- I mean, I'm not gonna lie,
but it really feels surreal
to be in Osama Bin Laden's parents' house and guest house.
(siren blaring)
(car door thuds)
(siren blaring)
- What's going on in Yemen?
- [News Anchor] The Arab's world's poorest country.
(explosion booming)
(gunfire cracking)
- 13 years old and you wanna fight?
(citizen speaking foreign language)
- A civil war has been raging in Yemen.
- [News Anchor] It's a proxy battle
between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
- [News Anchor] Houthis rebels backed by Iran.
- Fight the Yemeni president
backed by a Saudi led coalition of Arab countries.
(citizen speaking foreign language)
- The worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
- [News Anchor] The largest ever outbreak of cholera
is the children who suffer most.
- Nearly every single Yemeni child.
- The damage is absolutely devastating.
- I'm going to Yemen. (tense ominous music)
(tense dramatic music)
(tense ominous music)
(tense dramatic music)
(tense ominous music)
Good morning, another beautiful day in Yemen.
You see the swimming pool looks very nice.
Believe me, I'm as surprised as you.
I didn't know Yemen had also this kind of hotels,
but hey, this is a safe way to do it,
at least at this point in time.
Just need to accept it.
But we can't forget that this country
is facing the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
It's sad.
We're now going to engage with locals
to understand day-to-day life in Yemen,
which I still think it's a very misunderstood country.
(tense somber music)
- This is Buqshan village, as you see, it's built on mud.
Most of the villages and the countryside of Hadhramaut
are built in mud.
They rely on the agriculture and the trade that they do.
These people, they love painting their houses.
And it's very beautiful art that present the country.
- And it looks very unique, right,
in the middle of nowhere
you see this colorful building.
- Exactly.
Maybe in a rain season or after the rain season,
the color will be more beautiful.
The area is really historical
and you can see a lot of antiques that exist here.
The doors. - [Ale] Yeah.
- [Guide] Here, windows.
- But who are these kids,
we're hearing kids, right?
- Yeah, they're in the school.
- This is an actual school?
- Yeah. - This one here?
Ah, okay, okay, okay. - Yeah.
- Wow. - And the people
in entire South Yemen and over north,
or north of Yemen,
they're really, really friendly.
Not because I'm from Yemen, because I know my people.
- Of course, of course.
This is actually very, very, very interesting.
This used to be hotel
and looks like not in operation at the moment,
but they plan to restore it at some point.
As colorful as the palace,
probably just pale,
because obviously, it's not renovated,
but looks super cool.
And you actually have also
an actual school. (kids chattering)
It's an actual school,
I'd say, the village school.
(dramatic somber music)
(dramatic somber music continues)
So we are now in Osama Bin Laden's parents' town.
It's a market here.
You're selling, what is it?
Salmon, salmon, right?
- [Guide] Salmon.
- [Ale] Good? - Yeah.
(guide speaking Arabic)
(sellers speaking Arabic)
- [Ale] Good, yeah? - Yeah.
Thank you. (sellers speaking Arabic)
(traditional instrumental music)
(sellers speaking Arabic)
- All that stuff, all that bag,
it's around $30.
(people speaking Arabic) (paper money rustling)
(traditional instrumental music continues)
(sellers speaking Arabic)
- So we can see here, they have a little market.
They're selling these goats.
(people chattering)
How's life in Yemen?
- [Guide] He was living in Kuwait before.
- [Guide] It was better.
(traditional instrumental music)
- They're playing dominoes here.
- It's the thing they can spend time with.
- He's kind of taking notes.
Look at that.
Literally taking notes of all these guys playing.
Really, really, really cool.
Anyone can sit, play, they'll buy some stuff.
Peaceful and that's it.
(traditional instrumental music)
Asking kids here if they prefer Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.
Messi? - Messi.
- Barcelona? - Messi?
- [Kid] Messi, Barcelona.
- [Ale] Barcelona, Messi?
- Messi, Messi.
- I keep joking with these kids,
but the reality that football
is really uniting all countries.
Yeah, even in countries where you think
they don't play any football,
they don't play any particular sport,
just love football and they love Messi.
(seller speaking Arabic)
- I have all the kids taking care of me.
So if you think that Yemen is not safe,
I have all the kids protecting me at the moment.
(traditional instrumental music)
I need to hurry up.
'Cause again, I cannot be here for a long time.
What is this?
(seller speaking Arabic)
- (indistinct) What is this?
(seller speaking Arabic)
- Sure, sure, sure, sure. (seller speaking Arabic)
- They want me to show their,
what is it, banana.
(sellers speaking Arabic)
- Yeah, yeah, look.
They're asking me to show all their shop.
Oranges, bananas.
(seller speaking Arabic)
And then some
courgettes, beans.
So they're telling me that not everything is from here.
This stuff is from Portugal.
They bring this from Portugal, right?
- Yeah. - From Portugal, yeah.
Literally, this is the lorry,
the van delivering all the fruits and vegetables
to different shops.
As-salamu alaykum.
Just a grocery shop.
And as I said before, delivering here the vegetables,
they delivering potatoes, usual stuff.
Chocolates.
Good stuff, man.
Keep going.
I love your shop.
- Thank you, thank you.
- See you.
(tense dramatic music)
We are now officially in the police car
but they're also kind of giving us protection.
So Osama Bin Laden was born and raised in Saudi Arabia,
but this is a house from his parents.
(tense dramatic music)
So nobody lives here by now, from Bin Laden's family.
But let's explore and see.
There's nobody.
These doors are closed.
(gentle mysterious music)
That was the main house.
And this one here, the guest house.
So this complex is actually huge.
And again, you can see nobody lives here these days,
but it really feels surreal
to be in Osama Bin Laden's parents' house and guest house.
There's so much history here.
And on the other hand, you have a school just next to it.
(gentle traditional music) (goat bleating)
Local shop, we're getting some fruits for lunch.
(car horn honking) (motorcycle engine revving)
So we are buying bananas. - [Ale] Yeah.
- [Guide] We take some potatoes to make French fries.
- [Ale] French fries.
- Let's ask this guy a few questions.
(guide speaking Arabic)
(seller speaking Arabic)
(guide speaking Arabic)
- You buy this bag of Khat for $2.
One of these ones? - Yeah.
- $2? - Yeah.
- But, and this lasts for the whole afternoon, right?
- Two. - Two.
(gentle music)
The whole town over there, it's beautiful.
The sunset, wow.
(citizens reciting prayers)
Once again, we hear the prayers.
Another day in Yemen.
As the day is coming to an end,
just wanna do a quick recap of today
and share some thoughts.
Osama Bin Laden's parents.
Honestly at the beginning
it was a little bit surreal for me.
I couldn't believe where I was.
But then, you know, seeing the school nearby,
seeing the market and how people were, and all that.
I was wow,
like gladly surprised
by pretty much everything.
One thing I've really noticed,
people enjoy a lot to play on the street,
talking and if you're a tourist,
they will ask you where you from?
What are you doing here?
But in a good way, not in a negative way.
Obviously as I said, many, many times already,
we have people on the ground.
Some security.
But there's no other way to do it
as a tourist at the moment.
It was really, really important for me
to engage with some people in the market today
to try to understand what they do,
how they feel about Yemen,
if they feel safe.
And I think it's important to get these messages also
from the people living here,
because obviously,
I can understand this conflict
and I hope this will resolve at some point
because of these conflicts,
70% of the people don't even have like safe water to drink.
And a large population in this country,
they live in poverty conditions.
When you think about those people
and their reaction on the street when you talk to them,
and then they feel like happy
that they wanna talk to you,
they wanna show you what they do.
They, most of the times really,
they didn't ask me for money.
Yeah, of course there were a few times
that they were asking,
but most of the times they didn't ask for money.
Actually, I don't know, I just felt very good vibe today,
and that made me really happy.
Really, really happy.
But I really hope the situation improves
because the humanitarian crisis here is next level.
I'm exhausted.
I'm still excited to keep exploring tomorrow,
have a lot of things another day.
Packed, more villages to visit,
more people to engage with.
What I can say,
I'm really happy I have the opportunity to be here right now
and sharing this with you
'cause I know it's not easy.
And I know many people are afraid,
understandable.
People don't want to visit here and they feel afraid.
I was once also afraid of coming.
But the reality is what you saw already, like this is Yemen.
If you're still watching this, thank you for watching.
And I will see you in the next episode of Yemen.
(dramatic somber music)