Category: travel

family of four, 22 countries …

On By Rick McIn philosophy, travelLeave a comment

Karin Closson:

… We saw the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, Angkor Watt in Cambodia, the Taj Mahal in India, the city of Petra in Jordan, the Parthenon in Athens, the Coliseum and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Table Mountain in South Africa, Machu Picchu in Peru to name a few.

When you ask the kids what was there favorite part, they loved the self-drive safari in Namibia. Seeing zebras, elephants, giraffes and lions in their natural habitat was unreal and sleeping in a tent on top of the truck while you listen to the lions roaring at night was definitely an awesome memory. …

I will say that this trip has been the best thing that I have done so far in this life, other than getting married and becoming a mom!

I would encourage everyone to try something like this. It doesn’t have to be for a year or a trip around the world! You could go for 2 months and stay in one country! I really think the value in this trip was the time spent with my family, going off the beaten path …

read more – The Wrap Up, the final chapter!

family

Karin, Kim, Shay and Tegan (The Closson Clan)

food in Yemen

On By Rick McIn food, travel1 Comment

I stayed at the posh Sheba hotel, gorging on two buffet meals daily.

Mornings I enjoyed a pot of Arabian coffee with hot milk. Omelette with Foul (Fūl medammis) and all manner of sides.

breakfast

Fresh fruit and yogurt. Sweet lassi the mornings it was available. Staff at Sheba are mostly Hindi.

fruit

On every dinner plate was hummus. … And six or seven mains.

Deserts are fantastic in the Middle East. I’d sample 4-5 each night, always including variations of bread pudding.

My guide and translator, Malik, likes a local tea shop.

tea shop

… Yemenis take their tea seriously, and while Yemen may be the birthplace of coffee, it is tea that reigns king amongst hot beverages here. Drinking tea in Sana’a is more than just getting a caffeine fix. It is a way to watch the world go by, see friends socially, and let go after a long day …

Josh

Malik and I would stop, too, for inexpensive mashed potatoes. Super popular here.

Yemen potatoes

A number of healthy topping are available: salt, pepper, chilli, tomato sauce, etc.

The most impressive street food is hot bread.

Check the hand speed of the cook.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

more street food photos

Dar Al Hajar (Rock Palace)

On By Rick McIn gymnastics, photos, travelLeave a comment

Perhaps the most photographed structure in all of Yemen.

photo by Brigante
photo by Brigante

My pics …

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Our van load of gymnasts and coaches made the trip on Friday, Dec. 21st.

OK … more than a van load. 🙂

van of gymnasts

Old City – Sana’a, Yemen

On By Rick McIn Islam, photos, travelLeave a comment

I visited the Old City three times while in Sana’a.

Haunting, evocative architecture.

The old fortified city has been inhabited for more than 2,500 years and contains many intact architectural gems. It was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations in 1986. Efforts are underway to preserve some of the oldest buildings some of which, such as the Samsarh and the Great Mosque of Sana’a, are more than 1,400 years old.

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Surrounded by ancient clay walls which stand 9–14 metres (30–46 ft) high, the old city contains more than 100 mosques, 12 hammams (baths) and 6,500 houses. Many of the houses resemble ancient skyscrapers, reaching several stories high and topped with flat roofs. They are decorated with elaborate friezes and intricately carved frames and stained-glass windows.

It’s an active neighborhood. No museum.

… more photos

my Yemini wedding

On By Rick McIn anti-smoking, health & fitness, travel3 Comments

Unexpectedly — between sessions at my week long Gymnastics Coaching Camp in Yemen — I was invited to a wedding.

We walked over to an unassuming building. Inside were at least two floors filled with hundreds of feasting guests.

wedding food

Yemeni feast

Tradition is to eat as quickly as possible, with only the right hand.

feasting

From there we walked over to a massive wedding hall.

wedding hall

Guests arriving on time — hours early as everything starts LATE here — relaxed, chatted and chewed Khat.

Khat

Disgusting Khat:

Khat consumption induces mild euphoria and excitement, similar to that conferred by strong coffee. Individuals become very talkative under the influence of the plant. … Khat can induce manic behaviors and hyperactivity

Khat is so popular in Yemen that its cultivation consumes much of the country’s agricultural resources. It is estimated that 40% of the country’s water supply goes towards irrigating it …

An estimated 10 million people globally use khat on a daily basis …

chewing_qat

… Not healthy.

It darkens teeth, but doesn’t destroy them like betel. Yemenis have bad teeth, but it’s a consequence of not going to dentists.

Yemini men

Yemini boy

more photos

… Oh yes. You might have noticed that there is not one woman or girl anywhere to be seen. Yet there must be at least one woman secreted away somewhere.

🙂

Saudi shopping malls

On By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

In Japan in the early 1990s, my most vivid memory is entering a shopping Mall when they first open in the morning. You are formally greeted by dozens, or hundreds, of employees. 🙂

Visiting the Riyadh Gallery Mall was interesting, too.

During Prayer — 5 times a day — all shops must close. Every customer — mostly women — mingle in the common areas. Or go to the Mall Mosque.

It’s a good time for (discrete) people watching.

saudi-shopping

SUSAN TAYLOR MARTIN:

Saudi Arabia is a conservative Islamic country with no movie theaters, bars or discos. For that reason, Saudis tend to spend a lot of time hanging out at the mall. But for all their Western-style glitz, malls also reflect Saudi culture … sexes remain largely segregated. …

shoppingphotos

Shopping in Saudi Arabia offers a glimpse of the strict cultural codes that govern the entire society. Here, a Saudi woman passes mannequins in the Kindom Center in Riyadh that are legal because they have no heads. RIGHT: Because Saudi men and women are only permitted to work together in hospitals, all the sales people in Kingdom Center’s mixed floors are male foreign workers, such as this man helping two Saudi women who are shopping for a watch. …

Hanging out at the Mall, Saudi style

Qatar National Day

On By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

… celebrated on December 18 every year. The holiday was established by a June 21, 2007 decree of the Emir and Heir Apparent Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.

December 18 is the day Qatar commemorates the founding of the state of Qatar on 18 December 1878. …

Qatar

In pictures: Qatar National Day