Where the paved road ends: one woman's extraordinary experiences in Yemen PDF
Preview Where the paved road ends: one woman's extraordinary experiences in Yemen
W here the P r aved oad e nds Also by CArolyn HAn From the Land of Sheba: Yemeni Folk Tales relAted titles from PotomAC books Simple Gestures: A Cultural Journey into the Middle East —Andrea B. Rugh Fragments of Grace: My Search for Meaning in the Strife of South Asia —Pamela Constable High-Value Target: Countering al Qaeda in Yemen —Amb. Edmund J. Hull (Ret.) W here the P r aved oad e nds One Woman’s Extraordinary Experiences in Yemen C h arolyn an Potomac Books Washington, D.C. Copyright © 2012 by Carolyn Han Published in the United States by Potomac Books, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Han, Carolyn, 1941– Where the paved road ends : one woman’s extraordinary experiences in Yemen / Carolyn Han. p. cm. ISBN 978-1-59797-725-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-59797-726-5 (electronic edition) 1. Han, Carolyn, 1941—Travel—Yemen. 2. Women travelers—United States— Biography. 3. Women travelers—Yemen—Biography. 4. Yemen—Description and travel. I. Title. G226.H35A3 2012 915.304’53—dc23 2012014705 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper that meets the American National Standards Institute Z39-48 Standard. Potomac Books 22841 Quicksilver Drive Dulles, Virginia 20166 First Edition 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For Daood and Kamal Thanks for the memories This page intentionally left blank Contents Author’s Note xi Part I a Far-oFF Corner oF the World 1 The Journey 2 2 Places Find Us 4 3 Embracing Adventure 9 4 Travel Awakens 12 Part II aCross the desert 5 Camel Shadows 16 6 Crossing the Ramlat as-Sab’atayn 22 7 Into the Hadramawt 30 8 Walking the Desert 36 Part III BaCk to yemen 9 An Unmarked Path 42 10 Journey to Marib 46 11 Landing Head First 52 Part IV liFe in mariB 12 Awaking in Marib 58 13 Following Mohammed 62 14 No One Walks in Marib 64 15 Ancient Marib 67 16 Beginning to Disappear 71 17 Sunflower the Cat 74 18 Foule, Bread, and Tea 79 19 Black Goat-hair Tent 82 20 Confronting Conspiracy 88 Part V learning and listening 21 Queen of Sheba’s Temple 94 vii viii Contents 22 Ali’s Invitation 100 23 Eating Arsenic 109 24 The Looking Glass 115 25 Words of Condolence 121 26 Choosing the Veil 124 27 A Bedouin Tale 127 28 Disappearing in Marib 131 29 My Teachers 136 30 Rafallah’s Tent 140 31 Broken Images 143 Part VI neW Friends and old traditions 32 Sana’a 148 33 Living Traditions 156 34 Marib by Taxi 163 35 Bedouin, Russians, and The New Yorker 167 36 English-Arabic Dictionary 174 37 A Restaurant Guide to Marib 179 38 Blown by Desert Winds 183 39 Princess Shoes in a Fish Restaurant 189 40 Classics and Camouflaged Cars 196 41 Isolated Lives 199 42 Women over Sixty 203 43 Superstitions 207 44 Without Words 211 45 Spells Cast 215 46 Pre-Islamic Glass Beads 221 Part VII the end oF the Journey 47 Christmas 228 48 Wine and Cheese 237 49 Diplomas 244 50 Celebrations 250 51 Tarim 257 52 Mud Mansions 261 53 The Last Supper 267 54 Packing Zhara 271 55 Graduation Lunch 273 56 Gifts of the Desert 279 Acknowledgments 281 About the Author 283
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