Running on Qat

I made it safe across the Gulf of Aden and finally I am able to read my own blogposts again. Mr.Meles, censorship sucks, you can trust me on that! (I am sure he is among the very few ethiopians who are actually able to read these lines).



As soon as I hit Yemen grounds it was clear that the people of Yemen are famous for their great hospitality and for their chipmunk style blown up cheek due to the consumption of Qat. The heavy seassion of chewing qat usually starts after lunch, when most spent a lot of their daily income in this stimulating, but mildly addictive green leaves.

In the afternoon you are able to see people passing by with hideously huge and sometimes deformated cheek, which usually does not hinder them to talk to you with qat-filled mouth.



It took me only 5 minutes in a taxi to get it offered to me by the driver of the car, who was chewing from a small plastic bag on his lap, while he was racing through the wadi street in old Sana'a. Sounds like another one of those silly Selbstversuche already? Well, we'll see - afterall Qat is an illegal drug in many country in the world...