Boy, did I have a long day, this last Juma. It started
out dull enough, with me not knowing what to do, but fortunately, some of
my house mates were kind enough to invite me out on a little road trip. This
one took me farther outside of Kabul than before. Well, beyond the
gaze of the fella up above, the "Great" Massoud. Bit of a wanker if
you ask me, but the Tadjiks love him.
The road we went on was a "two lane highway", which was really just two roads next to each other divided rocks and surrounded by burnt out armour.
The road we went on was a "two lane highway", which was really just two roads next to each other divided rocks and surrounded by burnt out armour.
See what I mean? Very few of the vehicles worked at
all. No worries, because the locals usually found a good use for most
of the parts as that one demonstrated. Most immediately noticible was
the conversion of tank treads in to speed bumps. They work wonderfully.
Tank treads combined with massive pot holes (aka craters) made sure
that this 30 km journey took an hour and a half. This road is what is
called around here "secure".
See what I mean?
There were stops along the way. In one place, we stopped off and where immediately mobbed by children. You see, there are many many children in Afghanistan. In fact, we passed by one mountain and one of the people in the car said "That's Mt. Children". And I looked closer and I could see why. The mountain was made up entirely of children!
There were stops along the way. In one place, we stopped off and where immediately mobbed by children. You see, there are many many children in Afghanistan. In fact, we passed by one mountain and one of the people in the car said "That's Mt. Children". And I looked closer and I could see why. The mountain was made up entirely of children!
The tall lad on the right nearly made off with my camera.
When I let him see his picture on the display he reckoned it was a gift
and gingerly put it in his pocket. He wasn't being cute, he was being
a borderline theif. Fortunately, he was just playing, or didn't think
he could get away with it, so I got it back. I don't remember his first
name, but according to my fellow Dari speaking travellers, his last name
was "belongs to no one." I suppose our lad is an orphan. Not
an easy job.
Other than the tense moment with the budding criminal, the children and I had a lot of fun learning each others name. There were so many, I could not keep up. But at least they all found it easy learning my name.
Other than the tense moment with the budding criminal, the children and I had a lot of fun learning each others name. There were so many, I could not keep up. But at least they all found it easy learning my name.
Shortly after that, we drove past these areas inhabited
by tent dwellers. These are the Afghani nomads. They still do
not live in permanent settlements. "These guys might be dangerous" said
the Dari speaking Engineer before asking the Imperial Shuttle to stop so
that we might get out and take photographs of them. They were nice enough,
also had lots of children, but none of them tried to take my camera, or anything
else.
Just around the bend from the nomads we found our destination.
A river that runs past a village that I believe was called Sayad. Like
the other resorts I've been to, this one is boys only. If you are woman
you should feel indignant.
Immediately the obligitory cloud of children descended upon us and pretty much hovered around for the rest of the day. Not a sort of dull staring hover, although sometimes they did that too, but rather a whistling, tumbling, fighting and screaming way.
Not to miss the opportunity to show off, a few of them showed us how to have an easy time floating down the river.
Immediately the obligitory cloud of children descended upon us and pretty much hovered around for the rest of the day. Not a sort of dull staring hover, although sometimes they did that too, but rather a whistling, tumbling, fighting and screaming way.
Not to miss the opportunity to show off, a few of them showed us how to have an easy time floating down the river.
This one up there is demonstrating to everyone how to inflate
your own trousers. You wouldn't think it works but it does. First
he gets his trousers all wet, then tucks them in, like so. As you can
see, he then blows air in to his trousers to inflate it.
Apparently it works. One of our 50+ year old travelers
managed to repeat the experiment, however it was much cuter when the kid did
it.
There were also a handful of Afghani farmers nearby who wanted us to go hunting with them for the fearsome Afghani mountain goats. Of course, we had to oblige so we spent several days and nights riding over the crags and peaks, through the dusty valleys and all the while ducking government and coalition patrols.
There were also a handful of Afghani farmers nearby who wanted us to go hunting with them for the fearsome Afghani mountain goats. Of course, we had to oblige so we spent several days and nights riding over the crags and peaks, through the dusty valleys and all the while ducking government and coalition patrols.
I had not ridden a horse in absolute ages, and I wonder
why the hell haven't I been doing that all the time! I don't think I ever
even went that fast on a horse before. Bleeding exhilerating. I'll
have to remember to do it again some time soon. Of course, it might
not be as neat as being an Afghani Horseman for a bit.
For dinner, we went to the bazaar across the bridge to get a large pan of "fresh" fish fried up. This took a long time, and there was arguing over Afghani oil. Our very presence attracted loads of attention, which is probably the dumbest thing to do seeing as there are people running all over the place trying to kill the likes of us.
Returning to the river side, we ate much of the fish and then gave the rest to some of these guys...
For dinner, we went to the bazaar across the bridge to get a large pan of "fresh" fish fried up. This took a long time, and there was arguing over Afghani oil. Our very presence attracted loads of attention, which is probably the dumbest thing to do seeing as there are people running all over the place trying to kill the likes of us.
Returning to the river side, we ate much of the fish and then gave the rest to some of these guys...
That sort of created a scene. I don't think they have
been tought polite manners yet. Well, after that, we definitely got
on their even better sides. Now there were truely emboldened
to hang around us. But the fun didn't stop. We had a few lovely
melons, which we did our best to share with them, although we did drop some
of their share on the ground resulting in another mob scene.
There was a wee lass among them, but she was mostly too shy to stick up for herself. I don't blame her. Those boys are rough. All I can say to that is that the meek shall inherit the largest piece of melon.
Eventually, we established some order upon this cloud of ruffians, boys
and girl alike. It didn't last very long.
Alas, shadows grew long and it was time to say good bye. A genius in our party decided to give each one of the children a 5 Afghani note. It was done in an orderly fashion, but was the scene of many children repeating themselves in to the line. Even the girls got some cash. We departed after this awkward moment was finished.
I quickly saw my friend who belongs to no one when we passed by his village again. He was surrounded by armed people so we didn't stop to say hi.
We took an alternative route home, this one "less secure", although dotted with police outposts. We breifly stopped at the side of the road for some of the more unruly passengers (myself not included) to relieve themselves next to these beautiful markers.
There was a wee lass among them, but she was mostly too shy to stick up for herself. I don't blame her. Those boys are rough. All I can say to that is that the meek shall inherit the largest piece of melon.
Alas, shadows grew long and it was time to say good bye. A genius in our party decided to give each one of the children a 5 Afghani note. It was done in an orderly fashion, but was the scene of many children repeating themselves in to the line. Even the girls got some cash. We departed after this awkward moment was finished.
I quickly saw my friend who belongs to no one when we passed by his village again. He was surrounded by armed people so we didn't stop to say hi.
We took an alternative route home, this one "less secure", although dotted with police outposts. We breifly stopped at the side of the road for some of the more unruly passengers (myself not included) to relieve themselves next to these beautiful markers.
No less than three cars and too bikes stopped to shout at
them for wazing in a mine field.
After that was all done, we loaded back in the Shuttle and pegged it 120 km/hr through the darkness down a straight road back to Kabul.
After that was all done, we loaded back in the Shuttle and pegged it 120 km/hr through the darkness down a straight road back to Kabul.