Arabia Felix

"Riyadh's calculation is that sport is going to gradually relax people talking about executions, jailing, murdering of journalists and bombing in Yemen as the big story about Saudi Arabia," Felix Jakens, a spokesperson for Amnesty UK, told BBC Sport.

And the children, women, men, cities and landscapes of the former Arabia Felix are paying the price.

Thomas went on to lecture all over the world about the journey and to write a book called Arabia Felix.

They called it Arabia Felix - Happy Arabia - because of its lush, rain-fed mountain scenery.

Yemen, known as Arabia Felix, or “Happy Arabia” was so close to the Saudi kingdom that the border was not even demarcated until June 2000, in an agreement signed by Saleh, who like two-thirds of Yemenis, is Sunni.