Motoring with Mohammed

OK so best to acknowledge first up, the title of this book is not great. I don't favour it, because ultimately, he spent only a chapter with Mohammed, a driver / guide, when he first arrived back in Yemen, it isn't really representative of the book. Once past that - great book, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, even though I had some nervousness, having enjoyed Stranger In The Forest, about Borneo, by the same author, and was concerned this wouldn't attain the same quality.

The short version is, (no spoilers - Hansen tells us all this in the foreword, then explains it in much more detail over the first four chapters) that with four others he was shipwrecked in 1978 on an small uninhabited island - a part of Yemen, in the Red Sea. While shipwrecked he buried seven years worth of travel diaries in order to preserve them, as he rescue not only involved Eritrean goat smugglers, but also time in prison in Yemen while they decided whether he was a spy or not. In 1990, his 12 years of daydreaming about returning and recovering his journals led him to set off for Yemen to attempt.

The balance of the book chart his time in Yemen. As expected, names are changed, stories and characters are combined and compacted, etc, so there is likely some artistic license in the telling. It is largely chronological, excepting where he skips ahead or back to common topics, and is basically a series of chapters collecting anecdotes and experiences as he fails to obtain the permissions needed to revisit the island (a military zone) and search for his buried journals.

These stories and anecdotes cleverly explain the character and customs of the people of Yemen; the political and legal system; the authority and bureaucracy of the military, the police, the community leaders; how the expat society finds it place and navigates the operation of the country; and much more. Hansen lives down, mixes with the locals, joins in, contributes and does all that he can to gain an insight into everyday life in Yemen. He is sympathetic to all the complexities and problems in Yemeni society, and paints a great picture for the reader and there are plenty of laughs.

It is obvious that for this book to work, it requires a fairytale ending, but does Hansen get it? Find a copy and see.

Recommended.

5 stars