Hacker News Reader

Comment by 616c | Hacker News Reader

Ya marhaba ya mashala!

Firstly, it is very cool to see this guy quoting Bukhari. The internet is a wondeful place.

I have commented her before, but I am very jealous of your travels to Yemen. I have talked to co-workers for a while and I am not sure the time is right.

And you have to be sitting in the back of a Land Cruiser! (For the uninitiated the most popular car in the Gulf, far and large, is the Toyota Land Cruiser, in all of its carnations, and the Nissan Patrol in a distant second).

View on HN

Hey, thanks! In Yemen, the car of choice far and away was the Toyota pickup truck. They were absolutely everywhere. Second place goes to cheapo Chinese minivans. Of course everyone aspires to a Land Cruiser, like you say.

That Toyota pick up truck is the AK 47 of pickup trucks.

Ah, yes. Well, I mis-spoke. It depends which one you mean, however. There is the Toyota Hilux (Americans think Libya and Afghanistan when they see pictures of it, because people alwyas mount machine guns on them; I wanted one when first arriving in a certain neighboring country and was unable to find any used ones, as rumor has it said country was supporting Libyan rebels and was buying them in large quantities to ship there).

The other one, which is not good for your plus one, because that is all you can fit, is the Land Cruiser LX pickup truck, also referred to as the Abou Houdh (ابو حوض), the "one with the basin/bathtub" for rough translation. This is super popular everywhere, but specifically amongst Bedouins and the working classes. Why the Bedouins? As you probably saw this thing has pickup and is famed for its ability to go up large sand dunes in reverse (Youtube can show you).

If you like the Land Cruiser LX pick up, there is always the "capsoola", the capsule. Same car, but in a two-door Jeep Wrangler form-factor. This is one of my favorites. It is popular elsewhere because it really flies over sand dunes.

Granted this is not Green Arabia knowledge, but I thought it might be fun for some.

I may or may not have heard how people buy these cars in GCC countries and drive them through Oman and onward to sell in the black market for crazy prices in Yemen. This is one of many fun things I have heard about the black market in Yemen.

Since you generate a lot of interest with this stuff on HN (but you write better), maybe I will start writing this stuff.

I would love it if you wrote this stuff up. Please write it up! I will link the hell out of it.

It has been a while since I blogged. But if someone of your caliber asks ...

ARE YOU CALLING ME FAT

Haha. But in Yemen being fat is sign of power and health.

(Seriously though, I have a weight problem, no way I am skinnier than you; thank the Gulf lifestyle.)

Top Gear tries to kill a Hilux :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnWKz7Cthkk

Those Land Cruiser LX Pickup trucks are expensive, even by American standards - and so bare bones for what you get - but you are right, they can handle anything!

> And you have to be sitting in the back of a Land Cruiser! (For the uninitiated the most popular car in the Gulf, far and large, is the Toyota Land Cruiser, in all of its carnations, and the Nissan Patrol in a distant second).

That's because it takes significantly more effort to break the wheel's axle than with most German or French cars (never mind GM cars).

And of course, they're cheaper too.

Tell me about it. But the preference for Toyota is confusing. The weight differential makes the car front heavy. So often less experienced people plant LCs face first off a dune if not landing properly.

Nissan Patrols, however, are very evenly weighted. I hear they landed very consistently all the time, at least more than the LC. So I have never really gotten it. I guess it just boils down to preference.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com