Time passes so quickly, I think it is 3 years since my last visit.

Has anyone been more recently? My contact, Marcel, in Aden, hardly answers my emails, and then only with a few words.

I wonder if emails are monitored? He has been trying for some years now to Emigrate to Canada. But there is lots of red tape.

Anyone have any idea of how safe (is it ever safe) it is to visit. And how the population is faring at the moment.?

Email: don@snap.net.nz

Hi Don

I had plans to go back last year . I was warned off by some local friends who say the place is too dangerous to visit. Even Little Aden. There are demonstrations going on almost daily in Crater and Maalla. These are orchestrated by the secessionist movement and are being clamped down by the authorities very severely. Hopefully one day it will be calm again. I think you and i saw it at it's quietest a couple of years ago. Regards
Jonathan W

Thanks, ;Jonathan, I had feared as much. I have been thinking of a visit next year on way back to UK. Withdrawal symptoms...

Getting on a bit now and challenging the local forces and police not so inviting.

Last time I was back I enjoyed the trip up to the Fort on Sirah Island. A super wide stairway built all the way to the top. And I was prepared for the slog up the scree and rocks. Instead it was so easy.

Headquarters Middle East Command has gone and the Yemeni Army are stationed along the road from The Port at Tawahi towards RAF Steamer Point. And I hid my Video Camera from the prying, suspicious eyes as it had got me into bother on a couple of other occassions.

And I burst into the Office of the Police Superintendent at Tawahi Police Station. Thinking I would only have the guy himself to deal with. . Surprise...there was about a Dozen high ranking braided Officers round a huge table. Including the Chief Immigration Officer who started to ask me pointed questions. Exit stage left as fast as I could.

But the experiences when in Aden are unique and make for a great holiday that the ordinary tourist would not appreciate.

Maybe one day....??? cheers.. Don

Email: don@snap.net.nz

Hi Don, I have never been up to Sirah castle. I have taken many pictures of it from both sides of the rock but never ventured up. I had some fun with the Crescent police station. On my second visit I was on my own in Aden for 4 days , so I ventured into the Crescent and spent a very relaxed afternoon drinking tea and chatting to two senior coppers. Both said how they would like to see us back. Who knows one day it may settle down. i think we will have to wait a number of years for that to happen.
Regards

Jonathan W

Hi, Jonathan..... If you do go up to Sirah Fort....the front entrance, via the drawbridge is gone. But the new stairway takes on right round the back into a courtyard and the rear entrance.

Depending where the sun is it is dark inside and one should watch their footing.

I went up to it many times when in Aden. In most rooms there are shafts about 2 feet in diameter. I presume they go down into the foundations but do not know either their depth or purpose. As I was always alone I was not prepared to lower myself into them for fear of never getting out.

Beside where the drawbridge was their is a Long Drop Toilet. And in the courtyard at the back two more. From memory the waste ran down the walls at the back, and have resulted in a black staining.

Without looking at my video I think it is 5 canon mounts on the top so they could have fired in any direction. Half way up on the left their are other fortifications facing the sea and a few underground tunnels.

When I was last there it was hotter than I remember from 50 years ago. Seriously hot. From balcony of hotel in Crater at 0800 it was 45 degrees. Likewise at a similar time on Sirah it was seriously hot.

All this reminiscing ..... I must get videos out and have a look..... Don

Email: don@snap.net.nz

Hi all,
We almost got there a couple of years ago with a stop off on a cruise from Dubai to Savona but the stop got cancelled when Egypt kicked off. but at least the boat didn't siknk, it was a Costa cruise boat, but we ddid hit a dockside crane one morning.
love to all
Linda

Email: Altair625@gmaiL.com

HI Don, Hi friends
I am so glad to read this words and feel this feelings
I am from Aden and I am so sad because Aden at this days
not quit as you know .......
local citizen traveled from Aden due to killing and dangers
Daily demonstrations and weekly civil disobedience demanding secession from Sanaa
and authorities clamped down us very severely
I hope to back Aden soon as the past
I pray for you to be able to visit Aden
Thank you

Email: wxyz2007@hotmail.com

Hi, Khalil...... the unrest you talk of is presumably recent? I have had one very short mail from a friend, Marcel, in Aden, recently. He never says much so I dont know how safe it is there now?

He did mention that his wife had been killed in a car accident. But no details.

I wont be going next year, but, age and everything else permitting, maybe in some future time.

Don

Email: don@snap.net.nz

Nothing positive yet. Infact any news I get on line from Aden and South Yemen States is BAD.

In my imagination I stand in the Playfair Tank at Tawilah and wonder if I will ever return.....

Hopeful.

Email: don@snap.net.nz

Don.......

Maybe before we are too old to enjoy it we will be able to revisit the place. You and I are the lucky ones we saw it before the problems started. Best wishes

Jonathan Wilkins

I always thought we were amongst the last to leave and it is very interesting to see how many were still there some years after. We left about 1962 when, as I have said several times over the years, people were still throwing rocks and not grenades!

We were posted with BP to Milan and I remember a terrible summer when it seemed that each time we opened the paper, something sent out from England,one of our friends had been killed. We contacted some friends left behind in Little Aden and asked how on earth they were managing. They replied that they were still having barbecues on the beach and enjoying life!

Don't know how long that went on for but it was and remains, a salutory lesson in not believing everything you see in the papers!

I went back to Milan in 1992 and was disappointed in the developments. I don't see myself dropping in on Aden as I have such good memories of my life there and don't want to ruin them. Selfish perhaps but the news from there does not give me confidence at all.

I'm having fun at the moment dealing with Arabs from the Gulf States who are rather surprised when I give them the Salaam Aleikum. I think I went to kindergarden in Littyle Aden and learnt Arabic! (Jonathan, this needs a Spell cjheck!)

Best regards,

John

Email: shute.john@gmail.com