Eating the Flowers of Paradise: One Man's Journey Through Ethiopia and Yemen

Ever since I was a kid, I've always wanted to visit Yemen. Like author Kevin Rushby, I didn't want to do research there, earn money there,. or take anything away from Yemen. I just wanted to see, hear, feel, and know what that faroff land was like. Thanks to my dear President and his warloving cronies, I now have a snowball's chance in hell of ever achieving my dream. Keep on shootin' George, you'll definitely solve all problems that way. I must say, though, that the next best thing to a Yemen trip could be reading EATING THE FLOWERS OF PARADISE. Though the story of the author's voyage centers around qat, a leaf from a tree which grows in Ethiopia and Yemen, whose leaves are chewed to induce a feeling of dreamy well-being and melancholy happiness, this is a travel book par excellence. While Rushby starts his solo voyage in Ethiopia, his lack of local language, and the general lack of information about Ethiopia other than what he sees and does himself, do not entrance the reader. (Nor does he travel in the more interesting parts of the country.) He meets some wild characters [a Nigerian gem smuggler named Cedric or Arthur or...?] and has a few strange adventures in Djibouti, on the Red Sea coast. It is when he lands in Yemen that the book really gets good. Rushby speaks some Arabic. Yemeni rural people come alive in this book, their villages, the hospitality of all, the terraced mountains where qat, coffee, and other crops are grown, the magnificent, rugged scenery of remote parts of the country. Readers may pick up some recent history, some facts about former times, and details of qat growing and use, but this is a very existential travel book, not given to long-winded explanations. Rushby makes no bones about it. He wandered the Yemeni "outback" looking for good highs. He found plenty. Chewing qat with the locals was an excellent way to integrate himself in Yemeni society, where large numbers of people chew qat every afternoon. Rushby records all sorts of bizarre or culturally fascinating incidents. Some of the bizarre ones have to do with his own behavior and qat-induced dreams. When I finished the book, if someone had offered me a ticket to Yemen, I would have flown out that very evening. Sadly, this colorful, fascinating book is as close as I'll ever get. Two other books on Yemen that make a great trio with Rushby's book are "Motoring with Mohammed" by Eric Hansen, and Steven Caton's "Peaks of Yemen I Summon".

Kevin is a good artist. He vividly describes his travels, and you feel that you are there. For those places in Yemen where I have been, I felt like I was there again. He is accurate in his descriptions, as well as poetic- a rare art. His book is focused on a destination- traveling the old qat route, and this helps give more cohesiveness then you find in most travelogues. There is a rare vivid description of demonic manifestation and folk Islamic exorcism, in great detail. As an added bonus, the ubiquitous Tim Mackintosh-Smith shows up again, as he seems to do in every book about Yemen. We can see some of the same journeys Tim reports in Yemen, but from the perspective of his fellow traveler. And there is even an oblique reference to the boat of Eric Hansen from Motoring with Mohammed. I value this book for the same reason I find it wanting. I wanted to learn more about qat- what I couldn't find anywhere else: how it effects you, to what extent it is addictive, what the side effects are. There is too much contradictory material in the literature, and so you almost have to go to an addict to discover these questions. And now having read Kevin, I am fairly sure that I will not do qat again. Kevin is also a drug addict. He denies it, pointing out the difference between an true addict and the average qat user like himself. But what he describes has all the earmarks of addiction. Certainly, there appear to be no withdrawal pains- and again, information I had been unable to verify elsewhere. But also he describes a constant desire to have the leaf, and a feeling of incompleteness without it. It has become the center of his life, and the life of many Yemeni, to hear Kevin tell it. They become quite cantankerous without their daily qat chew. This also is addiction. He also describes the side effects, depending on the variety of leaf, such as horrifying dreams and even an inability to fully comprehend life around you. Some of the dreams Kevin describes I'd frankly describe as demonic. He doesn't mention the increase in mouth cancer caused by the use of DDT on the leaves. Most significantly, it has a profound effect on the user, as told by Kevin. We learn that it changes your personality and emotional state, making you babble as if you were on marijuana, unable to remember the immediate past but to focus with great clarity on the distant past. It keeps you up for two days at a time, depressing appetite and sex drive significantly, which is helpful, as qat production leaves less arable land to grow crops in the poorest Arab country in the world. After stimulating you for hours, it leaves you slightly depressed. It seems to have the visions of LSD, the relaxation of marijuana, the depression of alcohol, and the addiction of caffeine and tobacco combined. It seems to be the perfect Soma- except that it tastes like hard, dried tea leaves without sugar. But I don't want my mind altered, not even by Soma. It doesn't matter that the

I thoroughly enjoyed reading kevin Rushby's adventurous tales and unlike one of the previous revieuwers it took me just a couple of days to read. I am someone who likes to travel to out of the way places, yet Yemen had never even registered on my mental road map. I must say I would probably still be a little aprehensive to go but loved being there vicariously through this great book!

Eating the Flowers of Paradise was sheer joy to read.It evoked all the senses to get up and go out into the world.Rushby gives one a taste of 'Real' life in Ethiopia and Yemen. With his sociable and fearless attitude, his adventures prove to be humouress and knowledgable.A great read!