Arabia Felix, the land of the Queen of Sheba, grand caravans laden with frankincense and myrrh, the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, the bombings of the Cole and the Limburg, tribal kidnappings and free-wheeling weapons markets - all these images cross my mind when I think of Yemen, the glories of a romantic past and the uncertainties of the present. Despite the western government travel warnings, or perhaps because of them, I decided it was time for me to discover for myself what is behind the remote and enigmatic land that is Yemen.