with its small interesting museum and continued to Tarim, a town known for its southeast Asian-style palaces and tall mosque.
Tarim also had the al-Ahqaf Library with its collection of 14,000 ancient Islamic books and manuscripts from the region. With rock cliffs on one side and palm groves on the other, Tarim is an important center of Sunni Islamic teaching. The al-Muhdar Mosque's minaret is 165 feet high and built of mud brick, a symbol of Tarim. One of our road stops was to watch the Yemenis making bricks in the same fashion bricks have been made for thousands of years...and then it was back to Seiyun.
