Ok... sorta kidding about the danger.

The original plan was Egypt to Yemen then into East Africa. Yemen's been on every country's "do not travel to" list, but 2mos ago it got crazy dangerous... & I got scared. Decided better to head to Morocco & go around Africa the other way. Maybe Yemen would calm down when I got back around.

But I've been in a stalemate... uninterested in getting my ticket out of Egypt. Yemen's calling... & calling me now.

The problem? Well, Yemen's gotta bunch! Going on simultaneously.

For centuries tribesmen been kidnapping tourists as bargaining tools. 40 people a year average. But only 2 have died - both from botched rescue attempts. The majority go home well fed & with armfuls of gifts. Yemenis joke their country is so friendly that hostages only complain of being forced to drink too much tea. One German made friends with his captors & later went back to visit them! An Italian former hostage said "Too bad it's not possible to organize holidays like this because it was fantastic!" Obviously, this isn't what scares me.

Yemen is the 2nd most heavily armed country in the world. 60% of the people carry guns. (And all the men wear daggers like a fashion accessory!) But you know which country is #1, my own, the US. So again, this isn't what scares me.

Then there are the bombings. Yemen is the birthplace of Bin Laden & where the USS Cole was bombed just before 9/11. This year Al-Qaida's already bombed the US Embassy, Italian Embassy, an apartment building where Western's live (all in the capital) & an oil refinery on the coast. But they've got terrible aim & only killed locals in the general vicinity. This does scare me some... but the answer's simple... stay away from obvious targets & also everything near them.

What does scare me? Al-Qaida's attempts to kill tourist. Last month one top guy reiterated all tourists are fair game. But in the last year, they've only managed to kill 10. That's still a low number.

I'm a numbers person... I did the math & using the most conservative numbers, I have a:

• 0.03% chance of being kidnapped by tribesmen (which strangely sounds appealing...)
  
• 0.0001% chance of being within a mile of a bomb (but 33% chance of being in Yemen when a bomb goes off somewhere in the country the size of California & Pennsylvania combined.)
• 0.01% chance of being killed by Al-Qaida

Looking at these numbers, makes me even more determined to go... there to the land founded by Noah's son... home of the Queen of Sheba... the world heritage city of Sana'a... villages nestled high in lush green mountains... waves of sand dunes along the ancient incense highway... not to mention one of the only Arab cultures untouched by oil wealth. Soooo excited!!!!

inside a temple

For weeks I'd been hanging with this American girl, teaching her my expertise - sheesa-ology... but when it was her turn to teach me... boy did I get lucky...she's an Egyptologist!

With her & 6 other Egyptologist from the renowned Cairo Museum we took a long 14hr train ride... & although we rode 1st class, there was no cute fringed table lamps in the car or any hint of glamour... instead there were enough stains to play a "name that stain" game!

We arrived the next day & after checking into a great hotel with a beautiful garden restaurant & air conditioning (it's been 100 degrees in Cairo & I've been without air... so this was a major treat!), we immediately set out for some sights.

the family inside their home

After wandering around one great temple & walking thru the desert to another amazing site we were invited into a family's home for tea & bread... & despite them being extremely poor, they gave each of us a necklace & were the most wonderful hosts!

tomb painting

Hatshepsut's Temple

lunch in a archeologist's house

What would have been an ideal trip was somewhat squashed by all the transport out of town being full. We were finally forced to hire a private minivan to drive back to Cairo. Which doesn't sound bad... but because of the tourists shootings & other similar problems in the middle of Egypt, tourists are only allowed to travel with police escorts. Meaning a truck of police -with rifles pointing- in front of us & another truck behind us. And they wouldn't let us stop anywhere! Had to coordinate our potty breaks & they wouldn't even let us go anywhere except KFC for lunch!! It was like we were the bad guys... like we were prisoners!

All in all, a completely amazing trip! And I still can't believe how lucky I was to meet these fun, interesting Egypt experts!

In less than 24hrs, those painful, long metal rods in my arm come out... really, one... pulled the other myself Saturday night. Haven't seen much in Egypt... been waitin' for the pain to go away... gonna get another cast but that's just a pain not painful. So this all means... can no longer be a slug... have to get out there & start seeing stuff! Which leads into the next good thing...

 Thursday heading to the Luxor & the Valley of the Kings with a group of Egyptology grad students! Not only are they more knowledgeable than any guide but they know the heads of a couple of archeology digs there & will get me into the sites for free or half price!!

And on a minor note... got charged less than a local last night! Don't know if it was pity over my arm or the blonde factor but it was definitely a first!