The Year of the Rat Reading 3: "Motoring with Muhammed"

When I think of travelling, I read. I usually like to read something about a place I want to visit. Last summer I visited Yemen, and bought a few books on the country before leaving. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to read but one. Well now I have read the second. This one is about a man who loses some journals when he is shipwrecked off the coast of Yemen. The initial section verified what we already knew about the French: they are crazy. The latter half verifies what we know about the Yemenis: they are kind and they chew lots of qat. (My next book on Yemen is actually about qat).
I am looking forward to going back to Yemen this summer. Not so much because I read this book, but because it was a really interesting country. You meet lots of neat people while there as well. My friend, Paul, who has been living there for over a year (lucky guy) will not be there when I visit this summer, but he is letting me use his apartment (actually room). This will save me a bit of money. Then I am saving money by being a returning student and saving a little more money by recommending the school to a friend. What I really want to do is take a year off and go and study a language. Maybe in a few years I will do that. Until then I will just keep reading.
The book was full of interesting stories. It reallly made me want to go into the mountains of Yemen but unfortunately things have gotten a little more dangerous since it was written. It also has changed my mind a bit about qat, the drug that Yemen is addicted to. I have no major problems with the chewing of it, actually, but Yemenis spend so much money on it, that it is destroying their economy. Imagine spending your entire paycheck on coffee and then you would understand what qat is doing to Yemen.
Well I really recommend the book. I won't tell you the ending.