I had never considered visiting North Yemen. I arrived quite by accident while sailing with four others from the Maldives to Athens by way of the Red Sea. The little I had heard about Yemen convinced me that it was a place I didn't want to visit, although the rumors were tempting enough. There were stories that the entire male population was hopelessly addicted to a narcotic leaf called qat, that the men wore skirts, and that during public circumcisions the foreskin was thrown into the crowd, where people rolled on it as a sign of joy. If this was how friends and family members fared, I wondered, what would happen to people the Yemenis didn't like? Intertribal warfare had been going on for 1500 years, and child brides were sold for twenty times the average yearly income. Alcohol was prohibited, and before having intercourse husbands were known to mutter "Bismillah" (In the name of God). It didn't sound like my kind of place.
- From Motoring with Mohammed: Journeys to Yemen and the Red Sea by Eric Hansen
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