Photo Journal
Chinese Year of the Dragon Celebrations, Bangkok (1)
Celebrating the Year of the Dragon (2012), Bangkok.
Yemen Journey: A personal narrative of my life in Yemen
The series Yemen Journey is a narrative of my life in Yemen – over eight years of ups and downs, lots of happiness but many frustrations as well. For better or worse, Yemen changed me for good. New installments in the series are posted every Friday (unless I’m traveling and don’t have access to the internet). Each post somewhat stands alone, but it’s best to read the posts in sequence.
1. Of Yemeni rest stops and a Lebanese woman
3. Najeeb, the lovelorn romantic
5. Baroque pearl (1): The adventures of being a woman in Yemen
6. Baroque pearl (2): The adventures of being a woman in Yemen
8. Seduction and forgetting in a Yemeni wedding
10. Death threats, pride and prejudice in Yemen
11. Bread and salt
13. Looking for a husband in Yemen
15. Between Beirut and Sanaa: a love affair
Posted on December 3, 2011 - by mira
The jinn doctor is in
The Arabic word for “crazy”, majnoon, has the word “jinn” as its root. In Islamic teachings, jinn are spirits that live in a parallel realm and can be good or evil. Therefore, perhaps a lost meaning of the Arabic word for insane is “with jinn”.
And it was spirits that we were seeking on the trip to Radaa, one of Yemen’s least safe places to be due to constant tribal battles.
Gunshots rang out in the distance. A wedding? It was an odd time for a wedding.
After lunch at a restaurant, where Yemeni men with wild Jimi Hendrix hair and bandanas casually kept their Kalashnikovs very close to them, it was time to go meet al-Obali, one of Yemen’s famed exorcists whose reputation had spread to other Arab countries.
He received “patients” at his Yemeni-style home.
Posted on October 28, 2011 - by mira
Where every man has three guns
The young woman was draped in black all over, her hands hidden inside black gloves. Others waited behind her. She was collected but in a hurry.
On the wall behind the man, a sign had pictures of qat, a jambiya, a gun, and a red x on each one.
The young woman reached into her handbag and pulled out a handgun.
Photo Journal
Creative pose, warring elephants
Asian youth pose creatively in front of a depiction of the Great Battle of Yuthahathi, with warriors riding elephants, in Muang Boran, Thailand.
Photo Journal
The Mon tribe dance, Thailand
Members of the Mon tribe are contracted from Burma to work in Thailand. The video shows clips of a Mon dance performance in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. This is the most interesting music I’ve heard in recent years! Look out for the little girl’s dance with lit candles in her hand, the drummer’s “flying” hair and the jester’s head movements. A must-see!
Random photography
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Videos: Hip Hop in Yemen
