Travels in Afghanistan

A Motorhome Tour of Afghanistan

2010-08-01T09:09:00.061+09:30

Are you mad? Surely it's not possible?

Well, no we aren't and yes it is, or was. We did it, and it was great, one or our lives' best adventures and we are still here to report on it.

You probably can't do the same trip now, certainly not as freely or safely as we did, so in view of all the negative press that Afghanistan gets these days, we thought this nostalgic report on our visit might be of interest.

We've broken our adventures into 6 major sections, shown on the map below, or you can go direct to the Article Links and descriptions if you like.

You might even be motivated to visit Afghanistan yourselves one day, once the wreckage of war (physical and political), has been removed. We were surprised how pleasant it was and in fact it was our favourite country, by far, that we've travelled through.

Our motivation in compiling these articles was prompted in part by this quote from Benjamin Franklin:

"If you would not soon be forgotten, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing."

Hopefully, we have done a bit of both.

David and Janet Ribbans,

Adelaide, South Australia (since 1975)

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A bit of background

Sadly, Afghanistan has been getting a very bad name in recent years due to the ongoing conflicts in that country. Most current reviews of Afghanistan focus almost entirely on the negative impact of wars in the country over the past 30 years and present the Afghanistan of today as a country with a violent and dangerous society.

But it's a totally undeserved reputation because Afghanistan really is a beautiful country and the people really friendly and we loved it.

Unfortunately, very few reports or websites provide a glimpse of the Afghanistan that existed up to 1978, when a communist coup started the slide towards Soviet invasion and the rise of the Taliban regime, or as it could be again, once the ravages of war have been erased from the countryside, and political stability has been fully re-established.

Hopefully these articles will go some way to correcting this imbalance.

For a bit more background on Afghanistan, visit this post for answers to these questions:

How big is Afghanistan?
Is it really a friendly country?
Is there tourism in Afghanistan?
Do Afghans play cricket?

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Our travels though Afghanistan

Finding a route through Afghanistan was not difficult as there are very few main roads. There are a lot of unsealed tracks, much like outback Australia, but all the main centres are linked by one major highway which extends around 2/3 of the country. For centuries it has formed part of an major trading route from Istanbul to Calcutta (called the Grand Trunk Road in Pakistan and India).

The major centres are Herat, Kandahar, Ghazni, Kabul and Jalalabad, all of which are on the southern part of the highway. We also made 2 special trips from Kabul, the first was to see the giant statues of Buddha in the Bamiyan Valley in the centre of Afghanistan, and the second was over the Hindu Kush mountains to Mazar-e-Sharif in the north of the country to seek out the ancient game of Buzkashi. Both highlights were well worth the effort.

The route we took through Afghanistan
(Click the links below to go direct to related articles)
No Track shown: Getting there and getting in Green Track: Iran to Herat
Blue Track: Herat to Kabul Red Track: Kabul to the Bamiyan Valley
Mauve Track: Kabul to Mazar-e-Sharif Orange Track: Kabul to Jalalabad and Pakistan
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Article Links
Click on the article links below to visit our adventures (they are linked to each other in series), or use the Artcle Listing on the right.

[Note, no digital cameras were harmed in the preparation of these articles, there weren't any back then, or PCs and no Internet, so all the photos are scans from 35mm slides or Standard-8 movie films, hence the imperfect quality.
All the photos can be clicked-on to see larger versions in Picasaweb (Control-Click on a PC or Command-click on a Mac to open them (or any other links) in a new window or tab).
With one exception (a CNN photo of Bamiyan), all the photos and movies were taken by us using a Practica LLC 35mm SLR and Kodakchrome slide film, or shot in Standard-8 format using a Yashica wind-up movie camera with no audio.
We've resisted using any current day photos (and there are plenty on the Internet) as they depict an image of Afghanistan which is unfamiliar to us, and we want to remember it as it was, not as it is now. Shiny new CBD office blocks, destroyed monuments and burnt out tanks are not our memories of Afghanistan.]
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Section 1: Getting there and getting in (http://jcribbans.blogspot.com/2010/01/motorhome-tour-1974.html)

The road east...

Summary

We'd bought a Series 2A LWB Land Rover the previous year and spent 18 months converting it to a motorhome and repairing or overhauling almost every moving part for the long and unknown trip ahead.

It must have been quite a good conversion because a German tourist complimented Janet on "her very beautiful bus". At least I think that's what he said.

Having got there, how did we rate Afghanistan against Iran and Turkey? Or against Pakistan and India, or even Nepal?

Click here to visit the full article.

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Section 2: Herat, our first big Afghan town (http://jcribbans.blogspot.com/2010/01/herat-first-look-at-afghanistan.html)

Green Track: Iran to Herat

Summary

Was it as bad as everyone in Iran said it would be, like going back 1000 years? Or worse? Were the Afghan tribesmen as fierce and aggressive as they had been in 1842 when they wiped out an entire British army?

Herat was the first big Afghan town we came to in the late afternoon and it was dusty and noisy and bustling with people. But in our diary of the time I noted that "Herat was the most pleasant town of the entire journey"?

I also noted that we weren't prepared for the intense cold and that 3 pairs of socks were not enough.

Click here to visit the full article.

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Section 3: Herat to Kabul (http://jcribbans.blogspot.com/2010/01/arriving-on-1-dec-1974.html)

Blue Track: Herat to Kabul

Summary

1100 km across the country on their Highway 1, part Russian built, part American built, 100% interesting.

From Herat through Farah, the Desert of Death, Kandahar, Ghazni to the capital Kabul. With deserts, walled forts, ancient monuments and snow capped mountains for company, but no guns, tanks or foreign forces. We had the Afghans all to ourselves, and vice versa.

But I did loose my wallet along the way.

Click here to visit the full article.

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Section 4: The Buddhas of Bamiyan (http://jcribbans.blogspot.com/2010/01/buddhas-of-bamiyan.html)

Red Track: Kabul to the Bamiyan Valley

Summary

A visit to the immense statues of Buddha carved into the Bamiyan cliffs in central Afghanistan didn't disappoint us (at the time). The spectacular journey over icy mountain passes to the picturesque valley was the scenic highlight of the trip. Subsequent events have saddened us though.

Built in the 5th century, the 175 ft (50 m) high statues survived 1500 years of invasion and religious challenges, but were then destroyed in a mindless act of desecration by the Taliban in 2001.

They are now just empty shells but we saw them in all their glory in a beautiful but freezing Afghan winter setting.

Click here to visit the full article.

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Section 5: Buzkashi, the Trek North (http://jcribbans.blogspot.com/2010/01/buskazi-trek-north.html)

Mauve Track: Kabul to Mazar-e-Sharif

Summary

A trip over the snow covered Hindu Kush mountains and through the Salang Tunnel to the north of Afghanistan, to seek out the ancient sport of Buzkashi on the plains of Central Asia. Our search took us to the major centre of Mazar-e-Sharif, the ancient city of Balkh and the small town of Akcha near the Russian border.

Buzkashi is a thrilling, ferocious sport of combat by rival horsemen over the body of a headless goat, or in our case the carcass of a headless calf, although it wasn't a carcass, or headless, when it walked on to the arena. There are several movie clips of Buzkashi here, one of which is very gory, but it was an exhilarating experience.

My palms were sweating after I read my own words on that trip.

Click here to visit the full article.

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Section 6: Leaving Afghanistan (http://jcribbans.blogspot.com/2010/01/leaving-afghanistan.html)

Orange Track: Kabul to Jalalabad and Pakistan

Summary

Getting out of Afghanistan had its challenges.

The Kabul Gorge road is an amazing feat of American engineering during which the road drops down more than a mile from a freezing 7000 ft (2000 m) to a subtropical 1700 ft (500 m) in only a few km of ziz-zag road, carved and tunnelled into vertical rock cliffs, and there was no Armco. In Kabul there was snow but in Jalalabad there were palm trees and orange groves.

Then there were customs and visa problems, and the free-for-all contest at the Pakistan border crossing when changing from driving on the right to the left, followed by the Kyber Pass, all while we were towing a broken down Ford Transit van.

Click here to visit the full article.

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Can't wait to go there now?
We hope you enjoy our reminiscences, and if your interest in Afghanistan is subsequently aroused, there are companies around that can arrange trips for you, such as Afghan Logistics orSitara.
But bear in mind though that 30 years of conflict have ravaged the country and sadly, city buildings and infrastructure have been badly damaged and the dangerous debris of war still litters the countryside, including land mines and live ammunition. These are slowly being removed from tourist areas as the conflict zones are pushed to the south west of the country.
However, the spirit and friendliness of the people hadn't been dented by the previous hundreds of years of wars and invasions when we were there, so hopefully the current conflicts won't do so either. We just hope that the westernisation scars left by international intervention won't be permanent.
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Getting there and getting in

2010-07-01T08:25:00.017+09:30

The year was 1974 and as a young, recently married couple we set out from the UK in a converted Land Rover to see the world. We'd bought a Series 2A LWB Land Rover the previous year and spent 18 months converting it to a motorhome and repairing or overhauling almost every moving part for the long and unknown trip ahead.

It must have been quite a good conversion because a German tourist complimented Janet on "her very beautiful bus". At least I think that's what he said.

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The fit out

Considering it was 36 years ago it was surprisingly well appointed. We designed and built a pop-top roof, which leaked at the corners, but only when it rained so that was all right.

We had a double bed, a stainless steel sink with an electric water pump and carbon filter to keep all the cryptosporidiums at bay, a gas cooker with oven, a 2 way gas and electric fridge, a portable toilet, a flued gas heater and plenty of cupboard space.

We built several fibreglass water tanks fitted under the front wings, and modified a full length roof rack to hold all our spares and jerry cans. Ironically, we had bought the roof rack second hand off a Land Rover that had just returned from Afghanistan.

Apart from a water heater and shower (we were POMs after all), we had it pretty well set up.

Electricals

In the electrical department, being an electronics engineer, I designed a capacitive discharge electronic ignition system, which also doubled as the inverter for my electric razor, a dual battery system and a fluorescent light inverter.

All of these were years before they became commercially popular, although I did fail to foresee the availability of solar panels, EPIRBs and mobile phones.

We also had a shortwave radio and a tape player (a modern Phillips cassette type, not an old fashioned 8-Track). The tape player greatly impressed the Afghans, and apparently the Pakistanis, who stole our tapes. The only other item that was stolen during our trip was our portable toilet, while we were in Kathmandu. Presumably someone in Nepal needed a new cooking pot.

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Getting There

We'd set out from England in September 1974 and spent 3-4 months around Europe and the middle east travelling through Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Turkey and Iran before arriving, with some trepidation, at the Afghan border post on 1st December. That date was to be significant.

Prior warnings

We had been given lots of adverse advice regarding Afghanistan by people who "knew". It was a country where, we were told, people would throw bags of blood at your car and then accuse you of hitting their animals.

We were also advised that if you had an accident in Afghanistan you should head straight for the border, as you were automatically deemed to be guilty on the basis that if you hadn't been there, it would never have happened. Very sound logic.

But once we'd negotiated the interminable passport and customs "writings" in the rambling decaying buildings which passed for a border post, and completed the formalities in the "Public Health Office" (sic), we were in Afghanistan and surprisingly, our initial impressions were immediately favourable.

Contrary to all the "valuable"advice we'd received, presumably from people who had never been there, the Afghans were very friendly, welcoming, a bit reserved even, but never rude, aggressive or devious.

Far from the war-torn aggressive country we had been led to expect, the people were wonderful, sentiments I noted several times in our diary.

We saw no evidence to support the advice we'd been were given, (which in any case contravened Article 32 of the Afghan Constitution in which "Innocence is the Original State"), and maybe, after centuries of invasion and strife, the country was in a status of military equilibrium, which no one wanted to disturb, or maybe not, we couldn't tell.

Either way, it was safe. If felt safe, even on day one. In the month we were there we never felt threatened or intimidated in any way. Nothing was stolen and we were never harassed or knowingly ripped off. We enjoyed it, even the tough bits.

Perhaps the Afghanistan-Online website puts it best, if somewhat egotistically, when they claim:

"Afghanistan: The Friendliest Country in the World, Possibly the Universe."

The CIA website (yes, well I didn't know they had a public website either) provides a wealth of less interesting information about Afghanistan, such as: Length of Coastline: 0 km

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Afghanistan's neighbours

The sense of welcome and tolerance we felt in Afghanistan, however, was in complete contrast to the countries to the west, Iran and Turkey, where we were often the target of harassment, con-men and stone throwing youths. We really didn't like people in either country much, so the warnings about Afghanistan had been worrying.

People in Iran had said that going to Afghanistan would be like going back 1000 years (and we smiled to ourselves since we'd thought much the same thing when entering Iran). But perversely they were right, and how pleasant it proved to be.

Initial impressions

While its neighbours were aggressively striving, with only limited success, for western equivalence, and loosing their past is the process, Afghanistan was still delightfully old fashioned with donkey carts in the streets, camel trains, horse drawn taxis (called Tongas) covered in red pom-poms, mud walled buildings everywhere and happy people. It was like walking into a middle eastern Constable painting.

Jingling horse drawn Tongas in Herat, and a cold, dusty, interesting Afghan street, where no one bothered us

They also had good fresh food stalls, with paper bags made from folded up arabic newspapers, and banks and hotels, even if they were often just a tiny building with a small "Hotel" or "Bank" sign in the window. But their butchers shops are probably best not described here in detail, suffice to say that the kill of the day (sheep, camel, goat etc) was advertised by it's severed head being displayed outside the shop. Presumably you could also buy the head if you wanted to.

Fruit stall in Khulm

"Hotel" in a small village

Carpets "ageing" near the Kabul river

Minaret in Ghazni

Camping Arrangements

In most of Iran and Turkey there were no caravan parks or camp grounds, so we had to camp at police stations or in the walled grounds of big hotels for protection. If we didn't we were rounded up by police and taken there anyway with threats of dire consequences and fingers drawn across the throat.

In Afghanistan we could camp near public buildings or small hotels, at minimal cost and without hassle, because they wanted us to not because we had to. We got the impression that they actually enjoyed having tourists around. It made them proud to have us there and to keep us safe. We were not seen as just the source of foreign exchange.

Food was cheap and available, fuel was cheap (although it was Russian and smelt awful), the people were happy and their haphazard, bureaucratic services just seemed to work. What more could you ask?

If you do an internet search on travel in Afghanistan you will find much the same reaction from other travellers.

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How did it compare with Pakistan, India and Nepal?

Both India and Pakistan have immensely colourful, cultural histories and there was and is a lot to see in both countries. But neither country compared favourably with Afghanistan in the overall sense of ease of travel and fun of adventure.

Yes, there were magnificent sites to visit and exotic experiences awaiting us but they were always overawed by the pressure of population and overcrowding. They were mostly hot, dusty and dirty places, and poverty was everywhere. There was no peace and quiet, no privacy and because of people pressure we seldom felt safe or at ease. In 1974 the Indian population was 600 million and you couldn't move for people. Now the population is over 1 billion and how it doesn't burst its seams is a mystery.

While they were very interesting places to visit culturally, life was a struggle, navigation in India was a nightmare (we used the sun mostly), finding safe camping spots was difficult and they were not really nice places to be in, (unless you were in an environmentally insulated tourist bus, in which case you might as well visit India on the Internet, it's cheaper and you won't get sick).

We spent 6 weeks in India and it's a country we still talk about a lot but didn't really like while we were there. It was just a difficult and frustrating place to travel in.

And Nepal?

Nepal was a bit different. Once you negotiate the lower foothill mountains from India, the Himalayas are an awe-inspiringly mind-blowingly beautiful sight and wherever you go in Nepal, especially at the western end, they are always there, huge, gleaming white, distant but seemingly close enough to touch.

Despite their impressive 15,000 ft (4,000 m) height in their own right, the foreground hills are completely dominated by the higher, snow covered peaks reaching 6-8,000 m (22,000 - 28,000 ft).

The Annapurna Range (pics 1-3) from Pokhara, and a telephoto view of Mt Everest (160 km away) from the Nagarkot Hills, outside Kathmandu

There was less poverty or people pressure in Nepal and the people, who were a mixture of Indians and Sherpas (Tibetans), led a more rural, laid back lifestyle. So in that sense it was similar to Afghanistan, as was their Buddhist heritage. But Nepal is much smaller than Afghanistan and the terrain made it difficult to get around, hence the mountain trekking industry.

In 1974 the air was clear and crisp and even distant Mount Everest (which is an incredible 160 km away and would be well over the horizon but for its 8.8 km height) could be clearly seen from the Nagarkot Hills outside Kathmandu, clouds notwithstanding. However, current advice from travellers is that pollution and population increases have made the air dirty, and glimpses of the Himalayas are now a rarity whereas for us they were a daily revelation.

So in retrospect, of all the 15 countries we visited on our trek from the UK to Australia, Afghanistan still ranks as our favourite for scenic adventure, ease of travel and interaction with the local population. Nepal would come in second, and maybe the subject of another article?

But having successfully made it into Afghanistan, we could now start the next section of our Afghan adventure, from Herat to Kabul. Click here to see that report.

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Herat, our first big Afghan town

2010-06-01T16:54:00.015+09:30

Herat was the first big Afghan town we came to in the late afternoon and it was dusty and noisy and bustling with people but no one paid us much attention. Unlike Iran, no one tried to direct us to their cousins campgound or their brothers carpet shop.

Overloaded but highly decorated Toyota minibuses rushed around and, as we walked through the dusty streets, where people were openly selling hashish, and old clothes stalls seemed to be everywhere, still no one paid us much attention. It felt open and free and relaxing.

Janet strolling down a cold, dusty Herat street

Useful signs in a peaceful street scene in Herat

We camped in the grounds of the Salang Hotel and next morning we went to the bank to change some money, which took an hour. Unhurried, unworried but genuinely good neighbourly. The door of the bank was conveniently marked "Exter", while the doors of all the other shops were helpfully marked "Door".

Women shoppers and Tonga taxis queued on a Herat street

The Citadel

Herat's citadel in the north of the town was originally built by Alexander the Great in the 4th century and has been extended and rebuilt many times since.

Reflecting Herat's strategic importance, battlements and towers were added in the 1400's after the town was destroyed by Mongol invasion, amongst several others.

The crumbling walls and towers were substantially rebuilt in the late 1970's as part of an archeological program funded by German aid.

Small shops under the walls of Herat's citadel, built in the time of Alexander the Great

The Friday Mosque

In a town whose buildings were made predominately from grey/brown mud, their magnificent Friday Mosque in the centre of the town stood out as a beacon. And what a beautiful structure it was, covered in blue and gold tiles with 4 gleaming minarets pointing skywards.

Construction was started in 1200 AD and it has been rebuilt several times after a visit by Ghengis Khan in the 13th century and a major earthquake in 1364. Further upgrades and extensions were carried out in the 1940's to repair centuries of neglect.

The Friday Mosque at the end of a dusty street but no one bothered us

In Iran we were jostled and harassed if we went near a mosque, especially when in use, but in Herat we were welcomed in, after removing our shoes. There was a small entry fee to help with the expensive upkeep of the the mosque but there were plenty of locals willing to show us around. We were suspicious of their motives at first, but it quickly became evident that they just wanted to be friendly and show off their mosque. They looked hurt if we offered them money and brushed it aside.

We didn't stay long in the mosque, not because we'd seen enough or felt unwelcome, but because in winter, Afghanistan is a very cold place, and without shoes on, our feet quickly began to freeze.

The Minarets of Mosallah

The leaning minarets near Herat where Janet "chats" with a young Afghan girl

We visited the 5 leaning minarets just out of town, the sole remains of a dozen or so from a former mosque, the Musallah Complex, built in the 15th century under the rule of Queen Gawharshad, daughter-in-law of the Mogul Emperor Timur.

They truly looked like they would tumble down at any moment and passing traffic is further weakening the structures (where we were parked is now a 4 lane highway going right through the middle of the site). The minarets are currently being stabilised to preserve the few that remain.

[Historical Note: It was the British Army who destroyed much of the Musallah Complex in 1885 to improve visibility for their artillery against a Russian invasion (which never happened, not then anyway).

With supreme irony, when Russian troops did arrive (a century later, after their 1980 invasion), they caused further damaged to the complex when they turned Herat into a free-fire zone. See this excellent reference on the history of Herat].

While walking around the minarets, a young girl of around 10 befriended Janet and gave her a piece of blue tile from a minaret. The two of them walked around and chatted for hours, but I don't know how. Apparently she knew some "Inglistan from tourist".

The Streets of Herat

A transport "hub" in Herat

Camel train in Herat

Herat Summary

Despite the cold, the dust and commotion, Herat was a nice place and in our diary of the time I noted that "Herat was the most pleasant town of the entire journey". But I also noted that we were unprepared for the intense cold and that 3 pairs of socks were not enough.

Next we had to negotiate the Herat to Kabul Highway. Click here.

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Herat to Kabul Highway

2010-05-01T08:24:00.022+09:30

From Herat eastwards lies the only real road in the country, their equivalent of Highway 1. It runs from Herat, skirting around the central spine of the Hindu Kush mountains through the deserts in the south of the country, to Kandahar, Ghazni and Kabul. It then carries on northwards over the Hindu Kush mountain range to the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif and the Russian border.

I mention this because it's politically charged. Afghanistan has long been the centre of attention from east, west and north as a strategic crossroads between Asia and the Middle East. It still is.

[In fact until the early 1900's, Afghanistan wasn't even acknowledged as an independent country, but "as a buffer state within the British sphere of influence to prevent any British soldier from directly facing his Russian opponent" (excerpt from "The Afghans" by Willem Vogelsang, see http://tinyurl.com/y8oc5wv).]

Foreign aid funding for construction programs was therefore targeted at gaining political brownie points with various Afghan ethnic majorities.

Banked curves on the Herat to Kabul highway

Sections of the highway in the south around Kandahar plus the superb engineering feat of the Kabul Gorge road were built with American aid, while the western, eastern and northern sections were built by the Russians.

Some Russian built sections are of concrete slab construction like many US freeways and the curves are banked like the Indianapolis Speedway. These were allegedly built strong enough to support a tank and tyres clunk over the junctions between each slab. American built sections are made of bumpy bitumen.

The Russians also built the famous Salang Tunnel (the highest road tunnel in the world at the time at 11,000 ft or 3,300 m) which, even in 1974, obviously had a future strategic objective. We were to experience that tunnel in a later adventure, but first we had to get to Kabul.

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Farahrod Hotel

About 150km south of Herat, at Farahrod (Rod=River), we came across a brand new, multi-storey, modern looking hotel in the middle of nowhere alongside a small creek. This looked so out of place from what we had expected that we just had to stop to investigate.

Apparently this Russian-built hotel was a gift to the Afghan people and the manager welcomed us in. He was at great pains to show us the rooms, complete with modern electric fittings and western sanitation. However, he then sadly told us that he couldn't let us stay there since, despite all the mod cons, there was no mains power to the hotel, which meant no lighting or heating, and no power for the water pump so no sanitation either. In fact no one had ever stayed there.

The manager blamed the Russians for the lack of planning, a comment that we were to hear many times during our stay. The Russians were blamed for everything that went wrong, was broken or didn't work. In this case he might have had a point. That night we camped in the hotel's empty car park, so they at least had some guests.

[The hotel is still there although there has been some redevelopment since 1974, and you can see it on Google Earth at 32° 44.852'N, 62° 36.299'E].

All along the road were small villages built on the lower slopes of nearby hills. They were nearly invisible since the mud they are constructed from was the same colour as the surrounding countryside.

In other areas nomadic families were camped in blackish-grey yurts. In retrospect, this area of Afghanistan, where the road crosses the Desert of Death (Dasht-i-Margo), was strangely reminiscent of parts of Australia, with endless sandy plains and far away hills. Very cold in winter, but where summer temperatures can reach 50ºC.

Crossing the "Desert of Death" between Farah and Kandahar

As we drove further on it became apparent that Afghanistan was still a tribal country. Every few miles there were checkpoints comprising a thick pole suspended across the road near a small wooden hut, presumably marking the boundaries of earlier tribal areas.

We had to stop at every one and show our passports and vehicle documentation, the details of which were laboriously entered into a dusty ledger. These were the "writings" that we had to endure several times a day. It was courteous, friendly but bureaucratic. Sometimes there was a toll. And these check points were not lit at night so they posed a real hazard to driving, but local donkey carts just drove around them without stopping anyway.

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Kandahar

Kandahar is currently well known as a small town with a large centre of American military activity, but in 1974, it was just a large provincial Afghan town with a small army encampment.

Being further south and at a lower altitude, it was much warmer than Herat, 20ºC and bright and sunny. We walked up the 100 very steep steps to a look-out over the town, in-tow with an Afghan army officer. We could go anywhere we like but we couldn't take photos from the top since the army base was nearby. A pity because the view over Kandahar was spectacular.

A walled fort on the road to Kandahar (31° 36.503'N, 65° 4.745'E)

The water supply

It was here that we discovered that the water supply in Afghan towns is a bit suspect. Their water runs through small towns and villages in a jube or drain, which is dual purpose. It both provides the water supply to shops and houses but also takes away the waste water.

Luckily we only ate well cooked bread and food and never drank unfiltered water except for bottled Coke, and we never got ill.

The "Jube" in Khulm

The lost wallet

However it was also in Kandahar that I lost my wallet. I don't think it was stolen, there had been no prior opportunity. I think it had been on my lap or in a pocket and fell out when I'd previously got out of the Land Rover. We searched in vain but it wasn't a major disaster as it only contained a few hundred Afghanis (about $20) and my American Express card.

It was the latter item that we were most concerned about since although we still had plenty of cash to carry us past India, we would need the Amex card to go further, or return. There was no American Express office in Kandahar but there was one in Kabul, so we put off worrying about it until later. They had very little use for credit cards in Kandahar in those days anyway.

We camped that night at the New Tourist Hotel in downtown Kandahar.

Approaching the Walled City of Ghazni

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Ghazni

Ghazni is a fortified town with towering mud walls surrounding the old town. It was rougher than Herat and Kandahar, but no less welcoming. It was clear but there was snow about again and it was very cold. We parked the Land Rover and walked up and down the main street for a couple of hours, looking at the myriad of interesting shops and stalls, but worried over what we might find when we returned to the car.

As it happened we needn't have worried, it hadn't been touched, and even though the locals would seldom have seen such a vehicle before, none of them went near it. We found this respect for our presence to be prevalent everywhere in Afghanistan, even in small remote villages where vehicles and foreigners of any kind were a rarity.

The walled city of Ghazni

Spice shop in Ghazni. No plastic bags here!

Priceless antiques were very easy to find in Afghanistan, but we were warned not to buy them since exporting them was illegal and they would be confiscated at the border.

When we visited one of many antiques shops in Ghazni, the owner refused to let us leave until we had taken his photograph. He stood proudly to attention in the doorway of his small shop and shouldered arms with an old rifle while I took his photo. Strange, considering that he would never see the results of the exercise.

Antique shop in Ghazni

In the bread shop the baker tried to tempt Janet to try her hand at slapping the dough on the inside of the mud walled oven set in the floor, but the heat of the wood fired oven was too intense to approach. In the oven, the dough sticks to the side and the skill, apparently, is to pick it off when it's cooked and just before falls into the fire.
Shopping was interesting in Afghanistan. You had to bargain for everything (except fuel, the price of which was government controlled) but they always had a smile on their faces and obviously enjoyed the interaction. And unlike Iran where some stall owners sullenly refused to serve Janet or even recognise her existence, in Afghanistan, women shoppers were fairly common, although always covered from head to foot in blue or black burkas.
The only area where we had to watch out was at petrol pumps where the operator would sometime "forget" to reset the rusting old pump dial right back to zero (which is just a dot (٠) in Arabic). They complained that the pump was broken or cried Backsheesh if you made them do it, but not for long and it was all good fun. In Iran they were much more devious and stood in front of the pump and started pumping before you had a chance to notice. We got caught once there.

The Minarets of Bahram Shah

A couple of km north of Ghazni are the remains of 2 huge minarets dating from the 12th century which were part of the mosque of Bahram Shah. Although they look similar, their design and inscriptions are completely different and originate from India.

The minarets were originally double their present height and were topped with a cylindrical tower as in the b&w photo. The top towers have since collapsed but cones and concrete bases have been added to protect what remains of 2 very interesting relics.
We camped at the Ghazni Hotel but it was a freezing night, so we put our 2 sleeping bags inside one another. Thickness improved the warmth and we were slim and agile in those days but it was still a very tight fit. The water pump froze up over night so no morning tea that day. We bought pairs of thick goats wool socks, rough but warm.
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Kabul

The snow covered Hindu Kush mountain scenery was becoming more magnificent as we approached Kabul. When we reach Afghan capital we found it was a large densely populated city bustling with people and cars, mostly Russian built Volga's and VW's. It had roundabouts and traffic police, rudimentary super markets and even a department store selling mostly expensive German goods.

So, after 9,614 miles (15,472 km) from London, we had achieved something we could barely have dreamt of months earlier: we had made it as far as Kabul. These days you have to join the army to do that.

Main Street in Kabul with Hindu Kush mountain backdrop

Kabul is in a valley set against a backdrop of snow covered mountains and the rocky hills surrounding the town were covered in white painted houses which glistened in the clear sunny air. At night the air was filled with the aroma of wood fires as all the inhabitants lit their cooking fires which twinkled on the hillsides. We camped in the grounds of the Jam hotel, which still exists today, but it cost us Afg15 (about 75c) per night.

White painted houses in Kabul

The next morning we went to the Tourist Office and talked with a man there about our visit. He told us where the American Express office was and then insisted on taking us to lunch at a small city restaurant, which he paid for. It was a tiny restaurant with a trough of running water at the entrance for guests to wash their hands in before and after eating. I can't recall the meal but I do remember rushing back to the Land Rover afterwards to take some antibacterial tablets, just in case.

Kabul River in winter, low water level before the snow melts

Later we sought out the American Express office. It was part of the Hertz Rent-A-Car office in a dilapidated building with peeling paint, down a small side street. Was this to be the place to solve our financial crisis?

The man behind the dusty counter spoke perfect English and took down the details of our problem. He said he could arrange for a replacement American Express card and asked where we would like to collect it from. We had to think about that for a moment, not knowing exactly where our travels would take us. Australia was the long term objective and we knew we would have to go via Singapore even if we changed our minds and returned to the UK, so Singapore it was. But we silently doubted that this small dusty office in the back streets of Kabul was going to be our financial salvation.

[Months later, as we were being whooshed up in a high speed lift, to the American Express office on the 37th floor of one of Singapore's shiny new skyscrapers, our minds were taken back to that small crumbling building in a Kabul side street, and our low level of confidence. Undaunted, we walked into the shiny new air conditioned office and there was our shiny new Amex card waiting for us, just as planned. Against all expectations, the system had worked. We knew it would.]

But back in the hotel gardens it was getting darker and colder, and that night we had 9 inches of snow. We woke up to one of those white, silent winter mornings that Britons will remember after a heavy snow. The Jam Hotel and its grounds had all but disappeared under a blanket of white and everything was quiet, all noise having been damped by the insulating snow.

The gardens of the Jam Hotel after snow

We slept soundly all through the snow storm

Shopping and sight-seeing was a sloshy affair for the next couple of days and we took to wearing plastic bags on our feet to keep our shoes dry. Not haute couture, but practical.

Snow falling on Janet in her plastic bag slippers

We now set about planning our next adventure, to see the immense statues of Buddha in the Bamiyan Valley, about 250 km west of Kabul in the centre of Afghanistan.

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Afghanistan, A Bit of Background

2010-04-23T06:36:00.008+09:30

How big is Afghanistan?

Although Afghanistan is only 1/12th the size of Australia (a bit smaller than NSW or 1/4 the size of WA), it's not that small a place and in a month we couldn't hope to see all that it had to offer, any more than you could visit every part of NSW in a month.

But there were many other places we could and should have visited while we were there, such as the Band-e Amir Lakes, the Panjshir Valley and Kunduz, if only we'd had more knowledge and time, and it hadn't been so cold. If only...

But to be honest, back then Afghanistan was an totally unknown country which had only recently opened its borders to travellers, and we saw it more as a stepping stone along the way to India and Nepal rather than a key destination in its own right.

We were wrong. Maybe next time we'll see a bit more.

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Afghanistan, is it really a friendly country?

In our articles we've frequently commented on how friendly and hospitable the people were in Afghanistan. But this doesn't seem consistent with the evidence of history, where foreign armies over the centuries, notably the British (twice) and the Russians, have invariably lost battles against fierce and aggressive Afghan tribesmen. So was our assertion valid or were we just plain lucky?

Certainly there had been some incidents of violence towards foreigners in current times, (eg the Earthwalker who was set up on and killed in the north east of the country in 1972), but every country has its share of violent criminals and Australia is no different, Peter Falconio's name sadly comes to mind.

The following quotes, which can be checked out via their links, might add some weight to our impressions:

"Afghanistan: The Friendliest Country in the World, Possibly the Universe."

Sentiments from the Afghanistan-Online website which we would have to agree with, although we can't claim full knowledge of the whole universe, or even the world.

And this quote seems to reflect our own recollections:

"Afghanistan has been my yardstick for judging every country I go to—for beauty of landscape, of people, of hospitality."
(Elizabeth Chatwin, introduction author of Afghanistan: A Traveler's Companion and Guide)

Another view comes from Rasheeda Bhagat in 2005 in the Hindu Business Line.

"On the most inhospitable of roads, there are amazingly hospitable chaikhanas with friendly people and smiling children.
The status of their country and their poverty notwithstanding, there is no attempt to fleece foreigners. On the contrary, they are keen to know one's nationality and extend the typical greeting in Islamic countries — hand held across the heart".

Lastly, another testimonial which supports our experiences, especially the final phrase:

"From the perspective of a young traveler, one might say the 1970s saw Afghanistan at it’s best.
With only recently opened borders, the country offered a kind of adventure travel not often seen since: safe, inexpensive travel through a land of towering mountains concealing verdant orchards and untouched torrents; vast deserts, wandering nomad tribes, and a welcoming people generous far beyond their means".

Comment by Joseph Hoyt on his website Images of Afghanistan (http://www.imagesofafghanistan.com/)

Reports from people who have recently travelled to Afghanistan seem to reflect the same experience, despite the on-going conflicts there and the dire travel advice from our government.

On this site author Matthew Leeming says in 2004, "I have never been to a more beautiful country, or met such hospitable people".

Can all these people (and us) be so wrong?
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Tourism in Afghanistan, things are improving

Although tourism in Afghanistan has been decimated over the last 30 years, a small but growing trickle of travel enthusiasts have been visiting Afghanistan since 2003 and they invariable report that, with care, many parts of Afghanistan can currently be visited safely, especially the centre and northern parts of the country.

Sergei Zharov claims here that security risks still remain but that they are less than in New York, (and in fact all his articles on Afghanistan make interesting reading).

Entering Afghanistan from Iran or Pakistan is neither easy nor safe these days and, in fact, entering Afghanistan via Tashkent in Uzbekistan seems to be a safer and a more common practical approach, since many of the historical sites are in the north of the country which has been least affected by war.

As an indicator of things improving, in 2009, a Tourist Information Centre was opened in Bamiyan, and the Band-e Amir Lakes area was proclaimed as Afghanistan's first National Park.

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Afghan Cricket?

Surprisingly, Afghanistan now has a fairly successful international cricket team and even its own website(http://www.afgcricket.com/). They toured England in the summer of 2006, winning six out of seven matches against County 2nd x1's.

Narrowly missing out on the 2011 World Cup Finals (they finished in the top six of their qualifying event and in doing so achieved One-Day International status), in January 2010 they beat Ireland in the 2010 World Twenty20 qualifying round. Previously they won the ACC (Asian Cricket Council) Twenty20 Cup in 2009 by beating the UAE at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi in the final by 84 runs.

Photo from the afgcricket.com website.

Things are definitely looking up. In view of the destruction caused by their current conflicts, it might bring a new meaning to "The Ashes".

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The Buddhas of Bamiyan

2010-04-01T08:23:00.029+10:30

To see the immense statues of Buddha in the Bamiyan Valley, meant travelling about 250 km west of Kabul in the centre of Afghanistan. This required a 50 km drive north to Charikar, then a 200 km 4WD trek west over a narrow mountain pass to Bamiyan. It was cold and snowing in Kabul so how bad were conditions going to be over the mountains?

We were travelling with some friends we'd met in Iran, Mike and Sally, but they only had a 2WD Ford Transit van so we combined forces and they came with us in our Land Rover with 4WD, and we might just need it.

A frozen river north of Kabul

As we drove north from Kabul the bitumen road wound through cold arable land towards the mountains at Charikar. There we turned left on to a single lane cart track which got icier as it wound alongside the frozen Bamiyan river, past small villages stuck to the hillsides and through the Ghorband valley. Then we ground slowly upwards through gorges in the Koh-e-Baba mountains towards the Shibur Pass.

The road to Bamiyan

The eastern entrance to the Shibur Pass

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The Shibur Pass

After a couple of hours of negotiating slippery hairpin turns we reached the top of the snow covered Shibur Pass, where we experienced almost total whiteout with snow like whipped cream. We were in 4WD by then of course, and the map said the top of the pass was 10,000 ft, which we could well believe. The Bamiyan valley is at 8200 ft and that was far below us.

White-out at 10,000 ft on the summit of the Shibur Pass

Once over the top things got a bit easier, the track across the top of the pass was fairly flat for a few km and we could enjoy the spectacular view of the snow covered Koh-e-Khwaha Ghar mountains which are part of the Hindu Kush range, before descending into a cold but fertile valley and on to the small town of Bamiyan.

The scenery on the Shibur Pass was spectacular

Descending the western end of the Shibur Pass

A stop to enjoy the mountain scenery

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Bamiyan Valley

It was not an easy drive to get to the Bamiyan valley and we had to carry food and fuel for 4 people for several days.
The 250 km took us almost all day and apart from the ice and snow and the high altitudes, the track was winding and rough, although by Australian outback track standards it wasn't too bad because there were no corrugations.

"To drive to Bamiyan is to earn it. It is to rattle along roads unfit for goats until at last you arrive in the cool vales of Bamiyan, coated in dust".

These were words, which I've paraphrased, written in 2007 by Mark Sappenfield, staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor, so obviously not a lot has changed in 30 years, but it was worth the effort.

"If there were paradise on earth, it might look somewhat like Bamiyan"
That's how Frank Harold described Bamiyan in his article on Buddhist Afghanistan (see here). Rather flowery words but it really did look a magical place as we descended to the valley floor.

Entering the Bamiyan Valley

Bamiyan is on the old caravan trade route known as the Silk Route between China and western Asia, and since the early centuries AD it had been a major centre for Buddhist monasteries until the expansion of the Islamic world in the 9th and 10th centuries.
The statues of Buddha are part of the remaining monuments of that era.

The wintery Bamiyan valley in early morning sun. The statues and many monastery alcoves are visible in the cliff face.

(Compare with a summer photo here, taken many years later)

Horsemen on a snowy plain

Women carrying water pots in Bamiyan village

A Cold Night

But it was getting late in the day now and the temperature was dropping fast so we found a room in a small hotel for Mike and Sally and we were going to camp outside. Gad it was cold, although we didn't know just how cold until the next morning. As the temperature continued to drop we made a life-saving decision. We would eat dinner in their room and stay the night there too.

The hotel room was small, comprising 2 single iron beds with coily springs, a 40w light globe swinging from the ceiling (although there was no electricity obviously, since it was winter), 2 oil lamps and a pot belly stove in the corner with a steel flue going up through the roof. The manager brought us a pile of fire wood and after dinner we stoked up the fire and soon had the stove and the flue glowing red hot, and kept it that way all night. We didn't care that it was a fire risk, it was warm which was all that mattered right then.

How cold was it really?

We enjoyed a warm but squeezy night and next morning I went out to the Land Rover to fetch some food for breakfast. It was a brilliant, clear sunny day but felt "a bit chilly" as I took a few photos of the morning mountain scenery. I unlocked the Land Rover, which was difficult since the locks had frozen up, and went inside to check the thermometer, 0ºF (-18ºC), inside. No wonder it felt chilly.

Early morning view from the hotel grounds at -18º. I took other photos but the camera lens froze up

If we had stayed in the Land Rover there is a real possibility that we might not have survived that cold night. I collected some bread (which was frozen but not by choice), some eggs and a block of water. We had experienced frozen water tanks in Iran and had learned the hard way to draw some water off the night before so we could have some for morning tea. Mini icebergs then clonked around in the tanks for days until they eventually melted.

A Solid Breakfast

Back in the room we set about cooking breakfast. I cracked an egg on the side of the frying pan. Nothing happened. I tried again with the same result. The eggs had frozen solid in their shells. So we peeled the shells off the frozen eggs which then looked like marbles with the yolk suspended in clear solid glass. We put them in the frying pan and watched as they slowly melted into the more traditional fried egg shape, and finished breakfast.

Statue and monastery caves carved into the Bamiyan cliffs

Starting Difficulties

The statues of Buddha we had come to see were on the vertical side of some cliffs north of the town, about 2 km away, so we had to drive there. I doubt that many Australians have faced the challenge of starting a car engine which has been sitting all night at -18º. The water was OK because all British motorists know it's essential to put anti-freeze in the radiator, but non freezing oil? That was a new requirement.

The oil in the engine and gearbox was as thick as molasses and one battery made no impression at all. Putting both batteries in parallel allowed some rotation but not sufficient to start the engine. However our Land Rover was an early model and came equipped with a starting handle, probably one of the last vehicles to do so. I turned the engine over manually with some difficulty, to free up the moving parts, and eventually, with both batteries helping, the engine fired.

A Practical Solution?

We had seen truck drivers in Iran avoid this situation by lighting fires under their trucks at night to keep their engines and gearboxes warm. They would spill a bit of diesel on the ground and light it. Then they would pour some more on the road side and groups of them would squat around this impromptu campfire discussing the cricket scores, or whatever it is that Iranian truck drivers discuss in the evenings around a campfire. This solution was impractical for our petrol-engined Land Rover, of course.

The Statues of Buddha

With the engine started we headed for the statues. There are (or were) 2 huge statues of Buddha in Bamiyan, one 175 ft high and the smaller one 125 ft high. These were immense structures, carved out of the vertical cliff face in the 6th century (554 and 507 AD respectively), as part of a Buddhist monastery. That comprised dozens of rooms with painted frescos and passageways carved behind and alongside the statues. Many of the frescos had survived the years well and were of obvious Asian/Hindu influence. The original monastery would have been a very colourful and superbly decorated centre of Buddhist life, and apparently the statues were once decorated with gold and precious stones.

The larger and smaller statues

Frescos still visible after 1500 years

We walked around the feet of the statues and climbed up the steep internal staircases to look out over Bamiyan from the heads of the statues. Quite apart from the statues, the Bamiyan valley with its backdrop of snow covered Hindu Kush mountains made a truly impressive sight.

The Bamiyan valley looking south from above the statues

Statues No More

After surviving 1500 years of invasion, war and religious challenges, the statues were destroyed in a colossal and mindless act of vandalism by the Taliban in 2001, see this site. The BBC called it "an act of wanton desecration". This was no accident either as it was not an easy task, the statues were carved out of solid rock then covered with layers of decorated plaster.

The Taliban tried artillery bombardment, then shelling by tanks but finally an explosives team succeeded with dynamite. The statues had been partially defaced in the 11th century as the Buddhist influence in the area waned and was replaced by Islam, but they still lasted another 1000 years before the Taliban succeeded with their total destruction.

Destruction of the Buddhas by the Taliban in 2001 (CNN Photo)

And if it wasn't so ludicrous, the following report would be funny:

The World Monuments Fund (see this site ) has included the Bamiyan statues of Buddha in their "List of Most Endangered Sites" for 2008.

2008?? Surely that's about 7 years too late? At least UNESCO included the Bamiyan ruins on their World Heritage List in 2003, only 2 years too late, see this site.

[A Common Thread?
It might be interesting here to draw some parallels between the destruction of the Bamiyan twin statues and the New York twin towers disaster. Putting aside the tragic loss of life in New York for a moment, both were unnecessary acts of terrorism, both occurred in 2001, both were very symbolic in their own ways, and it seemed that neither would or could ever be rebuilt.
However, the twin towers are now being replaced by a new memorial building and the Afghan government is poised to fund the reconstruction of the Buddhas, but neither is a simple, low cost or politically easy project.
Fortunately, in Bamiyan, the many carved out monastery passageways and rooms are still there to be explored and wondered over, and more are being found as archeological work is undertaken.]

But back in 1974 all that tragedy and controversy was still far in the future. Back then it was the impressive size of the statues and the unbelievable zeal behind their construction that we had come to see and stand in awe of. Their size can be judged by the fact that Janet, standing next to the smaller one, was no taller than its foot.

Did I say tall? Looking up at the smaller of the statues

Does she look a bit cold? On and between feet of the big statue.

Having walked all around, up and over the statues and the adjoining caves and alcoves, we took a drive along the valley to warm up a bit and see things from a different perspective.

[Interestingly, the word "alcove" originates, via the Spanish "alcoba", from the old Arabic word "al-kubba" which means "the vault". How appropriate.]

The winter scenery was spectacular

Giant panorama of the Bamiyan Valley looking north

Shahr-i-Golgola

Views of Shahr-i-Golgola, the City of Screams (medieval city of Bamiyan) and graveyard

Just a few km up the valley are the ruins of a famous mediaeval city, Shahr-i-Golgola, built on top of a hill and believed to be impregnable with a secret water source. In 1221, Ghenghis Khan sent his grandson with an army to capture Bamiyan but he was killed as the people resisted the invasion. In revenge, he besieged the city by finding and cutting off its water supply and decreed that every living thing in the valley, people and animals, shall be slaughtered.
It's called the City of Screams because of the screams of people being killed there. The site is believed to be haunted and the Mongols called it the Cursed City. It has never been rebuilt.
Band-e Amir Lakes

It's a continuing regret that we didn't know enough about Afghanistan at the time to extend our trip to Bamiyan to visit the now world famous Band-e Amir Lakes, set in a dry desert environment about 80 km west of Bamiyan. That area was established in 2009 as Afghanistan's first National Park. (See this site and this site).

At the time we were pleased to have even made it as far as Bamiyan but looking back, even allowing for the freezing conditions, with a bit more knowledge and only a couple of extra days we could have included those spectacular blue lakes in our trip.

Learning more

There was much more history to see and learn about in Bamiyan which we had neither the time nor the understanding to encompass back then, and it would have taken a week or more to fully explore the whole area. Fortunately Bamiyan has been well documented and much more can be seen about the Bamiyan Valley and its statues of Buddha on the Internet, refer to this siteand this site and this site. Note that older texts spell Bamiyan without the "y", ie Bamian, or sometimes without the "i", ie Bamyan.
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Back to Kabul

Back in Kabul after our cold rough Bamiyan trip, we held a putting-the-Land-Rover-back-together day. This involved changing the wheels round and generally tightening all the suspension bolts which had come loose, including the wheel nuts. It was so cold though that the wheel nuts froze to the ground. We changed the generator since the rear bush had gone and replaced missing manifold bolts. My diary notes say " eggs still frozen and no water again for the 3rd day".

We then set about organising our second big adventure in Afghanistan, a trip to the north of the country to try to get to see a Buzkashi "game".

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