Where the Paved Road Ends: One Woman's Extraordinary Experiences in Yemen

by Carolyn Han

Overview

In 2004 Carolyn Han left her comfortable life in Hawaii and a position as a college English instructor to live in one of the most remote and mysterious places in the Middle EastùYemen, known in the West primarily for providing a haven for terrorists affiliated with al Qaeda. The previous year, she had sold her gold jewelry to travel with Bedouin by camel from Marib to Shabwa, a life-changing experience that opened the path for her to become, in 2004, the first American English instructor in YemenAÆs wild tribal area, Marib.
Guided by fateful encounters and unfazed by warnings of danger, Han allowed her life to unfold as it might, illustrating her sense of trust and her belief that life gives us the lessons we need, but not always those we want. Han paints a vivid portrait of YemenisAÆ customs, including their enjoyment of the stimulant qat and their proclivity for carrying AK-47s wherever they go, and she conveys what it was like to be a woman alone surrounded by a culture not her own. As Han soon discovered, she was the student and not the teacher. Through her experiences, readers are given a rare glimpse into an isolated culture that most will never encounter.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781597977265
Publisher:	Potomac Books
Publication date:	07/31/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

CAROLYN HAN is the author of several books, including From the Land of Sheba: Yemen Folk Tales (Interlink Publishing, 2005) and three collections of Chinese folktales published in the 1990s by the University of Hawaii Press. She received a BA in English from the University of Hawaii at Hilo and an MA in comparative literature from San Diego State University.

Table of 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

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