Graptolite - Through the Bab el Mandeb
Graptolite's Sailing Log
Martyn Pickup & Heike Richter
Wed 8 Apr 2009 10:08
The guide books were right about Aden. The place is hopelessly ramshackle
and dirty but it's also very interesting. The town is mostly clinging like
barnacles to the lower slopes of some big dusty mountains. There are some
fortifications still remaining that were once used with obviously mixed
success by us British to try to keep Arabia at bay but along with everything
else they are all falling down.
The night street market near the port was an education. I would guess little
has changed since the days of the Ottoman Empire. At a food stall, we ate
some strange-but-good inside-out pizza made with egg, cheese and onion for
dinner. This was washed down with chai made by boiling up tea dust, sugar
and dried milk on what looked like a jet-engine afterburner. Last time I had
tea like that was in the Himalayas over 30 years ago. Coincidentally, Tim
was there too. A lot of stalls were selling qat (the spelling might not be
right) which are privet-like leaves that you chew into a cud. I'm not sure
what it does for you as I never tried it but most of the users looked a bit
wild-eyed.
Tim flew home in the early hours of Tuesday to take care of business. By
Tuesday afternoon Steve and I were provisioned, had formalities completed
and were off. Soon after daybreak on Wednesday we were running through the
Bab el Mandab narrows at the southern end of the Red Sea in the company of
another couple of yachts.
M