Dubabs

Sana'a is a city of 2 million where the average income is about $800 a year. So what most people need is a dirt-cheap way to get around a large city. The dubabs fill that role.
Dubabs are very, very small minibuses (none of that was redundant - just look at the picture below). They follow a set route between A and B and you simply wave one down and tell the driver to pull over when you reach your stop. Each ride costs YR 30 (about 10 cents) and each dubab seats about 9 people (again, look at the picture). The route is advertised by a number on a color background because of high illiteracy rate. I've only taken a few rides so far because I usually end up wedged between two Yemenis who try talking to me with their cheeks full of qat. All I can do is nod and say "I don't understand" in Arabic, but that hasn't stopped a Yemeni talking yet - indeed, my knowledge of an Arabic word makes them talk more and faster.

This is a very nice dubab. It doesn't have any holes in the floor and it still has all its doors.
In a city without lanes, street signs, stop lights or traffic laws, the dubabs are known for driving more recklessly than anything else on the road, which is especially disconcerting when you're in the seat closest to the missing door. Seat belts are nonexistent because they're considered too 'effeminate' - some other things considered effeminate are teeth-brushing and working out, because such concern over what you look like is apparently just unmanly; then again, in a culture where brandishing your dagger and Kalashnikov on the street is the norm, just about everything seems 'unmanly'.